Kirkholt evening bus service to resume

Councillor Dale Mulgrew

The number 6 evening bus service that serves Kirkholt will resume at the end of the month.

The news comes following a meeting at the Rochdale Town Hall. The meeting was called by Kirkholt Councillor, Dale Mulgrew, who was getting increasingly anxious that there was no end in sight to the current suspension of the service.

The bus was withdrawn during the middle of December.

At this meeting were representatives of the Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive, the Council’s community safety team and the owner and director of the bus firm that operates the service - Coachmasters.

It was agreed that the service would resume on 31 January.

Initially the bus service will run between Sunday and Thursday, until extra security measures are introduced to allow for the service to continue on a Friday and Saturday.
This is because it was at the weekend when the vandalism occurred to the busses.

This weekend response will involve the police, who will be stepping up their presence. CCTV will also be installed onto the busses that are used for this route.

Councillor Dale Mulgrew said: “I am glad we had a successful outcome to this meeting and that the bus service is now looking to recommence shortly. The continued suspension was only harming local residents who use the bus service in the evening. The consequences were not just being felt in resident's pockets, but also putting people's safety at risk.

“I also want to request that the Kirkholt community assists with monitoring this bus service, so that it does not have to experience the problems of the past. We don't want the silent majority to lose out to the actions of a wreckless few.”

The director of Coachmasters, Neil Bailey, added: “We wanted to seek reassurances that if we withdrew the suspension we would get help from the Police and the community. We are keen to run the service again, and from our point of view we only want to see a safe environment for our busses and drivers to operate within.”