From December 4th, 2023, the 446 route will provide an extended direct bus service to Woking, Staines, Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals, Hatton Cross Underground and Heathrow T4.
Patients and NHS staff will soon have direct access to Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals (ASPH) from Woking.
The changes are an extension to the current 446 service which runs from Monday to Saturday. Service information and real time vehicle tracking is available on the White Bus website or through the White Bus App.
Jonathan Lord MP said: “I am delighted to have secured this fantastic new direct bus service from Woking to Ashford Hospital. Over 3000 local people backed my petition and campaign for this service and it will be of huge benefit to many thousands more. It is particularly important given the increasing numbers of medical appointments that are now taking place at Ashford Hospital.
“With many more hospital appointments being scheduled at Ashford Hospital in recent times, I have been campaigning for the past two years for a direct bus route from Woking to our local hospitals.
“I want to say a massive thank you and well done to Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and to White Bus for listening to residents and for delivering this new route. I have no doubt that it will be a great success and be of huge benefit to patients and to public transport users.”
Simon Marshall, Director of Finance for ASPH said: “These transport changes have been developed in partnership with White Bus and Jonathan Lord, MP for Woking.
“This new extended service will help to meet the needs of the public, providing better access to hospital sites. It also benefits our staff travelling to and from work and between our hospital sites, providing a more frequent and resilient service. The changes also support the Trust’s Travel and Green plans, by reducing the number of cars on the road.
“The extended service also increases the accessibility of Ashford Hospital.
“We also hope that this will assist with our recruitment by widening the bus catchment area to Hatton Cross.”
Simon Rowland, Chief Executive Officer, White Bus said: “We are very pleased to announce the 446-service extension. We have also increased service frequency between Woking and Staines corridor, running approximately every 30 minutes Mondays to Fridays. The Saturday timetable now incorporates several am and pm services to Ashford Hospital.
“There is no change to the current Sunday service timetable for the public, however we will be running a direct “closed” NHS staff only shuttle service between St Peter’s and Ashford Hospital.
"White Bus has invested significantly in new vehicles, which come with USB charging, free Wi-Fi and audible next stop display announcements. These new Euro 6 vehicles provide the best in passenger ride comfort.”
