Surrey County Council’s on-demand bus service Surrey Connect is launching across the Reigate area.  Bookings for journeys from 20 October will open on 13 October. In addition, a new Saturday shuttle service to countryside sites will also launch.

The latest expansion allows residents to book a bus when they need it and travel to key services in the areas of Reigate, Banstead, Tadworth, Merstham, Redhill, Salfords and Horley as well as more rural parts where residents have not previously had access to public transport. Buses run Monday to Friday from 7am to 7pm and on Saturdays from 8am to 6pm. Fares are charged based on how many miles are travelled starting from £2 for adults.

From 18 October, Surrey Connect will also run a Saturday shuttle service between Dorking Mainline Railway Station and landmark countryside sites at Box Hill and Norbury Park. The service runs from 9:30am to 5pm and costs £2 a journey.

The expansion of the scheme is funded by Surrey County Council to improve access to sustainable travel in areas of the county where there are fewer traditional bus services.

Matt Furniss, Cabinet Member for Highways, Transport and Economic Growth said: “I’m delighted we have expanded this popular service to benefit residents in more areas across the county, along with making travel to our famous green spaces cleaner and more accessible. Surrey connect has transported over 170,000 passengers since its launch in 2022.

“This expansion is part of our significant investment in bus travel and our efforts to encourage more people to use Surrey’s buses. We’re investing in making our buses greener including £32.3m for more ultra-low and zero emission buses and £6.3m for more ultra-low and zero emission community transport minibuses. We’re also making bus travel more accessible with our Surrey LINK card which offers discounted bus travel including on the Surrey Connect bus services to those aged 20 and under. A further £9m is being invested in bus priority measures to ensure buses turn up on time, and £1.4m in improving information for passengers at bus stops.”

All journeys must be booked at least 30 minutes before travel or up to 7 days in advance. They can be booked:

• Online at surreyconnect.org.uk   
• Via the ‘Surrey connect’ app – available from Google Play (Android) or the App Store (Apple)

For more information and areas covered by Surrey Connect services, visit www.surreycc.gov.uk/surreyconnect   

Six local council by-elections are taking place today- the largest number of seats to go to a vote on a single day so far this year.

This includes borough and district councils seats in Meadvale and St John’s at Reigate, and Banstead and Whyteleafe at Tandridge.

There have been other by-elections in the last few months and more are due to happen in November, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Polling stations open at 07:00 BST, and will close at 22:00.

A Surrey hospital emergency department is under significant pressure due to staffing levels and high demand, an NHS trust has said.

Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust said East Surrey Hospital A&E in Redhill was dealing with an early increase in winter viruses.

It comes amid a rise in Covid cases with new variants Nimbus and Stratus circulating around the UK..

The trust urged people with non-urgent conditions to use other NHS services, such as 111, their local pharmacy or GP, or nearby treatment centres at Crawley, Caterham Dene, Horsham and East Grinstead.

Sussex Police has become the first force in the country to fit prolific shoplifters with location monitoring tags.

The tags will allow the police to monitor offenders’ movements in real time, helping to deter further offences and enabling swift action if breaches or tampering occur.

Under the Operation STOP pilot, repeatoffenders will be issued with discreet GPS ankle devices – as part of a CBO or with agreement from probation services.