Crawley depot takes silver in prestigious industry awards

Sussex bus company wins two prizes at UK Bus Awards

The UK Bus Awards Scheme is designed to recognise and reward excellence and good practice in a wide range of disciplines associated with the operation, design and promotion of bus services.

Metrobus also won Gold in the Making Buses a Better Choice award.

Metrobus’ Fastway Rapid Transit is a 24-hour service principally for workers at Gatwick Airport and business commuters.

Launched ten years ago, 2014/15 has seen dramatic improvements including a major investment in the Fastway Upgrade which comprises guided busways, bus lanes and bus-only links and high-spec infrastructure.

The service is the result of a partnership between Metrobus, Gatwick Airport and four local authorities.

The upgrade project was funded by Metrobus, with support from the other partners.

To justify the cost which funded 18 new vehicles and continuing timetable improvement, Metrobus needed to increase patronage by 4% - in the first 12 months of introducing the new buses, patronage on both Fastway routes was up by 8% to over 4.2m passengers per annum.

The UK Bus Awards scheme was founded in 1996 and is marking its 20th annual competition this year. The scheme is organised and run by an independent not-for-dividend company which works with a Management Committee of industry stakeholders to administer and develop the scheme.

Entries are judged by panels of independent experts. Before deciding the winners, finalists in the operating and driving categories were checked by “mystery travellers” to ensure that service delivery is up to the mark.

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