The residents of Netherneon- the-Hill in Coulsdon will be able to get out and about in their own community bus soon, thanks to the efforts of their Residents' Association.

The village has a population of around 2,000 but is located one mile from the nearest bus stop. Coulsdon South Station is over 2.5 miles away. As a result, many residents rely on cars to get to the local towns or to commute to work. Although some school bus services are provided to Netherne, many parents do school runs, and some residents have to use local taxi services, or walk to the bus stop.

Rajen Shah of the Netherne Residents' Association said: "We have been working with Netherne Management Limited to study options for meeting our transport need. We concluded some time ago that the best solution for the village was to provide a community minibus, but it has taken time to initiate this. We are pleased to report significant progress – we have seen a bus we are interested in and we now have the funds to purchase the bus and the required license to operate it."

The plan is for a weekday service, mornings and evenings, from Netherne Drive to Coulsdon South Station and Coulsdon High Street and back again. It would operate on a pre-pay ticket system.

Rajen said: "All we need now is drivers and with a fair wind, we hope that the service will become operational in early 2012."

The recruitment process is under way for drivers. Please see the advertisement for more details.