Press releases
Arriva announce £2.4m investment in Watford bus network
26 March 2007
Bus services in Watford are set to receive a massive boost thanks to a number of innovations unveiled today by local operator Arriva the Shires and Essex.
Top of the list is a massive £2.4m investment in a fleet of 21 brand new, modern, low floor buses, a network review that will see some routes simplified and a number of key services increase in frequency and changes to the range of Day, Weekly and 4-weekly tickets which offer discounts for regular travellers.
The fleet of new buses will arrive over the next six months, with the first batch of vehicles due in April. These vehicles will offer easy access for the elderly and less mobile, while parents with young children will be delighted to hear that they are buggy friendly with push chairs being able to be wheeled straight onto the bus without disturbing the child.
The first of the above vehicles will be allocated to services W7, W9, which serve Borehamwood, and W30, which runs to the Watford Business Park in Caxton Way.
The second batch of vehicles, which are due to arrive in the late summer, will be allocated to routes 321 which goes to St Albans, Harpenden and Luton Airport and the cross town service 10 which links Holywell and Woodside via the town centre.
In April improvements will be introduced to a number of bus routes in the town with improvements to a number of key routes: service 10 will be simplified and will offer a 15 minute frequency along its entire route, service 1 will run every 15 minutes Monday to Friday, there will be changes to service 8 to improve punctuality while service 321 will benefit from an enhanced frequency. Details of the network revision will be available via on bus posters and at www.arrivabus.co.uk.
Commenting, Arriva the Shires and Essex head of operations west Nick Knox said:
Our plans for Watford in 2007 will help deliver a real step change in public transport for the town.
We believe that new buses, simpler routes, easy to buy tickets and enhanced frequencies will help attract more people onto our services.
We are looking forwards to working in partnership with local stakeholders to ensure that using the bus is the best way to get out and about in the Watford area.
