28 February 2024
On Wednesday 14 February 2024 it was announced that existing contracts for the delivery of public bus services with Joshua’s Taxis and Colin’s Garage would conclude at the end of this month, and that work remained ongoing to ensure services continued after this date.
Last year expressions of interest were invited to provide public bus services beyond February 2024, but no interest was received. For this reason, direct approaches and negotiations have been ongoing with potential service providers to ensure an affordable public transport service continues to be available to those who need it.
The result of these discussions is that the majority of the existing routes will still be provided. However, whilst we have been able to secure services for the majority of routes and schedules, some will be affected and some services will no longer operate. You are therefore encouraged to familiarise yourself with these changes.
With effect from Friday 01 March 2024, the following services will be in effect.
Colin’s Garage will continue to operate routes E and F serving the Sandy Bay and Blue Hill areas. They will also operate a new route D, providing a bus service to the St Pauls, Half Tree Hollow (HTH), Sandy Bay and Blue Hill areas.
Isaac’s Contractors will operate new routes G and H, providing ‘hop on, hop off’’ bus services for the Longwood and Levelwood areas.
Route B, which serviced the HTH and St Paul’s areas, will temporarily no longer operate as per the current timetables. Please see the table below for further details.
| District | Route | Bus Route |
| Longwood and Levelwood | A and C | Joshua’s Taxis will continue to operate routes A and C from the Longwood and Levelwood areas three times a day to primarily meet the needs of shift workers and others who use these routes. With the exception of the following, here will be no change to the departure and arrival times for these routes operated by Joshua’s Taxis: There will no longer be any late night travel to or from Levelwood and Longwood on Friday and Saturday nights.The Monday to Friday 16:00 journey from Jamestown to Levelwood and Longwood will no longer operate.There will be no public bus service to the airport. |
| Longwood | G | A new route G, operated by Isaac’s Contractors, will depart Bottom Woods Mondays to Saturdays at 09:15 into Jamestown, with the return journey departing Jamestown at 13:05. |
| Levelwood | H | A new route H, operated by Isaac’s Contractors, will depart Bellstone, Levelwood at 09:15 on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays into Jamestown, with the return journey departing Jamestown at 13:05. |
| St Pauls and HTH | D | A new route D, operated by Colin’s Garage, on Mondays, Tuesday, Thursdays and Fridays will depart Jamestown at 08:30 to White Gate, and depart White Gate at 09:05 travelling into Jamestown via Scotland, Rosemary Plain, New Ground, While Wall, Cow Path and Ladder Hill. This route will also call at Thompson’s Hill on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The return journey from the Grand Parade in Jamestown will be at 13:00 to White Gate and then return to Jamestown arriving at 13:54. The additional route D journey on Tuesdays from Jamestown to Plantation House will continue, departing Jamestown at 10:10 and returning via White Gate at 12:35. This can be used by any members of the public wishing to travel from Jamestown through to HTH and White Gate. Customers who live in the White Gate and HTH areas can utilise route E should they wish to travel to Jamestown on Saturday mornings. |
| Sandy Bay and Blue Hill | E and F | Route E will operate on Fridays and Saturdays starting its journey from Sandy Bay arriving at White Gate at approximately 09:57 and departing Jamestown at 13:30. The Monday journey to Half Tree Hollow Clinic will continue also. Route F will operate on the last Thursday of each month, departing Blue Hill Community Centre at 09:00 and the return journey leaving Jamestown at 13:00. |
| St Pauls and HTH | B | It has not been possible to secure the services of any transport provider to operate the existing route B as per the previous timetable. Route B, which serviced the HTH and St Paul’s areas, will temporarily no longer operate as per the current timetables. However a new route D, operated by Colin’s Garage, will cover some of the existing timetabled journeys (See above). In addition: The route B journey currently operated by Joshua’s Taxis departing Jamestown at 07:55 travelling to White Wall, then departing at 08:05 into Jamestown and returning at 16:10 Mondays to Fridays will no longer be available.There will no longer be any late night bus service on Friday and Saturday nights |
An initial agreement has been set for a period of six months, with a review at the three-month point.
Fares will remain the same as currently published for this trial period of operations. Customers are asked to ensure that they are issued with a ticket when paying their fares.
Copies of the new timetables for all routes will be available on the SHG website via https://www.sainthelena.gov.sh/publicservices/publictransportservice/?highlight=bus%20timetable from 01 March 2024.
We recognise that there may be some disruption for some routes and passengers due to these changes. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause. We endeavour to work on a longer term solution for services from September 2024 onwards, and will provide an update on progress made in due course.
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