Arriva announce £2.4m investment in Watford bus network

Bus services in Watford are set to receive a massiveboost thanks to a number of innovations unveiled today by localoperator Arriva the Shires and Essex.

Top of the list is a massive £2.4m investment in a fleetof 21 brand new, modern, low floor buses, a network review thatwill see some routes simplified and a number of key servicesincrease in frequency and changes to the range of Day, Weekly and4-weekly tickets which offer discounts for regular travellers.

The fleet of new buses will arrive over the next six months,with the first batch of vehicles due in April. These vehicles willoffer easy access for the elderly and less mobile, while parentswith young children will be delighted to hear that they are buggyfriendly with push chairs being able to be wheeled straight ontothe bus without disturbing the child.

The first of the above vehicles will be allocated to servicesW7, W9, which serve Borehamwood, and W30, which runs to the WatfordBusiness Park in Caxton Way.

The second batch of vehicles, which are due to arrive in thelate summer, will be allocated to routes 321 which goes to StAlbans, Harpenden and Luton Airport and the cross town service 10which links Holywell and Woodside via the town centre.

In April improvements will be introduced to a numberof bus routes in the town with improvements to a number of keyroutes: service 10 will be simplified and will offer a 15 minutefrequency along its entire route, service 1 will run every 15minutes Monday to Friday, there will be changes to service 8 toimprove punctuality while service 321 will benefit from an enhancedfrequency. Details of the network revision will be available via onbus posters and atwww.arrivabus.co.uk.

Commenting, Arriva the Shires and Essex head of operations westNick Knox said:

Our plans for Watford in 2007 will help deliver a realstep change in public transport for the town.

We believe that new buses, simpler routes, easy to buytickets and enhanced frequencies will help attract more people ontoour services.

We are looking forwards to working in partnership withlocal stakeholders to ensure that using the bus is the best way toget out and about in the Watford area.