Doncaster's geographical location gives it some of the best transport facilities for a town of its size. Road links to the A1(M) motorway and the M18 motorway and M62 motorway allow fast and easy journey times to many area of the UK and surrounding cities and towns. The UK's newest International Airport, Robin Hood Doncaster Sheffield opened in April 2005 and offers flights to destinations in Europe, and the United Kingdom.
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The town is located close to the M18 Motorway, A1(M) Motorway, M62 motorway and the M1 motorway roads.
Doncaster bus transport runs under the South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive. The largest operator in the town is First, who are closely followed by Stagecoach. Other companies who operate in and around the town include Wilfreda Beehive, Veolia Transportation and Arriva Yorkshire.
South Yorkshire Transport (SYT) was formed in 1986, as a result of deregulation of bus services in the UK. The South Yorkshire PTE was no longer allowed to operate buses itself, so an arms length operating company was created.
SYT operated buses in and around Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield.
The company was eventually sold to its employees in 1993, and it became Mainline Group Limited. It was bought by First Group in 1998, at first operating as First Mainline but now operating as First South Yorkshire.
SYT's head office was located on Amos Road in Meadowhall and at the time of the company's formation its central works was located on Queens Road in Sheffield, although this later closed.
Buses in Doncaster were based at two garages in the borough.
The main depot was the former Doncaster Corporation garage on Leicester Avenue, close to Doncaster Racecourse. In the 1980s, a new workshop building was erected at the rear of the yard behind the garage. In the early 1990s, the main depot building was demolished and the land sold. This made way for a new Wickes DIY store. The new workshop, yard and small section of the old garage building, which contained a bus-wash facility, remained. The only access to the smaller depot was now on Leger Way.
The second garage, which was much smaller, was on Bootham Lane in Dunscroft. This has been sold off and cleared to make way for a housing estate.
Doncaster Mainline buses were represented in a silver grey and red livery relieved by a light yellow band. The company was generally popular with passengers, and boasted an extensive network with low fares and modern vehicles. Mainline was sold to its employees in 1993, though Stagecoach bought a 20% stake in the company not long after. This had to be sold off in 1995, at which point the newly created FirstBus took the 20%.
Mainline was taken over by First Group in 1998, and became First Mainline. The livery became just red and yellow, a reminiscence of the original 1989 Sheffield mainline livery. The name was altered again to First South Yorkshire. Since about 2000, vehicles began being repainted in First Group corporate livery (nicknamed "Barbie"). There are three versions of the "Barbie": Barbie 1 was the main corporate livery, Barbie 2 was a livery intended for buses pre 1998 but this livery is being slowly phased out and Barbie 3 is a revised version of Barbie 1.
Stagecoach Yorkshire Services in Doncaster:
Note: Some services may be operated by Stagecoach in Lincolnshire
| No. | Branding | Route | Mon-Fri Frequency | Saturday Frequency | Sunday Frequency |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 42 | Dearne Link | Doncaster - Cusworth - Scawsby | 20 Mins | 20 Mins | 60 Mins |
| 220 | Dearne Link | Doncaster - Conisbrough - Mexborough - Wath Upon Dearne - Rotherham | 30 Mins | 30 Mins | 60 Mins |
| 221 | Dearne Link | Doncaster - Conisbrough - Mexborough - Swinton - Rotherham | 30 mins | 60 Mins | 60 Mins |
| 222 | Dearne Link | Doncaster - Conisbrough - Mexborough - Wath Upon Dearne - Wombwell - Barnsley | 30 mins | 60 mins | 60 mins |
| 224 | Dearne Link | Doncaster - Sprotbrough - High Melton - Goldthorpe - Bolton Upon Dearne - Mexborough | 30 mins | 30 mins | 60 mins |
| 219 | Dearne Link | Doncaster - Cusworth - Scawsby - Goldthorpe - Thurnscoe - Darfield - Barnsley | 30 mins | 60 mins | 60 mins |
| X19 | Dearne Link | Robin Hood Airport - Doncaster - Scawsby - Goldthorpe - Darfield - Barnsley | 60 mins | 60 mins | 60 mins |
| 99 | None | Retford - Ranskill - Doncaster Racecourse - Doncaster | 60 mins | 60 mins | N/A |
| 29 | None | Doncaster - Bawtry - Harworth - Blyth - Retford | 60 mins (Approx) | 120 mins | N/A |
| 21/25 | None | Doncaster - Bawtry - Harworth - Blyth (25) - Carlton in Lindrick (21) - Worksop | 30 mins | 30 mins | 60 mins |
| 22 | None | Doncaster - Wadworth - Tickhill - Oldcotes - Langold - Carlton in Lindrick - Worksop | 30 mins | 30 mins | 60 mins |
Other companies include Stagecoach in Bassetlaw, Stagecoach in Lincolnshire, Isle Coaches, Veolia, Arriva, Wilfreda Beehive and South Yorkshire Motors.
