Rutland County Council will be offering free one-way and return travel on all its local bus routes in December – including Saturdays – when passengers board in Rutland after 9am.

This means that all bus journeys starting in Rutland after 9am will be free, whether they end inside or outside the County. Tickets for journeys bought anywhere outside the County and finishing in Rutland will be priced as normal.

Free Christmas shopping bus

There will also be free return travel on three city buses to Nottingham, Peterborough and Leicester on the following dates:

• Saturday 9th December – Nottingham

• Saturday 16th December – Peterborough

• Saturday 23rd December – Leicester

Each of the three buses will collect passengers from Langham, Barleythorpe, Oakham, Gunthorpe, Preston and Uppingham, before travelling on to their destination. Dates for these buses are as follows, with specific timetable information to be published on the RCCs website and at bus stops in the near future.

Free parking for Christmas markets and Small Business Saturday

• Saturday 2nd December – Small Business Saturday (all car parks, all day)

• Thursday 7th December – Uppingham Christmas Market (Uppingham car parks only, 3.00pm onwards)

• Monday 11th December – Oakham Late Night Shopping (Oakham car parks only, 3.00pm onwards)

This initiative forms part of Rutland’s Bus Service Improvement Plan, which was approved by the RCC Cabinet in September and has secured national funding specifically intended to encourage greater use of public transport.

Any residents who have questions about these initiative can direct them the Transport Team at RCC by emailing: transport@rutland.gov.uk or for parking parkingmanagement@rutland.gov.uk or by calling: 01572 722 577.