Free staff bus between hospitals axed over costs

The bus ferries staff between the Royal Preston and Chorley and South Ribble hospitals

A free shuttle bus that ferries staff between the Royal Preston and Chorley and South Ribble hospitals is to be scrapped as part of a wider drive to cut costs.

The service, which has operated for more than a decade, can also be used by patients during off-peak hours, although they have to pay to do so.

Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (LTH) is set to withdraw the £200,000-a-year scheme from 30 May.

The trust has to make £60m of savings during the 2025-26 financial year, and bosses said they were unable to continue subsidising the service.

'Difficult decision'

Only about £3,000 towards the annual cost of the service currently comes from paying passengers, the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) understands.

The bus service was first introduced as a result of previous changes to where staff were based.

Its removal will not affect the free park-and-ride services for Royal Preston workers, which operate from both Preston Grasshoppers and the Preston Business Centre.  

Off-site car parking passes are also available at Preston College and St Mary's Church.

Meanwhile, the Stagecoach 125 service between Preston and Chorley hospitals runs seven days a week, starting earlier and finishing later than the existing free shuttle.

In a joint letter to colleagues, LTH chief executive Prof Silas Nicholls and chief people officer Dr Neil Pease said the scrapping of the free bus service was amongst the "difficult decisions" needed to get the trust's finances "back on track".

Their statement continued: "Other options, including the service provider charging passengers, reducing the service or running the service ourselves have been considered but we simply haven't been able to find a way to make it work."