The free hospital shuttle bus service has now ceased with new arrangements in place from April 1, 2025.
The hospital Trust no longer operates a free bus service between Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital (RBTH) and Burnley General Teaching Hospital (BGTH). The route is now being run by Moving People Bus and Coach Services, who are operating a direct commercial service between Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital (RBTH) and Burnley General Teaching Hospital (BGTH), with additional stops in Blackburn and Burnley town centres.
It currently operates Monday to Friday with fares capped at a maximum of £3 per journey. Fares after 7pm will be £1.
You can see the new timetable here.
The Trust announced in January that it was stopping the current free service as it can no longer afford to run it.
Moving People Bus and Coach Services, which is based in Oswaldtwistle, near Blackburn, stepped forward to formally register the route between Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital and Burnley General Teaching Hospital.
The new route, which is supported by Blackburn with Darwen Council and Lancashire County Council, maintains a direct service between the two hospitals for patients, visitors and staff at the Trust, but add on stops in both Blackburn and Burnley town centres to improve travel for passengers.
Glen Chamberlain, managing director of Moving People, said: “This will be a commercial service with a charge in place for passengers and run independently and without subsidy from the hospital trust. It is clear from data provided from the existing service that patients, visitors and staff rely upon it and, as a local company, I am delighted we have been able to step in and pick up the route.
Martin Hodgson, Chief Executive at East Lancashire Hospitals, said: “It is absolutely brilliant news that Blackburn company Moving People is providing a similar commercial service and we will continue to do everything we can to support them, to publicise the route and encourage people to use it.
"I speak for everyone at East Lancashire Hospitals now when I say we’re grateful to Moving People and everyone who has worked so hard in the background to make this happen and that includes our local MPs, local authority leaders and local people as a whole.”
To support passengers, there are links on this page to other bus services, community transport options and information about how some patients may be able to claim back their health care travel costs.
If you have any questions, please email shuttlebus@elht.nhs.uk
We appreciate the benefits the shuttle bus has brought for colleagues at Burnley and Blackburn and we’re sorry we can no longer run the service. However the bus does not link all our hospital sites and all other colleagues have to find their own way into work.
Please speak to your line manager about how the closure of the shuttle bus will affect you to see if anything can be done to alleviate that impact.
We’ve also got lots of information on the staff intranet and this web page that might help you find alternative transport options, so worth having a look.
If you have a question that has not been answered please email shuttlebus@elht.nhs.uk or join the weekly Teams Brief sessions to ask Executive Directors a question directly.
The bus was only ever introduced in 2007 as a temporary measure for five years and was not initially paid for by the hospital. It was handed over to the hospital trust in 2013 without the funding and we carried it on because it was valued.
The fact is we simply cannot afford to run it any more.