Kingsway bus link hours extended
A door-to-door bus service providing transport to Wilson Bowden's Kingsway Business Park will now operate extended hours.
Transport for Greater Manchester has also agreed to extend the trial of the Middleton Local Link service until December.
Local Link is a daily door-to-door bus service running to Middleton and surrounding areas that picks people up and drops them off anywhere in the service area.
It is intended to provide employment opportunities to people in Middleton without any other means of transport. Journeys can be arranged to the premises of all major employers at Kingsway, Rochdale.
The extended service has been designed for shift workers whose working patterns may make it difficult for them to use other transport.
Journeys to and from Kingsway Business Park can now be booked to meet all daily shift changes from 5am to 10.45pm.
Cllr Mark Aldred, chairman of the TfGMC Bus Network and TfGM Services Sub Committee, said: "This is great news for people who live in Middleton and work at Kingsway Business Park – and even better news for job-seekers.
"Reliable transport links are a deciding factor when it comes to looking for a new job and I'm sure that this new service will open up real work opportunities for people in the area.
"We already have a Kingsway Link service, which runs to areas of Rochdale. This has been a great success, with nearly 500 trips made last month. I hope this extension will be just as popular.
"I urge people to spread the word about this new service to Kingsway Business Park. We'll review this trial in six months' time to see whether it could be made permanent."
Other Middleton Local Link destinations include Birch Industrial Estate, Hopwood Hall College, North Manchester General Hospital and Royal Oldham Hospital.
People living in the service area can book a journey online at www.tfgm.com/locallink or by calling 08456 05 55 05 (8am – 4pm for bookings, 8am – 9pm for enquiries).
