Partnership working with local authorities and DfT’s Better Bus Area Fund pays dividends with patronage growth
Bus patronage on a group of Arriva Midlands services has increased by over 10% year-on-year following the works on Lutterworth Road and Aylestone Road from Blaby into Leicester. A number of carriageway and bus service improvements were made. A new brand for bus routes 84, 84A, 85, and 87 was implemented – ‘Breeze into Leicester.’ This will be followed by roadside real-time information signs and smart ticketing.
Under the government’s Better Bus Area Fund, delivered by Leicester City Council and Leicestershire County Council works in 2013 saw:
- Road widening;
- Bus lanes;
- Bus priority junctions;
- New bus shelters with level access; and
- Major routes re-surfaced.
Arriva Midlands supported the project with the introduction of:
- A city centre regulator;
- An enhanced cleaning regime with buses swept off during the daytime;
- Additional staff training through the Driver CPC, NVQ and customer care;
- A robust marketing and publicity programme – including promotion packs, door-drop mailers, local newspaper wraps, road-show events to launch its new brand, Breeze;
- Fares and ticketing offers;
- Development of its commercial products onto smartcard technology;
- Refurbished buses; and
- Real-time information with use of TGX ticket machine technology.
Services 84, 84A, 85 and 87 operated by Arriva Midlands run along Aylestone Road and have been aided by the carriageway enhancements to ensure they continue to run regularly, reliably and punctually.
Passenger growth is now at 10.7% year-on-year which confirms the overall funding secured from the Better Bus Area Fund of £2.5m was spent responsibly improving traffic flows into Leicester, reducing congestion and making bus travel a viable alternative to using the car.
Alex Perry, Regional Managing Director for Arriva Midlands, told CBW: “We’re pleased to have worked in partnership with both the Leicester City Council and Leicestershire County Council in delivering the improvements to Aylestone Road and Lutterworth Road, making bus travel easier. We know there was some disruption to peoples’ journeys during construction work but the end result has benefited the majority.
“Here at Arriva Midlands we are committed to delivering a quality service to our customers and the improvements introduced along these roads will ensure we continue to provide a regular, reliable and robust service that our customers expect and deserve.”
City Mayor, Peter Soulsby, said: “A lot of people were sceptical of this scheme and felt that it wasn’t going to make any difference to bus travel. These figures are great news and just show how by investing in buses and bus provision we can offer people a real alternative to using their cars.”
Peter Osborne, County Council Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport, said: “We are delighted to see that the new Breeze buses and the work carried out on the A426 to reduce bus journey times has encouraged more people to take advantage of the benefits of travelling to and from Leicester by bus.”
