MOREBUS has seen “really good growth” since the demise of rival Yellow Buses last summer, the company’s director has said.
But the main bus operator in east Dorset has no plans of pressing the stop button.
It has invested £7.7m in a fleet of 28 double-decker buses for its M1 and M2 services between Bournemouth and Poole.
Morebus managing director Andrew Wickham said the company has seen an "evolution of gradual improvement
He said: “We can’t just turn things on their head in the company as there is a limit to how fast we can make improvements because you have to order buses a year before you get them, we need extra drivers and staff.”
Morebus managing director Andrew Wickham
“We started running everything from day one and it went really well, but we immediately discovered some reliability issues which we fixed by adjusting our timetables.
“Our policy was we wouldn’t change anything apart from to make the buses run on time until we understood where people were travelling.
Read more: The behind-the-scenes story of how Yellow Buses collapsed
“We didn’t want to chop and change things in the first few months after the demise of the Yellows.”
Christchurch saw some service changes, including getting a bus from Burton to Bournemouth, which also saw more people using the services.
The new buses feature comfortable seats inside (Image: Morebus)
The company also invested heavily in recruiting more than 100 former Yellow Buses drivers within days of them losing their jobs, offering some thousands of pounds to sign the contract.
Mr Wickham added he will be looking at improving the 5 service from Kinson in the spring. He hopes to have buses scheduled every 10 minutes instead of every 15.
The 13 from Wimborne will go from every 30 minutes to every 20 minutes, too.
Read more: 100 Yellow Buses drivers gain employment at Morebus
“The main reason we have got 28 new buses is because we have seen some really good growth in the number of people using buses in the conurbation,” Mr Wickham added.
“Particularly since 2022, we are way ahead of where we were before Covid and the busiest route is the M1, which we had new single deckers for in 2018.
“But as demand grows, we have needed new buses, hence the 23 new double-deckers for the M1 routes and some will be for the 5 and 5A.
“From the routes we replaced after Yellow Buses, we are now seeing a passenger increase of 25 per cent year on year.
“Customer satisfaction, from the independent survey, is around 94 per cent. It’s really good.”
The new buses can be noticed on the road from the new exterior paint job and, if looked at more closely, futuristic wing mirrors which are actually cameras feeding a clearer picture to drivers.
The new vehicles also boast USB charging points and contactless ‘tap on tap off’ ticketing facilities.
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