Bus Rapid Transit North

Bus Rapid Transit North

An X1 bus on Blackburn Meadows Way shortly after opening
Founded	4 September 2016
Locale	South Yorkshire
Service type	Bus rapid transit
Routes	3 (December 2024)
Destinations	Sheffield Rotherham
Fleet	22 Wright StreetDecks
Operator	First South Yorkshire
Website	www.sypte.co.uk

Bus Rapid Transit North is a bus rapid transit scheme introduced by the South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive in England. It consists of one route operated by First South Yorkshire between Sheffield and Rotherham.

History

In November 2013, the Government of the United Kingdom approved the construction of a bus rapid transit scheme between Sheffield and Rotherham via Meadowhall in South Yorkshire which included the construction of the 800 metre Blackburn Meadows Way link with that crosses the River Don and Sheffield Supertram and goes under the Tinsley Viaduct.^[1]

Construction commenced in January 2014.^[2] Delays and cost overruns were encountered after asbestos and World War II munitions were encountered during construction.^[3]

The Scheme was Project Managed for Carillion by Martin Black ^[4] and involved the construction of an 11m high mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) wall designed in conjunction with Tensar ^[5]

It opened on 4 September 2016 with First South Yorkshire introducing route X1 under the Steel Link brand between Sheffield and Maltby.^[6][7][8]

Vehicles

To operate the service, 22 Wright StreetDecks were delivered to First South Yorkshire in a dark blue and grey livery. Because of a delay in the completion of the project, they initially entered service in January 2016 on route X78 from Sheffield to Doncaster.^{[9][10][11][12]}

References

1. £16 million for Yorkshire bus services Department for Transport 14 November 2013
2. Carillion wins Tinsley Link road job with £11m bid Construction Enquirer 27 August 2013
3. Delayed Sheffield to Rotherham bus link £8m over budget Sheffield Star 5 November 2014
4. "Bridge Approach Embankment with MSE Walls and Pulverized Fuel Ash". 14 November 2016.
5. "Bridge Approach Embankment with MSE Walls and Pulverized Fuel Ash". 14 November 2016.
6. £29.8 million Bus Rapid Transit scheme set for launch Archived 20 December 2016 at the Wayback Machine Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council 2 September 2016
7. Steel Link service for new £29.8 million BRT scheme Archived 15 September 2016 at the Wayback Machine Bus & Coach Professional 8 September 2016
8. Bus X1 Travel South Yorkshire
9. First announce £5m investment in 22 new South Yorkshire buses Sheffield Star 30 May 2015
10. New buses unveiled by First South Yorkshire Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council 19 January 2016
11. First launches 22 StreetDecks for Rotherham upgrade Archived 23 September 2016 at the Wayback Machine Bus & Coach Professional 22 January 2016
12. "First redeploys fleet for South Yorkshire first BRT" Buses Magazine issue 739 October 2016 page 9