Bus company that shuttled people to Pinderfields during Arriva bus strike to close

CT Plus Yorkshire has announced that it will stop all services from 5pm today.

In a statement released on Twitter, the bus company said: “We have faced multiple challenges - a period of difficult trading prior to the pandemic, the financial impact of the pandemic itself, followed immediately by the current surge in fuel prices and labour cost.”

CT Plus ran bus services across Wakefield, including the 159 from Ferry Fryston to Castleford, the 485 from South Elmsall to Wakefield and the 39 from South Elmsall to Pontefract.

These routes were taken over by operators Globe Holidays last month “as part of a regular service change”, the West Yorkshire Combined Authority confirmed.

The bus company also runs the 113 from Dewsbury and District Hospital to Pinderfields Hospital and Pontefract Hospital.

Arriva Yorkshire will take over this route from Monday August 8. Delays are expected from noon today until Monday.

During the Arriva bus strike, the company operated a free shuttle service from Wakefield bus station to Pinderfields Hospital on behalf of the Combined Authority.

Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire, said: “I’m disappointed to see CT Plus closing in West Yorkshire, and my first thoughts are with the drivers and other staff who will now be looking for work elsewhere.

“My fear is that this is only the start. Bus patronage hasn’t risen as quickly as we’d like after the pandemic, which is why I and others have been calling on the Government to extend its Bus Recovery Grant beyond October.

“Smaller operators need that support to help them through this difficult time, they don’t have multi-national parent companies to fall back on.

“We are working with partners and other operators to limit the impact on our communities – especially those that rely on key services – and have put measures in place to maintain the AccessBus services that CT Plus ran on our behalf.

“We’re now working to find replacement operators for the remaining services, but it is inevitable that some passengers will be inconvenienced while this happens.”

The bus company said that it is working with other operators to make sure most of their drivers can “transfer to new operators with their jobs intact.”

Disruption is also expected across its other services in Leeds and Huddersfield.

To keep up to date, check WY Metro’s website https://wymetro.com/plan-a-journey/travel-news/bus-travel-alerts/ctplus/.