Go North East and The Harrogate Bus Company step in to make travel easier for those attending jab appointments

 
Go North East’s ‘ConnectorShuttle’ serves the NHS Nightingale Hospital North East

 
Go North East and The Harrogate Bus Company have this week launched dedicated vaccination shuttle bus services.

Go North East’s new ‘ConnectorShuttle’ serves the NHS Nightingale Hospital North East in the Sunderland International Innovation Centre. The service runs up to every 15 minutes, seven days a week, from just after 5am until around midnight each day. It connects with Go North East’s 56 service at Concord, offering frequent connections from Newcastle, Gateshead and Sunderland.

The blue branded bus also celebrates the efforts of the NHS throughout the pandemic and features a ‘thank you’ message, as well as a rainbow design which has been synonymous with key worker efforts since March. The service was put together with just two working days’ notice by the Go North East team following dialogue with the local NHS Trust and Nexus.

There is no extra charge to use the ‘ConnectorShuttle’ service, though any Go North East customers using the bus should scan their existing tickets as they usually would.

Martijn Gilbert, managing director at Go North East, said: “We’re delighted to be helping the NHS with the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccination programme and have moved fast to ensure that good public transport links are in place.

“The shuttle bus service offers, quick, safe and easy access to the Nightingale Hospital, with great connections available at Concord from Newcastle, Gateshead and Sunderland on the Cityrider 56 and other nearby local bus services, including the Connections 4 from the Metro at Heworth.

“In partnership with other North East bus operators and Nexus, we’ve also recently introduced a dedicated vaccination bus stop in Newcastle outside the Centre for Life vaccination centre.

It’s great seeing the hard work and energy of everyone involved in delivering this very important vaccination programme.

“It’s great seeing the hard work and energy of everyone involved in delivering this very important vaccination programme.

“We’re committed to doing all that we can to work with partners to ensure that public transport plays its part in supporting this national effort with good quality, clean and safe public transport links, which is why we have very quickly mobilised this new special shuttle service.”

 
The Harrogate Bus Company bus drivers Stephen Mellor (left) and Dave Stow celebrate the launch of a special Harrogate Electrics free bus service taking those with an appointment to receive a jab to Harrogate’s NHS COVID-19 vaccination venue at The Yorkshire Event Centre on the Great Yorkshire Showground

 
Transdev-owned The Harrogate Bus Company is also providing a free bus service to make travel easier for Covid-19 jab appointments.

The special service began today and is running every 30 minutes on days the vaccination venue at the Yorkshire Event Centre on the Great Yorkshire Showground is open – this week on Tuesday to Friday, and again on Sunday. The first journey leaves Harrogate Bus Station at 7.50am and the last trip returns from the vaccination centre at 8.05pm.

Journeys on the service will be run using one of the bus firm’s ‘Harrogate Electrics’ buses, making the bus a safe, easy and environment-friendly choice for those with NHS appointments to travel to and from their vaccination.

News of the special bus link is being welcomed by Harrogate MP Andrew Jones, a former transport minister, who said: “This is an excellent initiative by The Harrogate Bus Company which will make travel to and from the NHS vaccination centre easier for everyone, while freeing up staff and volunteers to give the best possible care to all who attend.

“This valuable additional service will help to keep everyone safe by helping those with a vaccination appointment to travel to and from the venue independently by bus, instead of potentially relying on lifts from others – and by catching an electric bus, everyone who uses the special bus will also be helping to reduce pollution and congestion on our roads.

This bus service will play a vitally important part in helping to ensure that those with appointments are able to attend and receive their jabs as planned

“We expect numbers attending the vaccination centre to rise as we continue to ramp up our vaccinations programme. This bus service will play a vitally important part in helping to ensure that those with appointments are able to attend and receive their jabs as planned.”

The Harrogate Bus Company’s CEO Alex Hornby said: “We wanted to do everything possible to support the amazing NHS staff and volunteers who are running Harrogate’s vaccination centre, by making travel to and from the venue easy and safe for everyone.

“All our buses are clean, safe and ready to go, and provide a comfortable and secure way to travel to and from a jab appointment. Easy connections can be made with our Harrogate bus network at the bus station, bringing the vaccination centre into easy reach of every stop on our regular bus routes.

Our team at the bus station will also be on hand to help with travel advice and information, and the whole experience will be delivered in a Covid-secure way, as we have throughout the pandemic

“Our team at the bus station will also be on hand to help with travel advice and information, and the whole experience will be delivered in a Covid-secure way, as we have throughout the pandemic. It’s one more way we can help the community here in Harrogate to travel seven days a week.”

 
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