Britain’s local bus services operator First UK Bus is key partner in two new areas to receive funding from the Department for Transport

Aberdeen, Scotland, 2013-10-16 — /travelprnews.com/ — First UK Bus, the operator of one in five of Britain’s local bus services, is a key partner in two new areas to receive funding from the Department for Transport.

On 10 October the bus minister, Baroness Kramer, revealed the designation of four new Better Bus Areas (BBAs) in Merseyside, York, Nottingham and the West of England Partnership region (comprising Bath, Bristol and South Gloucester).  This follows the announcement in February of the first BBA in Sheffield, where First is also a lead operator.

Managing Director of First UK Bus, Giles Fearnley, said: “We welcome the Department for Transport’s investment in local bus services through Better Bus Area funding.

“Bus passengers in Sheffield, where the first trailblazing BBA was launched, are benefiting from improved and better value services.  Working closely with our partners in the region, First is helping to make bus travel more attractive and, as a result, more passengers are using the bus – we are seeing very encouraging levels of passenger growth, whilst reliability and customer satisfaction scores have increased in the area.

“I’m especially pleased that York and the West of England are to benefit from BBA Funding.  With our local authority partners we pulled together compelling bids with customers at the heart of our proposals. We are very much looking forward to implementing those plans and delivering improved services for bus users in York and the West of England.”

He continued: “Of the five areas across the country that have now secured BBA funding, First has been at the forefront of three.  This reflects how important we consider strong partnerships are to the future success of local bus services. We are determined to foster powerful relationships with our partners everywhere we operate which can help us unlock the full potential of the bus – we are absolutely committed to improving our services and delivering passenger growth.”

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