Leicester buses set for £75m cash boost

Bus services in Leicester are set for extra investment over the next four years after an agreement was struck between the local authority and seven transport operators working in the city.

The One Network Partnership deal will replace the former Leicester Bus Partnership, and will co-ordinate efforts to improve services in the city until 2030, with plans to run an all electric fleet by 2027.

Planned improvements include further investment in electric buses, upgraded bus stops with real-time passenger information, improved bus priority measures, simpler ticketing and better customer information.

A joint declaration was signed in public this week, with Leicester Mayor, Sir Peter Soulsby, hailing the continuation of co-operative efforts to improve services in the city.

“It’s been just over four years since we formally launched the Leicester Bus Partnership,” he said.

“It was something I had been wanting to do for many years – constrained as we were by the Government’s deregulation of bus services in the 1980s, which left councils with little input into local commercial bus services.

“Four years on, we can see the huge transformation that this partnership and £150m of investment have achieved.

“In Leicester, we have a partnership that’s probably the most successful in the country – and it’s been done at a fraction of the cost of franchising.”

The agreement, which includes Arriva, Centrebus, Central Connect, First Bus, Kinchbus, Roberts Travel, and Stagecoach, is subject to final approval, the city council says.