Free shuttle bus to help Whaley Bridge residents an 'excellent' idea

Since one of the main routes in and out of Whaley Bridge has shut, cutting the town in half a free shuttle bus has been set up by High Peak buses to help residents get around the diversion.

The road is closed until the end of March while Network Rail spend £5m fixing a crack in the bridge

Buxton Road has been closed to all traffic since January 16.

And from Saturday February, 4 to Sunday March, 5 there will be no pedestrian access under the bridge.

A spokesperson for High Peak Buses said: “We are operating a Whaley Bridge Shuttle service to help passengers get to the north and south of Whaley Bridge, and onto our other services.

“This service is a free service and will operate Monday to Sunday, and will be in place for the duration of the closure.

"It will serve Whaley Station, Whaley Tesco, Chapel-en-le-Frith, Cockyard, Tunstead Milton, Horwich End and Primary School, Whaley Bridge.”

This is good news for residents and Nye Rolands from Footsteps, the community hub on Market Street, said: “This is excellent.

"And the first good decision which has been made during this whole road closure.

"Why did Network Rail not just do night time work and keep the road open during the day?

"Why has the post box been shut because of the road closure?

"None of it makes sense, but thankfully this new bus will help people.”The free service will run every hour, from 6am to 9pm from the Whaley Bridge railway station to Whaley Bridge Primary School, and from 6.30am to 9.30pm from the school to the station.

will stop at all existing stops on the route around the diversion, linking also with the stops of the 199 service.

Nye said: “There are a lot of older people who rely on the bus to get around.

"It’s not a perfect solution but it is something to help residents to stop people being totally isolated and cut off.”Between Friday February, 17 and Tuesday February, 28 there will be no railway services between Hazel Grove and Buxton while the works continue and no details released from Network rail about alternative transport.

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