Jonathan Welch takes a trip from Leicester to Coventry aboard Arriva Midlands’ X6
In last week’s issue, I began a short series of features looking at the winners of the Top Express Service category award at November’s UK Bus Awards – sponsored by CBW. My first trip took me for a trip along the Clyde aboard McGill’s Clyde Flyer, winner of the Silver Award. Now, the Bronze Award winner, Arriva’s X6 between Leicester and Coventry, takes its turn under the CBW microscope.
As I did last week, I started off thinking like a regular passenger, and did what I imagine most people would do: I had a look online to find timetable details. My expectations were low, as I’d heard in the past poor reports about Arriva’s website and timetables. So I was pleasantly surprised that the very first search result was a PDF format timetable for the route. Simple, straightforward and informative, it did the job perfectly, though a creatively-designed brochure it wasn’t.
Unlike in Scotland, this time I was able to avail myself of the £2 fares scheme, making the journey of over an hour very good value. The coach – for Arriva uses actual coaches on this route – departs from St Margaret’s Bus Station in Leicester, one of two closely-related such facilities in the city. The other, Haymarket, is just a few minutes’ walk away, and both are modern and welcoming facilities with easy access to information screens and boards.
Every second bus takes a detour to serve the mid-way point of Hinckley, adding around 20 minutes on to the schedule, and whilst buses depart hourly from Leicester, times at the Coventry end are adjusted to allow for this, giving departures at 20 or 40 minutes past alternate hours. To maximise efficiency, buses, which serve Hinckley in one direction miss it out in the other, keeping round trips to equal lengths.
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