Extra Derbyshire bus services will serve Chesterfield Somercotes, Alfreton, Bakewell and Matlock

Service 55 (which currently goes from Alfreton to Chesterfield via Tibshelf) has been extended to Chesterfield hospital and the train station every day. It will also be extended to Wimsey Way industrial estate in Somercotes morning and evenings, Monday to Saturdays, so that workers can use the bus to get to and from their jobs.

Three later evening services are also being added, with the last bus leaving Chesterfield at 11.15pm (currently 6.15pm) and Alfreton at 10.15pm (currently 6.30pm). On Sundays there will be three later services with the last bus being 11.15pm.

Service 170 (which currently goes from Chesterfield to Bakewell) will be extended from New Beetwell Street, Chesterfield, to the train station and there will be extra evening journeys at 7pm, 9pm and 11pm from Chesterfield (current last bus 6.15pm) and 8pm, 10pm and midnight in the other direction (current last bus 6.15pm). These three late buses would also be extended from Bakewell to Matlock to fill a gap between these two towns Monday to Saturday.

Derbyshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Highways Assets and Transport, Councillor Kewal Singh Athwal, said: “We were awarded £47m by the Government to improve bus services in Derbyshire over the next few years, and these are the first two services to gain extra money.”

Both services are operated by Hulleys of Baslow. The total cost of the extra services to the council is £558,445 over the 3 years of the Bus Service improvement Plan programme.