£80m fast buses vision will link cities and spark jobs expansion

Two separate "bus rapid transit", or BRT routes, are planned – a "southern" route which would travel along Sheffield Parkway and to Rotherham via the proposed new town at Waverley, and a "northern" route which would travel to Rotherham via Meadowhall and underneath the M1 motorway on a new road called the Tinsley Link.

At a meeting of the South Yorkshire Integrated Transport Authority in Barnsley today, members are set to approve the submission of a "major scheme business case" to the Department for Transport for the scheme.

After the business case is submitted by Sheffield and Rotherham councils and the South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive, conditional approval for both routes could be granted in the spring of 2012, and they would be included in the Government's list of potential transport schemes.

Full approval could then follow a year later, work on both projects could begin in May 2013 and the first passengers could then be using the southern route by August 2014 and the northern route by February 2015. The BRT plans were drawn up after transport bosses were asked by the Government to come up with a cheaper and more viable alternative to the proposed 100m Supertram extension.

Transport executive director general David Brown said: "BRT will be an important addition to our transport infrastructure between Rotherham and Sheffield.

"These schemes will provide sustainable transport to allow development in the Lower Don Valley and Waverley sites.

"Good public transport is essential to enable economic development and these schemes will enable jobs and houses to be developed in years to come."

As well as improving transport links between Sheffield and Rotherham, the BRT scheme is set to benefit the local economy by improving access to designated regeneration and employment sites.

The BRT northern route alone, which serves "strategic employment areas" in the Lower Don Valley, has been predicted to bring in excess of 200m of investment into the local economy.

The scheme would also provide important access to the planned new town at Waverley which, when complete, is set to include almost 4,000 homes and 60,000 sq m of new government offices.

A 1,000 space park and ride site at Waverley is included in the plans for the southern route, as well as a dedicated BRT lane inbound on the Sheffield Parkway, to help commuters travelling into Sheffield.

Sheffield Council cabinet member for transport Coun

Ian Auckland said: "As local people know, we had originally wanted to look at an extension of the Supertram but the Department for Transport didn't view this as being good value for money.

"The BRT scheme provides an alternative to the tram broadly meeting the same objectives. There will, of course, be even more consultation on this important project so that local people can help shape a service that works for them.

"It is vital that the scheme we hopefully deliver works for the city region as a whole, providing investment and jobs to our local economy."

Consultation has already been carried out on the scheme and a Sheffield Council spokesman said that the "great majority" of respondents said they thought both Rotherham and Sheffield would benefit.

Further consultation with residents and businesses is set to take place later this year.