People in the West Midlands wanting to hit the shops for the Christmas sales or visit family on Boxing Day will be able to use the bus for the fifth year running thanks to Centro-WMPTA, the region's public transport promoter.

A total of 140 bus services across the West Midlands will be operating to a special timetable on December 26 – over 10 per cent more than last year. The Midland Metro will run at a 20 minute frequency from 10am – 6pm.

 It means people will be able to use buses and trams everyday except Christmas Day throughout the festive period. Trains will have a two day scheduled break.

Ring & Ride, the charity which provides transport for elderly and disabled people who cannot use conventional public transport, will run every day including Christmas Day when it will pick up registered users who are disabled.

Yesterday (Monday Dec 17), in the House of Commons, Centro-WMPTA was praised for ensuring there was a decent level of bus services during the Christmas holidays and calls issued for other areas to follow suit.

Councillor Gary Clarke, Chairman of Centro-WMPTA said: “I am very pleased that thanks to all our hard work over the last five years, and through our partnership with operators, we have been able to keep services running over the festive period.

“Figures show that nearly half of people who use public transport at this time of year do so to visit family and friends, which shows how important these services are in bringing people together during the Christmas holidays.

“They also play a vital role in improving accessibility to shops and healthcare to the people who need it most.”

Latest figures released by Centro-WMPTA show that the number of people hopping on board Boxing Day bus services soared by almost 25 per cent last year.

 For two decades up to 2002, there were no Boxing Day services until Centro-WMPTA decided to pay for vehicles to operate on key routes.

So many people used these services that bus companies now operate many of the routes on a commercial basis.

These are complimented by other essential bus services still subsidised by Centro-WMPTA to create a more integrated and complete network for Boxing Day.

Other areas across the country are now following Centro-WMPTA’s example, withWest Yorkshiretrying out Boxing Day bus services for the first time this year.

Details of public transport services over the festive period including Boxing Day timetables can be found atwww.networkwestmidlands.com