Arriva’s £2.4m investment makes using the bus a breeze!

Monday 31 October will see a real step change for publictransport in the area as Arriva launches a fleet of new andrefurbished buses on Luton and Dunstable's core bus network.

The massive £2.4 million investment will see theintroduction of 19 brand new easy access buggy friendly buses forMarsh Farm Service 27 and Lewsey Farm/Dunstable Service 38.

A further 20 buses, all of which are easy access, have enjoyed acomplete makeover and these fully refurbished buses will be used tooperate the Stopsley Service 12 and the Dunstable/Leighton BuzzardService 31.

Our investment will make using the bus abreeze

said Arriva the Shires and Essex commercial director, BrianDrury,

With buses on our main routes running every 10 to 12minutes people can just turn up and go, it's so simple you don'teven need a timetable.

Our aim is to make using the bus easy,

added Mr Drury,

And, with high frequencies on five core routes, colourcoded buses and great value Day, Weekly and 4 Weekly ArrivaTickets, which offer unlimited travel on all buses in the Luton andDunstable area, I believe that we're achieving justthat.

The investment in new buses and increased frequencies will besupported by a massive marketing drive in an aim to cut downcongestion and pollution and encourage more people onto publictransport.

The campaign will see billboards, bus stop and telephone boxadverts throughout the area used to inform people about theimprovements and leaflets and timetables distributed to thousandsof homes.

Luton Borough Council has welcomed the investment by Arriva andhead of engineering and transportation Mehmood Khan said,

We are delighted to see Arriva's level of commitment topublic transport in Luton

and added,

We share that commitment and we will be making a seriesof improvements to bus stops and waiting facilities along routesserved by the new buses.

New bus shelters, real-time information displays, betterenforcement of parking restrictions at bus stops and bus priorityat road junctions are all part of a package of measures to makeusing buses more attractive which will be implemented over the nextfive years.

An attractive and frequent bus service is essential ifwe are to persuade people to leave their cars at home

said Mr Khan.

We need to reduce congestion, reduce pollution andreduce accidents and the only way to do this is to reduce thenumber of cars on our roads. Working in partnership with Arriva toprovide the best possible bus service is the way to tacklecongestion and avoid gridlock.

From 31 October Service 12 to Stopsley and Service 27 Marsh Farmwill also see an increase in frequency with buses every 10 minutesduring the main part of the day Monday to Saturday.

The above routes will join Service 9 to Runfold and Service 31to Dunstable which already enjoy a 10 minute frequency and theLewsey Farm/Dunstable Service 38 which operates up to every 12minutes, to provide a 'turn up and go' core bus network forLuton.

Notes to editors

• Representatives from Arriva will be in Market Hill all day onWednesday 26 October to give customers information about theservice.
• Arriva is one of the largest private sector providers ofpassenger transport in mainland Europe. Employing more than 30,000people and providing more than one billion passenger juorneys everyyear.
• Arriva provides transport services including buses, trains,commuter coaches and water buses in eight European countries –Denmark, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Swedenand the UK.
• Arriva is the largest private bus operator in Italy, Denmarkand the Netherlands and is London's largest operator. Arriva wasthe first private company to be awarded rail contracts inDenmark.
• In the last five years, the turnover of Arriva's mainlandEuropean operations has increase by more than 250 per cent to£514.8 million (Euro €746 million).
• Arriva was the first UK transport company to become a signatoryof the European Road Safety Charter –http://europa.eu.int/comm/transport/roadsafety/charter.htm.