Residents in Coalville and Shepshed are to get an express bus service to and from East Midlands Airport.
With a potential 20,000 new jobs being created around the Airport in the next 20 years the new service will help the towns’ people into work.
trentbarton is extending its successful and popular skylink service to the towns from September 27, with an hourly service from 5am to 11pm seven days a week which will take a maximum of 35 minutes between Coalville and the Airport.
The new service makes it easier for workers from Coalville, Shepshed and nearby villages to get to jobs at the Airport and at the businesses in the East Midlands Enterprise Gateway [EMEG] area which already employ 10,000 people.
The new service is an extension of skylink Nottingham, so people from the towns may also find skylink a convenient way to get to Nottingham, Derby or Leicester.
Jeff Counsell, Managing Director of trentbarton, said: “We know that our customers like the skylink Nottingham, Leicester and Derby services so we are very pleased we are bringing that high quality experience to people from Coalville and Shepshed.”
Andy Cliffe, Managing Director of East Midlands Airport, said: “Improving public transport to and from the airport is very important, not just for easy access for our passengers but also greatly increasing the means of accessing the site for a growing number of employment opportunities.”
Councillor Richard Blunt, Leader of North West Leicestershire District Council, said: “We are incredibly pleased that the skylink service will now be extended to Coalville. This ties in directly with our ambitions and plans for our district, as we know it’s important to provide public transport links from housing in the south to the jobs in the north.”
Peter Osborne, Leicestershire County Council’s cabinet member for transport, said: “The expansion of this service is great news for the people of Coalville and Shepshed, providing even greater access to East Midlands Airport and beyond.”
You can preview the new timetables here.