Durham to benefit from bus service review

• Improved reliability to encourage more people onto buses
• Local authorities committed to delivering better bus prioritymeasures
• Bus drivers consulted for suggestions to enhance serviceprovision
• Some 40,000 Durham homes to receive networkinformation

Changes to bus services in Durham are set to vastly improvepublic transport for thousands of people travelling around thecity.

The programme of changes on Arriva's commercial network followsconsultation with customers, potential customers, local authoritiesand special interest groups across the region to help reflect thereal needs of the people of Durham.

Supporting Arriva's commitment to providing better bus services,local authorities are planning to introduce improved bus prioritymeasures and Durham bus station is set to benefit from betterlighting and more signage to enhance safety and improve its generalambience.

Liz Esnouf, commercial director of Arriva North East, said:

We want to encourage more people to use buses moreoften. These network changes will make travelling by bus withArriva easier, more accessible and a betterexperience.

Durham 's bus network has evolved into a complex andconfusing structure. We're delivering a simplified network withbetter reliability which reflects the real needs of the majority ofpeople in Durham.

She said:

Working in partnership has been key to thedevelopments. Bus priority measures are central to the success oflocal bus services and we're pleased with the positive response ofDurham County Council.

Adrian White, business manager public transport, Durham CountyCouncil, said:

We are supportive of moves by Arriva to simplify thenetwork and share Arriva's confidence that these changes willimprove the reliability of bus services around theCity.

We know that, ideally, people would like a bus passingdown their own street every few minutes or at a time when it suitedthem, but bus operators have to run services economically as wellas efficiently and balance costs with convenience.

We are satisfied that Arriva are taking a realisticapproach to balancing the aspirations of bus travellers and theoperational demands of running a reliable bus service and weconsider that overall, the proposed changes should bring benefitsfor thousands of existing travellers and help to encourage greateruse of public transport in and around Durham City.

Improving service reliability has been a key factor in Arriva'sdevelopments and a central part of the planning process of thereviewed network. Liz said:

Who better to ask about enhancing reliability of ourservices than our drivers? They've been a tremendous help by givingus real, on the road information about conditions and appropriateturnaround times.

One of the improvements includes a new, direct half hourly linkfrom Brandon to Dryburn Hospital in direct response to publicrequests. And all services from Gilesgate will travel alongClaypath, giving people better access to shops.

The upgrading is also reflected on board to create a betterambience as many buses will benefit from refurbished seating. And,following customer feedback, Arriva is also introducing a topquality cleaning regime.

Liz added:

Continually improving standards is a vital part ofmaking bus travel more attractive to more people. We're introducingbetter cleaning performance standards including a regularmonitoring process, and are focusing on attention to detail toensure that we provide our customers with an improved journeyexperience.

Arriva has learned through customer feedback that moreinformation on bus service options would make people more likely touse services. Liz Esnouf said:

In direct response to this, and in partnership with DurhamCounty Council, we will be providing high quality, easy tounderstand information at every bus stop along our routes. We arealso distributing information and bus network maps to around 40,000households around Durham.