MoreBus, owned by Go-Ahead buses will run essential services over the Christmas period to support key workers and to enable families to hold long anticipated festive gatherings, in keeping with Government guidelines.
Go-Ahead’s local bus companies run nearly 3,000 buses across England, employing over 8,500 people. They will be running services throughout Christmas Eve, Boxing Day, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, with a small number of routes providing special services on Christmas Day.
Christmas Day buses include routes serving local hospitals, together with buses to Gatwick Airport run by Metrobus.
Bus services provided by Go-Ahead’s companies have run throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, enabling people to get to work and providing a safe, clean environment for people to get to shops, relatives and leisure destinations.
Various safety measures have been introduced including enhanced vehicle cleaning, provision of hand sanitiser, social distancing and encouragement of passengers to make contactless payments. All Go-Ahead bus companies feature When2Travel on their websites and apps, providing dynamically updated information on seat availability.
Katy Taylor, Chief Strategy and Customer Officer, said: “Large gatherings may be off the cards but people across Britain want to have as normal a Christmas as possible. Many families will be anticipating getting together after seeing little of each other this year, and key workers will need to travel safely over the festive period. We know how vital our services are for many people at this time and we look forward to welcoming customers on board.”
Christmas Eve
The majority of Go-Ahead bus companies are operating a normal service on Christmas Eve, with some running a Saturday timetable and some services finishing early, at around 8pm. For evening travel, please check your local bus company’s website for timetable information.
Christmas Day
Go South Coast, which provides services within Dorset, Hampshire Isle of Wight and Wiltshire will be running several special services on Christmas Day.
Morebus’ m1 and m2 routes have been extended to the Royal Bournemouth Hospital to help NHS employees and those visiting loved ones. Bluestar will be running their Bluestar 18 and a variation of Bluestar 1.
Metrobus will be operating Fastway route 10 linking Gatwick Airport with Crawley, maintaining a 24 hour service throughout.