Press releases

Arriva and Medway Council are delighted to announce nearly £600,000 of investment to improve the frequency of the 176 service from Walderslade and Gillingham to Chatham as a result of Kickstart funding announced today by the Department for Transport. Improvements to the service will now be implemented early next year.

Kevin Hawkins, commercial director for Arriva Southern Counties, said:

We are delighted this popular route will receive further investment, including a more frequent 12-minute timetable, giving even better access to hospital visitors and customers with disabilities and parents with pushchairs.

In recent years, Arriva has invested heavily in improving bus services in the Medway towns and we are delighted that the Department for Transport has provided Kickstart funding to help Arriva and the local Council working in partnership to continue to improve this important bus service.

Councillor Phil Filmer, Medway Council's portfolio holder for Front Line Services said:

We are equally delighted to have received this funding to enable a further improvement in this important bus service for Medway. This will serve a number of key growth areas and help to provide an attractive alternative to the car. We look forward to working together to achieve these improvements.

Full details of the improved service will be available nearer the start date.

Notes to editors

• Arriva is one of the largest private sector providers of passenger transport in mainland Europe. Employing more than 30,000 people and providing more than one billion passenger journeys every year.
• 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, Denmark and the Netherlands and is London's largest operator. Arriva was the first private company to be awarded rail contracts in Denmark.
• In the last five years, the turnover of Arriva's mainland European 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 signatory of the European Road Safety Charter – http://europa.eu.int/comm/transport/roadsafety/charter.htm.