New route for Bay Hospital vaccination centre shuttle bus

The free shuttle bus running between the Bay Hospital and Swansea Bus Station has a new route to take passengers closer to the door.

The 51 service has been running between Swansea's main bus station and selected stops along the way to the mass vaccination centre at Bay Hospital since the start of the month.

It is now dropping off and collecting passengers much closer to the vaccination centre entrance, while also still calling at the phlebotomy centre at the entrance to the hospital site for those attending blood tests.

The service, which is only for people travelling to and from the Bay Hospital, operates from Stand D at the bus station and runs in each direction every 20 minutes from 8am to 8pm daily, including at weekends.

Mark Thomas, the council's Cabinet Member for Environment Enhancement and Infrastructure Management, said: "The new service has been well received and is an important way for people without easy access to cars to get to their vaccination appointments on time.

"I'm pleased to say we have worked with First Cymru to further improve the route so from Monday the buses will be stopping much closer to the Vaccination Centre which will reduce the distance people need to walk."

Christian Horn, First Cymru's Swansea depot operations manager added: "We started operating the free service as soon as possible so people who rely on public transport were able to travel to the vaccination centre and get their jab or do a blood test, but due to the limited time we had to organise a service before it started operating, we could only stop at the nearest regular bus stop.

"Working in partnership with Swansea City Council's passenger transport department and the local health board we immediately started work on identifying a bus stop much closer to the site entrance, and we are pleased that as of Monday we're able to drop off and pick-up passengers much nearer to the entrance."

The service is funded by Swansea Council and operated by First Cymru.