Tamworth to airport services given Kickstart investment by DfT

Arriva Midlands is delighted to offer new links betweenTamworth, Kingsbury, Coleshill and Birmingham International Airport– thanks to Kickstart funding worth some £450,000 fromthe Department for Transport. The new service will be called 767and will start in April 2006.

Catherine Mason, managing director for Arriva Midlands,said:

We are delighted these new links are receivinginvestment, including brand new low floor easy access vehicles tothe route and giving even better access to customers withdisabilities and parents with pushchairs.

Kickstart funding is designed to allow new routes to beoffered in the hope that passenger demand will follow – weare confident that more and more customers will take thisopportunity to choose the bus when travelling to the airport– and beyond!

The service will also call at Hams Hall business park,potentially opening up new employment opportunities for residentsof Tamworth, Dosthill and Kingsbury.

Full details of the NEW service will be available from Arriva'scustomer helpline on 08701 201088 early next year. Timetables willalso be available on the websitewww.arrivabus.co.uk nearer thestart date.

Notes to editors:

• 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 journeys everyyear.
• Arriva provides transport services including buses, trains,commuter coaches and water buses in eight European countries –Denmark, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and 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.