‘No plans’ to reintroduce Rotherham to Crystal Peaks 27 bus service

The 27 service was cancelled as part of a raft of changes last year, and was replaced by the 21 service.

Councillor Lindsay Pitchley, who represents Aughton & Swallownest on Rotherham Council, asked if the service can be ‘looked at again from a service user’s perspective,’ and said the 27 is a ‘well used service’ and that residents are in ‘uproar’.

The question will be presented to the transport advisory group at the next meeting on October 25.

However, a response states that there are ‘no plans’ to reintroduce a service between Rotherham and Crystal Peaks, ‘which was predominately used for leisure, social and access to amenities by Rotherham residents travelling to Crystal Peaks’.

The response states: “Service 21 has been introduced to replace services 26, 27 and 29 which were commercial bus routes previously operated by First that they cancelled in October 2022 and SYMCA [South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority] are now having to fund partial replacements for.

“SYMCA have limited funding and if the bus goes to Crystal Peaks it will nolonger be able to serve villages in South Rotherham as the bus cannot be in two places at once.

“Additional resources to provide a separate service, that SYMCAare not able to commit to, would have to be introduced to reinstate the CrystalPeaks/Beighton service.

“There are no plans to reintroduce the Rotherham to Crystal Peaks service which was predominately used for leisure, social and access to amenities by Rotherham residents travelling to Crystal Peaks.”