National Express West Midlands (NXWM) will take a further step towards restoring its bus network from Sunday 24 May with a major rise in its peak vehicle requirement (PVR).
From that date onwards, the PVR (including operations in Coventry) will grow to 889 from the current 521. That is a 70.6% increase. Improved service levels will be seen in Birmingham and the Black Country. Additionally, eight routes that were earlier suspended will be restarted.
A spokesperson for the operator says that it is carrying out regular monitoring and is asking for and scrutinising customer feedback. That will allow it to make resource tweaks to ensure that safe social distancing can remain in place as passenger numbers rise.
As part of the changes on 24 May, the operator will increase services to 75% of pre-coronavirus COVID-19 levels. New schedules will give an additional 200,000 seats across its network each day. Double-deckers are being used wherever possible to allow for social distancing.
At its lowest point, in April, the NXWM PVR was 487. It increased to 521 on 10 May. Before the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic it stood at 1,355.
