Transport Minister gets on board in the West Midlands
19 September 2007 - National Express Group, the leading transport provider, today hosted a visit to the West Midlands from Transport Minister, the Rt Hon Rosie Winterton MP. The Minister was in the region to meet with key stakeholders and to discuss the importance of the public transport network in the West Midlands. The visit, hosted by National Express Group's chief executive, Richard Bowker, started with a trip on two of the regions busiest bus routes - the 97 and Outer Circle 11- to demonstrate the need for increased bus priority measures in the city. The Minister was also given a presentation on the new Digbeth coach station - showing how the landmark development will look once building work is completed in around 2009. The visit was designed to showcase some of the major transport initiatives in the Birmingham area and the commitment that National Express Group - whose head office moves to Birmingham in January 2008 - is making to ensure public transport infrastructure remains high on the government agenda. Richard Bowker, chief executive of National Express group, said: "National Express Group is committed to delivering a first-class public transport network for the West Midlands. We were delighted to have the opportunity to show the Transport Minister the great progress we are making alongside partners Centro and Birmingham City Council, as well as to discuss where and how we believe greater improvements to local bus infrastructure can be delivered. We strongly believe in turning debate into action and keeping public transport developments in the West Midlands high on the agenda." Service 97 operates between Birmingham and Chelmsley Wood on a 7-8 minute frequency during peak times. It carries over 4.4 million passengers every year and travels through some of the most congested parts of the city.Outer Circle, Service 11- one of Europe's longest bus routes - serves over 15 million passengers a year, has 272 bus stops and serves 233 schools, colleges and universities, 69 leisure and community facilities, 19 retail centres and six hospitals.- Rt Hon Rosie Winterton is the Member of Parliament for Doncaster Central. She has been an MP since 1997 and was appointed Minister of State at the Department for Transport in June 1997.- National Express is the leading bus operator in the West Midlands, providing Europe's largest fleet of easy access vehicles operating on a single area bus network. With a fleet of over 2,000 buses, TWM provides more than 500 services to 380 million passengers each year. TWM also operate the new Midland Metro light railway rapid transit system. Travel Dundee in Scotland, with its fleet of over 100 buses, delivers high frequency, high load services.- As Britain's No 1 coach operator, National Express and its sister company, Eurolines provide passengers with the flexibility to visit more than 1,000 UK and 500 European destinations. National Express also operates a high frequency service to all major UK airports. With a record number of passengers choosing to travel with National Express, the company continues to invest in high specification vehicles and state-of-art customer facilities. The division employs over 1,500 people.- For more information on the national Express group, please access the Group website at: www.nationalexpressgroup.com
Published 19th September 2007