Bus stops busier

Wednesday 10 September 2014

More people are catching the bus in the Island with passenger numbers up nearly 9%.

LibertyBus have issued figures for the 12 months up to June that show that 1.8 million took the bus, compared to 1.66 million the previous year.

The company faced a barrage of complaints from angry passengers after delays and problems with the service when it first took over from Connex at the beginning of last year. Since then it has been working with Transport and Technical Services to make improvements and encourage more people to take public transport.

Transport Minister Kevin Lewis said: “I am really delighted that we are now seeing the increase in the number of bus passengers which we have been working so hard to achieve.”

The company say that they have been trying to respond to the needs of customers as much as possible and buses are running more often on some of the popular routes - the number 15 to the Airport now goes every 15 minutes and the number 1 to Gorey runs every 20. From 29 September LibertyBus is introducing a new half-hourly evening service to Gorey.

TTS has increased the number of shelters for people waiting at bus stops so that fewer are left out in the cold, and there are now more than 50 across the Island with more planned if there’s the money for them. There’s also been a 50% increase in the number of stops with timetables on display – over 120 now have them.

Public Transport Planner for TTS Craig Miller said their biggest challenge is to reach targets set back in 2010 in the Sustainable Transport Policy to reduce traffic to school holiday levels throughout the year.

He says they’ve already seen a big increase in the number of students taking the bus to and from school - 3,200 smart cards are now in circulation, most of which are used on a daily basis.