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Arriva invests £864,000 in new buses for Maidstone

Posted: 1 October 2012 | Arriva | No comments yet

Arriva has invested £864,000 in six new Mercedes-Benz ‘Citaro’ buses for use at its Maidstone depot…

Arriva 82 service buses

Arriva has invested £864,000 in six new Mercedes-Benz ‘Citaro’ buses for use at its Maidstone depot.

Arriva 82 service busesThe 41-seat buses are fully-accessible and will be mainly used on the popular Service 82 which runs up to every ten minutes between Maidstone and Park Wood.

The service, which is now known as the Park Wood Shuttle, runs along Loose Road and Sutton Road, serving the Wheatsheaf, Kent Police Headquarters, Morrisons and the new Sutton Woods development on the way.

Five of the buses carry prominent graphics to publicise the service and the sixth carries standard Arriva livery for use on the Park Wood shuttle when required and also on other local services in the Maidstone area.

The message is also carried on the roof of each bus so that it can be seen from blocks of flats on the route and from offices in the town.

Each bus also has a unique message on the rear to advertise the Park Wood Shuttle and other information about Arriva’s services in Maidstone to people following in cars in order to educate them about the benfits of bus travel.

These messages all feature Arriva’s cartoon bus driver, Alfie.

Like all new buses, the Citaros are fitted with engines which meet the latest stringent regulations on exhaust emissions and are extremely environmentally-friendly, helping to improve air quality in Maidstone town centre and along the line of route.

They also have flat floors inside in the front half, coupled with a ramp at the entrance and a facility whereby the suspension can be lowered to bring the entrance platform in line with the kerb.

The interior of the new buses is light and airy and there is space for wheelchair users to travel and for buggies to be parked.

The arrival of these vehicles brings to £7.1 million the total investment in new buses by Arriva Southern Counties since November 2011, of which £5.3 million was spent on new buses based at depots in Kent.

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