Popular Metro Local Dewsbury bus service celebrates 10th anniversary

5 September 2018

Dewsbury's popular Metro Local bus services are celebrating their tenth anniversary this month.

The service, which is now the ML2, runs between Shaw Cross and Dewsbury Moor via Dewsbury Town centre , Monday to Saturday. It has carried approaching 1 million passengers and travelled almost 200,000 miles, the equivalent of eight times around the equator!

Bus company TLC, uses fully accessible minibuses to run the service, which runs hourly between 9.30am and 2.30pm six days a week. West Yorkshire Combined Authority supports the service as part of the £18 million it invests in providing vital bus links for communities across West Yorkshire that otherwise would have no bus services.

Cllr Eric Firth, Dewsbury councillor and Deputy Chair of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority Transport Committee said: "The ML2 Metro Local bus provides people in Dewsbury's outer areas with vital access to the town centre's shops and services and helps enable them to meet up with friends and family, which is why the Combined Authority provides financial supports for the service.

"The fact it covers parts of Dewsbury that are not served by normal bus services, is one of the reasons why it's so successful.

"Because most of the users are regulars who have got to know each other and the drivers over the years travelling on the Metro Local can feel like a social club at times.

"My fellow councillors and I are pleased to be marking 10 years of this much-valued service and hope that Dewsbury people will continue to use it so we can celebrate another 10 years."

Managing Director of TLC Trish Lambert said: "It's good news for passengers that the Combined Authority continues to support this vital service which enables local people access to many vital services. Using a small team of drivers ensures a high degree of local knowledge further enhancing the experience for our passengers.

Long-term, regular Metro Local passenger Mavis Smith said she was a big fan of the drivers who are very friendly and that the services are very reliable adding: "This little Bus is worth its weight in gold and I don't know what we would do without it."

Her husband Gerry said: "It's excellent. We use it regularly and we can't complain at all."

Details of the all West Yorkshire bus services, including the ML2, and their timetables can be found on the Combined Authority's Metro travel information website.

Passengers can also use the yournextbus real-time service to find out when buses are due and follow @MetroTravelNews for the latest travel updates on Twitter.