Arriva UK Bus

Earlier this year we invested in 24 zero-emission electric buses at our Leicester depot, a further 25 electric buses are now expected to be introduced at the depot following announcement of the second phase of ZEBRA (Zero-emission Bus Regional Areas) scheme as part of the Leicester Buses Partnership between Arriva, other bus operators and the City Council. Our new buses represent part of the 134 electric buses across Leicester, making 50% of the city’s core commercial network now electric. So far, £60.5million has been invested in the Leicester Buses Partnership, of this, we have invested £7.7m, £22m came from The DfT which has funded 116 of the 134 buses through the ZEBRA programme. Alistair Hands, Managing Director (Regions), said “We are very proud of what we achieved but we know there is more to be done. It’s one thing to electrify a bus, but the benefits are truly realised when that bus is full of passengers, helping to reduce the number of cars on the road.”

To celebrate the upcoming extension of our 477 service we were joined today by Laura Trott (MP for Sevenoaks), Michael Horwood (Leader of Swanley Town Council), Ryan Hayman (Swanley Town Council), Perry Cole (County Council Member for Swanley & Hextable), George Holt & Av Sandhu (Dartford Borough Councillors). The service will be extended to run to Darent Valley Hospital and Bluewater via Watling Street, off-peak Monday to Friday and Saturdays from Monday 29th July. https://lnkd.in/eQArQXHs

Arriva UK Bus is prepared for the future. Our Regional MD, Alistair Hands, discusses our dedication to collaborating with the new government to ensure passengers "Think Bus." In an interview with Passenger Transport, he outlines our short- and long-term goals. Read the full article below:

Did you know one double-decker bus can take up to 75 cars off our roads, and one coach can remove up to 50? Buses and coaches are integral, connecting millions of people, cutting traffic and reducing air pollution. That’s why we’re supporting #BetterTransportWeek, a week-long celebration of better, greener, fairer transport and investing in the environmental agenda with our growth marketing campaign ‘There’s a bus for that’ to drive patronage on buses across the industry. Check out our new TV ad, which aims at doing just that, over on our YouTube channel.  #betterbybus 🚍💚 Campaign for Better Transport

We have just launched our first ever TV advert as part of a long-running marketing campaign! 🤩 ‘There’s a bus for that’ aims to encourage passengers who normally travel by car and other modes of transport to consider using the bus to get from A to B. The overall campaign is aimed at not just highlighting us, but at changing people’s behaviour and encouraging them to travel by bus – putting bus front of mind. Initial research insights showed that to deliver real behaviour change emotional engagement was key, which is why There’s a Bus for That focuses on how the journey will connect people with where they want to go and the loved ones they want to be with. The ad has launched across Merseyside, Luton and Milton Keynes as a pilot project and is being shown in cinemas and on-demand streaming services. We hope you love it as much as we do! 💙

Last week we ferried some special guests around Liverpool and across the Mersey as part of an initiative to combat loneliness among pensioners. We teamed up with Inspired Friendships, a befriending service run by later living operator Inspired Villages , to show participants the sights and sounds of Liverpool. Around 30 participants boarded an electric double-decker bus and were treated to a special day out. They were taken to Sefton Park’s stunning Victorian Palm House, then onto The Beatles Story Museum at the Albert Dock, before rounding off the day with a River Mersey cruise, courtesy of Mersey Ferries. It was the first time that we have launched the Friendship Bus in Liverpool, as you may have seen from previous posts, we already successfully provided Friendship Bus transport in the South of England. We love being able to partner with and support Inspired Friendships, they carry out vital work to ensure older people don’t feel isolated👭 💙

We are really excited to have partnered with Blink - The Frontline Experts to better connect with our people and improve the employee experience for our 13,500 UK employees. Our new frontline app provides every Arriva employee with digital access to everything they need to manage their day, with relevant and timely information supporting greater engagement and service delivery across our teams. Over the past few weeks, we have been visiting depots up and down the country to speak to employees to get them set up with Blink, and within weeks we've had 93% active users!

Winners!🏆🎉We’re thrilled that Arriva won a prestigious industry award for a road safety campaign in Merseyside. The Stop and Stay Campaign won Campaign of the Year at last night’s Safety and Health Excellence Awards🥳 The hard-hitting campaign is aimed at encouraging pedestrians to wait to cross the road after getting off a bus and since it launched, there’s been a huge reduction in collisions. The Stop and Stay | Arriva Bus UK campaign features posters, video and a CCTV clip released to the media showing part of a collision in which a schoolboy was struck by a car after leaving a bus. We’re delighted to have been recognised by the health and safety industry for this work, but it was never about winning awards – it was about keeping our customers safe and that work carries on. Arriva Merseyside had also been shortlisted in the #SHEAwards for the best risk driver management performance category.

We’re pleased to share that Arriva Bus Merseyside have been shortlisted for the Large Operator of the Year and Outstanding Customer Experience categories in the Routeone Awards! The awards, organised by the bus and coach trade title, are long-established, greatly respected and acknowledged throughout the industry as a mark of excellence. We are over the moon to have been nominated! The winners will be announced at a presentation evening in November 🤞

Last weekend marked the 26th year of Arriva transporting racegoers to and from the Aintree festival in Liverpool and we had 3 very busy days with the Grand National hosting around 60,000 racegoers at Aintree Racecourse on the final day of the event alone!🐎🚍 We’d like to thank all of those who chose to travel by bus and our operational and driving teams for ensuring our services ran like clockwork, thank you to everyone involved!😃💚