Arriva boosts bus growth on Merseyside

• One million more journeys now taken on Arriva buses inMerseyside
• £40 million investment over five years has turned peopleon to buses
• Customer focus delivers confidence and growth

Major investment and a commitment to improving the journeyexperience for customers has led to a million more passengerjourneys on Arriva buses in Merseyside.

Figures have this week revealed that the number of trips takenby people on Arriva buses in Merseyside during 2004 increased byone million compared with 2003.

Bob Hind, managing director of the Merseyside-based busoperator, said:

This is very good news. We have made significantimprovements to services over the past five years, with aninvestment of some £40 million in people, facilities and newvehicles in the region. That's a staggering £20,000investment from Arriva every day.

People are beginning to see real, tangible improvementsand I think the increase in those choosing to travel with usreflects this. We have focused strongly on improving the confidencewe want customers to have when using our buses, by working hard ongetting the basics right whilst delivering quality services thatpeople choose to use.

He added:

It is also clear testament to the hard work andcommitment that is shown by some 2,500 people on Merseyside whowork for Arriva.

One of Arriva's biggest investments has been the £5million redevelopment of its depot at Birkenhead. The work createda better working environment for employees and saw state of the artequipment to help maintain buses installed.

Arriva is Merseyside's biggest bus operator, providing around 65per cent of the region's bus services. More than 93 per cent of itsservices operate without any local authority funding.

Note to editors – did you know that inMerseyside:

• Arriva's buses travel some 35 million miles in Merseyside everyyear – that's the equivalent of travelling to the moon and backmore than 70 times;
• Arriva is one of the top five employers with some 2,500employees in Merseyside

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