CLITHEROE'S new £500,000 Bus and Rail Interchange opens on Monday - taking public transport in the Ribble Valley into the 21st century.

The interchange integrates local bus and rail services and provides secure cycle parking, a park and ride scheme and up-to-date links with transport operators to ensure that services are running to time. The development of the Station Road site (pictured) cost £484,100 and took five months to complete.

Planning began 18 months ago and funding was secured from Lancashire County Council, the Department for the Environment, Transport and the Regions through the Rural Bus Challenge, the Countryside Agency, Ribble Valley Borough Council, the East Lancashire Partnership and public transport operators.

The service includes updating timetables to ensure better bus and rail connections and the interchange will be managed by staff in the control centre office, who will be able to arrange alternative journeys and give information on delayed services.

A free leaflet has been produced giving details of the improved bus shelters and the new Quality Bus service, which will bring new low-floor, easy access buses and improved bus shelters to the C5 and C15 services for Waddington and West Bradford.

Quality Bus will be extended to cover the villages of Grindleton, Sawley, Chatburn and Downham in the near future.

Funding of almost £300,000 has also been secured for the first three years of the operation and a further stage in the project will be the introduction of through fares. Lancashire's highways chairman County Councillor Richard Toon, said: "The interchange is an ambitious project which I am sure will bring enormous benefits for Ribble Valley travellers.

"The project has generated a great deal of interest across Lancashire and people will now be looking to see how successful the interchange will be.

"It is pleasing to see that all the hard work put in by the partners has come to fruition. I am sure that the interchange will provide an excellent example of integrated transport and will prove that this approach really is the way forward."

Chris Kolek, transport spokesman for the Countryside Agency in the North West, added: "We are delighted that the Rural Transport Development Fund will help to create a modern interchange facility in Clitheroe.

"Improving the quality and co-ordination of public transport in rural areas can help to overcome problems of physical isolation and social exclusion. For those without access to a car, it will make it easier to take up opportunities in employment, training and education, as well as providing the means to visit friends and relatives.

"For those who use a car out of necessity, the interchange will help to offer greater choice by providing an attractive alternative to the car."

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