City buses go green with new park-and-ride fleet

8:23am Tuesday 13th May 2008

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A NEW fleet of environmentally-friendly buses have been carrying passengers around Worcester this week.

The fleet - emblazoned with the words Woosh - were bought by Worcestershire County Council to operate the W1 service from the Perdiswell park-and-ride site to Worcester (Crowngate) Bus Station.

They will also be used for a new park-and-ride service at Sixways once it is completed.

The green fleet consists of Mercedes Benz Citaro buses with Enhanced Environmentally friendly Vehicle (EEV) diesel engines that surpass the European Commission's Euro V 2009 emission requirements.

Councillor Derek Prodger, the council's cabinet member for the environment, said: "We won the contract to supply park-and-ride as a county council and we bought five buses.

"We are one of the first in the country as a county council to do this so it will be interesting to see what other councils make of it."

The council's chairman Alwyn Davies added: "The best thing is they are environmentally friendly."

The buses, which went into service on Friday, May 9, also have extra legroom space, comfortable seating, on-board CCTV cameras and can kneel at kerb level at every stop.

A bus charter sets out the customer service passengers can expect.

The service operates at least every 10 minutes, from 7am to 7pm, Monday to Saturday from Perdiswell Park and Ride site, stopping at St Stephen's Church, St George's Square, Little London, Royal Grammar School, Foregate Street Rail Station and Worcester (Crowngate) Bus Station.

A daily ticket, including park-and-ride parking, costs £2.20 and weekly tickets cost £8.

More information about timetables and fares is available at www.worcestershire.gov.uk /park&ride