A NEW bus service is to be launched to help staff and visitors reach businesses in the East End and South Lanarkshire built in recent years.

The Clyde Gateway service called CG1will offer hourly buses between Rutherglen Town Centre and Carmyle Station by way of Shawfield, Bridgeton, Dalmarnock and the Clyde Gateway business park in Auchenshuggle.

It will start on Monday and will run every Monday to Friday between 6am and 6pm to serve various commercial, office and industrial developments.

Ian Manson, chief executive of the regeneration agency, said: "Ever increasing numbers of local residents are obtaining job and training opportunities across the Clyde Gateway area and the main aim of the new bus service is to make it easier for them to get from their homes to their places of work in an affordable and comfortable way."

"At the same time, the route of CG1 links to and from four railway stations at Rutherglen, Bridgeton, Dalmarnock and Carmyle and in doing so it improves the already excellent options available to those who come here to work by public transport.

"We have been working quietly behind the scenes with our partners for some time on a range of ideas for better and sustainable transport options to support and complement the huge investment that has already been made or is in the pipeline for the coming years.

"This specially branded bus, which we have purchased through the Bus Investment Fund managed by Transport Scotland, will serve a number of locations such as Rutherglen Industrial Estate and Clyde Gateway East that are not presently covered by existing services, as well as offering a direct link from the Athletes Village to a whole range of other new developments right across the area.

"It is yet another example of Clyde Gateway looking to be innovative and imaginative in our regeneration efforts and how we are already planning ahead for the continued developments we are anticipating, especially around the areas of Shawfield and South Dalmarnock where we intend to capitalise on the outstanding success of the new Police Scotland building which has brought 1100 jobs to a prime site on the banks of the Clyde."

The service, which will be run by Community Transport Glasgow on behalf of Clyde Gateway, is guaranteed to be in place for the next four years.

The first service will leave from Queen Street in Rutherglen at 6am each day, arriving at Carmyle Station after a journey lasting 26 minutes with the first of the return journeys being at 6.27am.

The service will run to a regular hourly timetable with the last departures being 6pm from Rutherglen and 6.27pm from Carmyle.

There will be two fare levels on CG1 with a charge of £1 for short journeys and £1.50 for longer journeys. Children under 5 will travel free while those aged 5-16 will be eligible for half-price fares.

Anyone holding the National Entitlement Card for Concessionary Travel will be eligible travel for free and the bus will also accept users of the SPT Zonecard.

The service however, will be free of charge to all users for a three-week period from Monday June 1 to Friday June 19, with fares coming into operation on Monday June 22.

Further details, including a timetable, detailed route and fares table, can be downloaded from the Clyde Gateway website.

Copies are also available from a range of public offices and buildings including the Clyde Gateway offices at Bridgeton Cross, the public libraries in Rutherglen and Bridgeton, Rutherglen Town Hall, and the Bridgeton Community Learning Campus in Dale Street."