Sheffield buses: Travel South Yorkshire proposes brand new services to serve Crystal Peaks and needs feedback
People in Sheffield who think bus services are not up to par need to fill in feedback forms or nothing will change, a city councillor has told The Star.
The comments come as the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) seeks feedback on proposed changes to bus services across Sheffield, including the introduction of two local services in Sheffield South East.
Councillor Karen McGowan, who represents the Birley ward, said she and her fellow ward councillors had been in discussions with Mayor Oliver Coppard for some time regarding residents’ concerns with the services in the area.
“The one we’ve been working on the hardest is the number eight,” she told The Star, after hearing from numerous residents about buses not turning up.
She added: “We’d like it to go all the way to Crystal Peaks as it used to and it got stopped. I would like a more frequent service too.”
Whilst these changes have not yet materialised, the SYMCA is looking for feedback on proposals for three new bus services in the area which could provide some of the service currently missing.
The proposals include the creation of an M44 and M45 route, which will run in opposite directions around a loop serving Crystal Peaks Shopping Centre, Birley and Frechville before arriving back at Crystal Peaks.
The new services, which would be run by TM Travel, would serve Moorthorpe Medical Centre and Birley Medical Centre and, according to the Travel South Yorkshire website, will “improve access to healthcare, education and leisure facilities” in the local area.
The M44 and M45 buses will operate hourly during the day, Monday to Saturday.
In the proposals, TM Travel would also operate a new M55 service from Crystal Peaks to Plumbley. It would follow the current 55 bus route between Crystal Peaks and Plumbley, but will expire at the shopping centre without providing through journeys to Frecheville and Hackenthorpe.
The 55 service will still be in operation.
Feedback for these proposed services can now be left on the Travel South Yorkshire website, something Coun McGowan is keen for those who use Sheffield’s local services to do.
She said: “For me, this is a start. It’s positive changes but we need people to fill the form in so Oliver [Coppard] and the bus companies know they have got it right... We’re a long way from being satisfied but it’s a positive start.”
Coun McGowan added she and her Labour ward colleagues raised transport grievances with the Mayor at a public meeting in February, in which Mr Coppard was reportedly outlining plans to bring buses back into public ownership. She said the new proposals have, in part, come from those conversations.
She also commended Sheffield South East MP, Clive Betts, for championing the issue of transport in the area. Last week, Mr Betts was re-elected as the Labour MP for the area, by a margin of roughly 12,000 votes.
Coun McGowan said the transport feedback will be vital for improving bus services as otherwise the companies would assume what they are offering is suitable.
She said: “For someone to write to me and complain, when somebody does that, I always think it must be a real issue for them.”
These proposals come as First Bus and Stagecoach are also requesting feedback on service changes they plan to make.
As previously reported by The Star, First have said they are seeing “a positive return in people using our buses across South Yorkshire for the first time since the pandemic” and, as a result, are looking to make improvements to services, journeys and frequencies.
Stagecoach are also hoping to make changes and improvements to their Sheffield services from September 1, 2024, and are also looking for feedback and suggestions before they are implemented.