Continued passenger growth on Flintshire County Council’s highly innovative and award-winning Deeside Shuttle home to work transport service has led to the addition of another two Optare Solos. The new pair brings the total number of vehicles on the service to 13.

Deeside Shuttle started four years ago with Optare Alero 14-seaters, which remain in use. As demand steadily grew these were supplemented by larger capacity Solos. And once the concept had been proven on Deeside it was also introduced in Wrexham, where it connects residential areas with the town’s industrial estate.

Growth also came from progressively expanding the service to take in more local communities. Regular users now exceed 3,000 a week, resulting in reduced car travel in the area and contributing significantly to the Council’s carbon emissions reduction targets. Connections with trains at Flint and Shotton stations have also been introduced to provide links from more distant parts of North Wales to the Deeside Industrial Park.

The two new buses are both Solo SE models and are the first SEs to enter service in North Wales. One is a 21-seater with Esteban 90 seats and the other has 19 Rescroft Defender 3 seats fitted with lap and diagonal seat belts for which Solo is fully approved. Both are Mercedes powered with Allison automatic transmissions and have Mobitec LED destination equipment fitted.

The SE was chosen because of its compact size of just 7.1 metres in length and 2.33 metres in width. With the service providing pick-ups and set-downs as close to the homes of users as possible, this size makes it easier to negotiate narrow streets on housing estates in the communities fringing the Dee estuary that the Deeside Shuttle serves.

Flintshire County Council owns the Solos and local firm P & O Lloyd of Bagillt operate them on their behalf along with one of the original Aleros. They provide garaging, drivers, fuel and maintenance and the vehicles are listed on their O licence.

Extensive marketing has been a key factor in the success of the service. Information about both the Deeside and Wrexham Shuttle services can be found on a new website, www.theshuttlebus.com and attractive literature has been produced and made easily available in public places.

Passengers register for the service and can then make bookings either for a full week or an individual journey by simply calling the control centre at County Hall in Mold. A purpose designed computer system allocates each booking to the most appropriate bus and at the end of each day the bus operator is sent a list of pick-ups for the next day. The service operates between 5.00 am and midnight, seven days a week, to meet the needs of shift workers.

Both the Deeside Shuttle and the Wrexham Shuttle are subsidised by the Welsh Assembly, Flintshire County Council and Wrexham County Council.

For further information please contact:
Martin Hayes, Communications Advisor, +44 (0) 207 494 8050