At the Europa Bus Centre in Belfast the Minister saw some of a fleet of 80 new double deck buses which have been purchased for Ulsterbus and which will come into service soon in rural areas. Mr Murphy praised Translink’s initiative in buying more seat belted vehicles for the rural fleet and said this would make travel more comfortable and safe for children.
Mr Murphy said: “I am pleased my department has been able to help Translink to deliver improved road safety in rural areas, particularly on schools services. Between the school transport buses and these new double decks launched today some 15,000 belted seats have been introduced into the rural bus fleet. This is very important.”
He added: “Over the last four years my department had assisted Translink to buy over 540 replacement buses at a cost of £71million. All of these are now in operation and in addition, a further £13million has been provided to buy extra buses to allow the three-for-two seating arrangement for school children to be abolished and to phase out standing on school bus services.
“These buses are now in service and 50 high capacity single deck buses for school work and 125 new double decker buses, costing in total around £28million will also be purchased from funding from my department.
“My key objective in investing in public transport is to encourage commuters and other travellers to use public transport for their journeys instead of the private car. “
He said this approach was showing signs of success. After many years of gradual decline Ulsterbus passenger journey numbers remained steady between 2005/06 and 2006/07 and for the first six months of 2007/08 passenger journey numbers are 2.8% higher than for the same period for 2006/07. Customers were also pleased with the standard of service as the highest ever level of customer satisfaction was recorded in spring 2007 for both Metro and Ulsterbus.
Notes to Editors:
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