New bus services hit the road on Monday around Penrith including the new 105 bus between Penrith and Greystoke that local residents in Greystoke have been campaigners to see a regular service introduced over recent years and gained support of the areas former MP Dr Hudson and more recently Greystokes new new MP Tim Farron.
The new service is one of a raft of new and improved services funded by Westmorland and Furness Council using funding £7 million pounds provided by the former conservative government to improvise bus services.
A new 106 service between Penrith and Shap is now also running and will operate alongside the current 106 service that runs between Penrith and Kendal on a Tuesday and Friday operated by a local charity that this year celebrated 10 years of running the service funded by local parish councils along the route.
Speaking with passengers using the new services on Monday they said the service provides a vital link especially for those unable to drive to get into Penrith for appointments to go shopping or meet with friends.
The services operated under tender by Stagecoach are running with the £3 ticket price cap for a journey and will currently operate under tender for a 12 month period.
The new service to Greystoke operates Monday to Saturday between Penrith, Penruddock, Motherby, Newbiggin and Greystoke eight times a day.
The 106 bus operates twice a day between Penrith and Shap one service in the morning and one early afternoon Monday to Saturday.
Despite the first day buzz of passengers celebrating the new service hoping aboard for the first journeys, council, operators, campaigners and local communities hoped that through passengers using the services the routes can be shown to be commercially viable to enable services to continue once the council subsidy period ends.
The council has confirmed that a number of routes are yet to see new timetables and information posters placed at bus stops long routes this will hopefully be resolved in coming weeks.
Online timetables for the local routes can be found via these links:
Then select "Add to Home Screen"
