VILLAGERS will get a direct bus link to Newcastle in time for the Christmas shopping rush.
Stanley Buses plan to extend the route of the MC1, which runs from Lanchester to Gateshead's MetroCentre, to the city's Eldon Square bus station.
The company intends to introduce the extended hourly service on Monday, November 14.
The bus calls at Stanley bus station and villages including Maiden Law, Burnhope, Quaking Houses, South Moor, Annfield Plain, Catchgate, Harelaw, Flint Hill and Burnopfield.
Operations manager Andrew Goodchild said: "We used to run the service from Stanley to the MetroCentre and then we extended it to Burnhope, Quaking Houses and Lanchester.
"Since we have done that, we have had requests to go on from the MetroCentre into Newcastle.
"There is a Go Northern service that runs to Newcastle from Lanchester, but there is nothing direct from Burnhope and Quaking Houses.
"It is a commercial service and it is not subsidised, so we are hopeful that there will be a lot of passengers. We are planning to introduce it and see how it goes."
Timetable information is available by calling 0870 046 0659, or by visiting the company's website at www.stan leybuses.co.uk
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