National Express West Midlands to run more buses as lockdown restrictions ease
More buses will be put on across the Black Country and Birmingham from Sunday.
National Express West Midlands said this coincides with the nation slowly coming out of lockdown.
On Monday just gone, pubs, bars, outdoor attractions, non-essential shops, hairdressers, libraries and gyms were allowed to reopen.
The move also coincides children going back to school this Monday coming.
Chris Gibbens, commercial director at National Express West Midlands, said: "National Express is ready when our customers want to get back on the bus - or if people’s circumstances have changed and they’re trying out the bus for the first time.
"We’re increasing the number of buses we’re running - in fact, we’re putting more buses out in service than we usually would to make sure everyone can travel while safely social distancing. We’ll be running our mini-fleet of sweeper buses so that if any services start getting too busy, we can quickly send out reinforcements.
"We’re still carrying out our enhanced cleaning regime that focuses on touchpoints, and cleaners will be jumping on board at town centres and bus stations to give buses an extra wipe down mid-service. And our teams of cleaners are fogging every bus every night with aerosol disinfection that contains a high-performance antiviral solution.
"As the pandemic has continued, the science is telling us that fresh air is very important in our fight against Covid-19. National Express West Midlands buses stop and open their double doors every two minutes on average.
"And our engineers have done extensive testing of how air moves through buses when they’re going along. So we’re asking everyone to please keep open the windows that have labels on. This will keep that fresh air flowing through the bus.
"And it’s still the law that you must wear a face covering on public transport unless you’re exempt please.
"We’re advising customers to plan ahead and allow a bit of extra time for their journey. People can download the Network West Midlands app to see real-time bus information, available on android and iphone. And if people can choose when to travel, we have a handy little tool to show the times of day when our buses are at their quietest."
