In response to the report released by Professor David Begg and Greener Journeys, entitled "The Impact of Congestion on Bus Passengers", a First Bus spokesperson said:
"Our customers rely on our services – we are as disappointed as they are when congestion prevents us from running punctual, reliable bus routes.
"Local authorities are key to solving this, through measures like bus priority and traffic segregation – and that is why strong partnerships with councils are so important.
"When this works, we can and do attract people out of cars and onto our services. In many areas, our strong partnerships with local councils have resulted in bus passenger growth and modal shift, which in turn have helped limit the impact of congestion and have benefitted the local environment and air quality.
"Buses are fundamental to the health of our local economies. We will be using the findings from this report to promote the case for partnerships under the Bus Services Bill and make the case with councils for more bus priority measures."
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NOTES TO EDITORS
FirstGroup plc is the leading transport operator in the UK and North America and our services help to create strong, vibrant and sustainable local economies. During the last year around 2.4 billion people relied on us to get to work, to education, to visit family and friends and much more and, each day, every one of our 110,000 employees works hard to deliver vitally important services for our passengers.
Our vision is to provide solutions for an increasingly congested world… keeping people moving and communities prospering.
First Bus
FirstGroup is one of Britain’s largest bus operators with around a fifth of bus services outside London. A fleet of some 6,300 buses carries approximately 1.7 million passengers a day in a huge number of communities including 40 of the UK's largest towns and cities. We operate some US-style yellow school buses and have a fleet of coaches available for charter. We also operate the Aircoach network in Ireland.
For more information about FirstGroup and our divisions please visit www.firstgroupplc.com