To celebrate this first anniversary of the MetroConnect Huddersfield FreeTownBus, the service's drivers gave away 365 individual birthday cakes to passengers on Tuesday 30 October.

Huddersfield FreeTownBus was launched on 30 October 2006 by Metro, in partnership with Kirklees Council, The service has since been used by over 250,000 passengers.

Research has shown that the service is particularly useful for people with mobility problems and parents with young children and that it has already encouraged an additional 22,000 shopping trips to Huddersfield centre.

Huddersfield FreeTownBuses run every ten minutes from 7.30am to 7.00pm Monday to Friday and from 8.30am to 5.30pm on Saturdays.

They follow a 1.5 mile route linking key locations around the town centre. Among the 13 stops are the bus and rail stations, Huddersfield University, the Kingsgate Centre and the indoor and outdoor markets.

More details about the service can be found in Metro's Huddersfield FreeTownBus leaflet (597k pdf file) and a video journey of the route can be seen at virtualhuddersfield.

Metro has also set up similar free bus services in Leeds and Wakefield.