Doncaster railway station is situated on the East Coast Main Line allowing fast and frequent access to all parts of Great Britain. The station is served by the largest number of train operators in Britain and Doncaster PSB is one of the largest signalling centres on the network, controlling hundreds of route miles of railway.
Destinations:
Northbound: From Doncaster - York, Darlington, Durham, Newcastle Central, Morpeth, Alnmouth, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Dunbar to Edinburgh Waverley
Southbound: From Doncaster - Retford, Newark North Gate, Grantham, Peterborough, Stevenage - to London Kings Cross
From Doncaster - Wakefield Westgate - to Leeds
From Doncaster - Retford, Newark North Gate, Grantham, Peterborough, Stevenage - to London Kings Cross
From Doncaster - Bentley, Adwick, South Elmsall, Fitzwilliam, Sandal & Agbrigg, Wakefield Westgate, Outwood - to Leeds
From Doncaster - Kirk Sandall, Hatfield and Stainforth, Thorne North, Goole, Saltmarshe, Gilberdyke, Brough, Ferriby, Hessle - to Hull
From Doncaster - Conisbrough, Mexborough, Swinton, Rotherham Central, Meadowhall - to Sheffield
From Doncaster - Wakefield Westage - to Leeds
From Doncaster - Meadowhall, Sheffield, Chesterfield, Belper, Derby, Long Eaton, Loughborough, Leicester, Market Harborough, Kettering, Wellingborough, Bedford, Luton, Luton Airport Parkway - to London St Pancras
Service also extends to York and Scarborough.
From Doncaster - Gainsborough, Saxilby - to Lincoln
From Doncaster - Meadowhall, Sheffield, Dore, Chinley, Stockport, Manchester Piccadilly, Mauldeth Road, Burnage, East Didsbury, Gatley, Heald Green - to Manchester Airport
Service also extends eastbound to Cleethorpes via Scunthorpe, Barnetby, Habrough and Grimsby Town
From Doncaster - Selby, Howden, Brough - to Hull
From Doncaster - Retford, Grantham - to London Kings Cross
From Doncaster - York, Darlington, Durham, Chester-le-Street - to Newcastle'
From Doncaster - Sheffield, Derby, Burton-on-Trent, Tamworth, Birmingham New Street, Cheltenham Spa, Bristol Parkway -to Bristol Temple Meads
Robin Hood Doncaster Sheffield Airport commenced operation on April 28, 2005. The airport was created following the redevelopment of the former RAF station RAF Finningley, that had closed in 1994. The airport serves many destinations through principal carrier Thomson Airways as well as other carriers including Wizz Air and Ryanair. During its first year of operation, at the airports peak in 2007 in handled 1,078,374 passengers.In 2010 it handled 876,153 passengers.
The town also lies within reasonable driving distances of Manchester International Airport, Leeds Bradford International Airport, East Midlands Airport and Humberside Airport.
With the good rail and road links from the town, travel time to the Port of Hull can be achieved in under an hour. From Hull, P&O Ferries run services to Rotterdam in the Netherlands and Zeebrugge in Belgium.