Bus patronage has increased by 10.7% year-on-year following the works on Lutterworth Road and Aylestone Road from Blaby into Leicester.
A raft of carriageway and bus service improvements and a new brand, ‘Breeze into Leicester’, for bus routes 84, 84A, 85, and 87 were implemented along the A426, and will now be followed by roadside real-time signs and smart ticketing.
Under the government’s Better Bus Area Fund, and delivered by Leicester City Council and Leicestershire County Council in 2013, the 2.5m scheme saw:
- Road widening
- Bus lanes
- Bus priority junctions
- New bus shelters with level access
- Major routes re-surfaced.
- Arriva Midlands supported the project with the introduction of:
- A city centre regulator
- Enhanced cleaning regime, with buses swept off during the daytime
- Additional staff training through the national CPC, NVQ and customer care
- A robust marketing and publicity programme – including promotion packs, door-drop mailers, local newspaper wraps and road-show events to launch the Breeze brand
- Fares and ticketing offers
- Smartcard – development of commercial products onto smartcard
- Newer, refurbished buses
- Real Time Information – use of TGX ticket machine technology.
Alex Perry, Regional Managing Director for Arriva Midlands, says: “We’re pleased to have worked in partnership with both the City Council and County Council in delivering the improvements to Aylestone Road and Lutterworth Road, making bus travel easier.â€
