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A ground-breaking ^666,000 taxibus scheme has been launched across north Plymouth, with its backers saying it's the shape of things to come for the city's public transport (link below.)
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Six specially-built red-and-yellow taxibuses are now patrolling around Crownhill, Derriford, Estover and Belliver for almost 14 hours a day to form the Northern Connect service.

The seven-seater vehicles, run by private hire firm Taxifast, will be backed by two 24-seat rush-hour buses supplied by Target Travel.

The city council scheme, paid for with ^350,000 from the Department of Transport's Urban Bus Challenge Grant and ^316,000 from Section 106, was started on Monday.

It won't compete with established bus routes, but will provide a complementary service around previously inaccessible and uneconomical back streets and industrial estates.

Transport bosses said that if the three-year pilot was a success the scheme would be continued and could be rolled out across the entire city.