New early evening bus service hoped to ‘bridge gap’ in current provision

A new early evening bus service from Lerwick to Sumburgh is hoped to “bridge the gap” in current provision.

The new service, which is operating on a trial basis, will begin this evening (Monday), departing the Viking Bus Station in Lerwick at 7pm.

ZetTrans said the trial had been put in place in response to requests for evening services to be investigated.

Current services leave Lerwick at 5.15pm and 9.15pm, on Mondays and Thursday and 11pm on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturday.

ZetTrans said it hoped the new service would be useful for people who work later than 5.15pm on who attend activities in town in the early evening.

ZetTrans chairwoman Moraig Lyall said:  “This bus heads down to Sumburgh already, to bring passengers north at 8pm.

“Making this into a passenger service will let us assess the uptake of a mid-evening bus.

“The 7.10pm to Scalloway is already well used and the passenger numbers on this new service will be monitored to measure its success.  

“Folks now have more choice to use public transport rather than their cars in the early evening, as well as giving young people an option to travel home earlier than the current 9pm service.”