HCT cuts key bus services in Rotherham

A BUS operator has announced a number of key services will no longer run next week after saying it had encountered “multiple challenges” over recent years.

HCT Group has announced their Powells and CT Plus bus companies will close and services will stop running from Monday (August 8).

This will affect services that operate throughout the borough including Thurcroft, Kiveton Park, Maltby, Ravenfield Common and Bramley.

Services will also stop in Doncaster, Sheffield and Barnsley as well despite South Yorkshire mayor Oliver Coppard and local leaders pledging £5.1m to save some services over the next two years. 

A spokesperson for HCT Group said: “You will be aware that we have had significant difficulties in our Yorkshire operation for some time now.

“We have faced multiple challenges — a period of difficult trading prior to the pandemic, the financial impact of the pandemic itself, followed immediately by the current surge in fuel prices and labour cost.

“Everyone at CT Plus Yorkshire and Powell’s — and across the wider HCT Group — has worked tirelessly to put the operations in Yorkshire on a sustainable footing, but there is nothing further to be done and the situation cannot continue.

“This is an immensely sad day for all of us across the group, and we are sorry for the distress that this situation will inevitably cause.”

Originally founded as Hackney Community Transport in 1982, HCT Group was established in 2008. 

It operates 19 services across South Yorkshire from its Powells depot in Hellaby, employing around 50 staff.

South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority is co-ordinating work, with local authorities and other bus companies, to put alternative services in place, where possible. 

These services will be affected in Rotherham:

18 Doncaster - Edlington - Maltby - Hellaby

637 Thurcroft - Kiveton Park (Wales High School)

638 Thurcroft - Kiveton Park (Wales High School)

639 Thurcroft - Kiveton Park (Wales High School)

3 Rotherham - Ravenfield Common

117 Rotherham - Bramley

A1 Sheffield - Waverley - Meadowhall

X20 Barnsley - Doncaster