Bus company hails Derby city improvements after roadworks complaints

An image of an Arriva bus in Derby city centre. Image by LDRS.

Arriva buses are getting to Derby’s streets quicker, the company has claimed following deep concerns frequent roadworks were slowing them down.

Earlier this year the bus provider blamed congestion across Derby for passenger disruption after the city’s transport leader called for talks in the wake of complaints about “terrible service”.

A meeting was held between Derby City Council and Arriva to discuss the problems.

Councillor Carmel Swan, cabinet member for transport, said at the time: “When people pay good money for bus tickets to get to work, they need reliability. When providers fall short of providing good services then we need to hold them to account.”

However, Arriva said in response it wanted to know what the city council was doing to “minimise the disruption caused by roadworks and congestion” across the city.

Ten months later, the bus firm has been asked if there have been improvements to Derby’s roads.

Arriva told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) more of its buses were getting to stops closer to departure time.

A spokesperson said: “We’re pleased with how our service is performing and our customers are too.

“Last month, 86 per cent of journeys ran within five minutes of their scheduled departure time, up from 82 per cent at the start of the year.

“Independent research by Transport Focus backs this up: its ‘Your Bus Journey’ survey shows 89 per cent of our Derby customers are satisfied with how long their journey took.”

Passengers at Derby Bus Station said they had no issues with Arriva and were pleased with the service.

Maureen Brennan from Oakwood said: “I have no problem – I think they are very good. Around 3pm can get a bit iffy but that’s about it.”

Arthur Winson, 68, said: “I think Arriva are very good and I’m surprised there have been complaints. Sometimes they come early but mostly on time.”

Since the talks between Arriva and the council, the East Midlands Combined County Authority (EMCCA) has now become the body leading public transport issues.

The authority has revealed it has plans to tackle traffic gridlock in the future to help improve bus journeys for providers and passengers.

But no specific details of work to be undertaken have yet been provided.

An EMCCA spokesperson said: “A funding package to address bus operator pinch-points and tackle congestion hotspots is being presented to members of EMCCA’s investment committee for endorsement.

“The programme will cover schemes vital to providing high-quality bus infrastructure, works covered by the programme could include such measures as traffic light priority for late running buses, junction improvements and bus stop enforcement measures.”

The Arriva spokesperson added: “We welcome EMCCA’s commitment to track how traffic affects bus journey speeds and to develop a programme of measures at pinch-points, to help speed up journeys at peak times.”