27th March 2007

~ New Bus Route for Watford ~

Metroline, the main bus operator in North and North-West London, is starting a new bus route in Watford from Monday 2nd April 2007.

Route 346 will run over a circular route from Watford Town Centre via Watford Junction, North Watford, the Harebreaks, Leavesden High Road, Ganders Ash, Garston, Meriden Estate, ASDA, St Albans Road and back to the Town Centre.

Buses will run every 30 minutes, in both directions, between about 0800 (0830 on Saturdays) until about 1800 hrs. At present, there will be no service on Sundays or Public Holidays, although a full Saturday service will run on Good Friday.

Sean O’Shea, Chief Operating Officer for Metroline, said “We run over 1000 buses in London, employing over 3500 staff and we are looking to expand into new areas. With this new route we believe we can fill a gap in the existing network. Route 346 will be run from a local base, using drivers living in the Watford area. We look forward to providing a regular and reliable service to the local community.”

Journeys on Route 346 will run at times which will provide extra choice for passengers. The new service will be especially useful for shopping at ASDA, with buses from several areas of North Watford direct to the store. There are even special fares for those passengers, a maximum of just £2 return from between Garston and Leggatts College to ASDA.

The buses to be used on the route are under two years old and fully accessible to passengers in wheelchairs or with buggies. Fares are set at similar levels to current fares, with an adult all-day ticket priced at £3.50, and a weekly ticket costing just £13.00. Child fares are also available, and all Hertfordshire Senior Citizen Free Travel Permits will be valid for travel.

- Ends -

Note to editors:

- One of the new buses will be parked in Watford High Street on Friday 30th March (opposite the Post Office) from 0930 to 1430 for passengers to get new timetables.

- On Saturday 31st March, we will be running a FREE promotional service around the new route every hour from 0930 to 1500, using two of the new buses AND our 45 year old ROUTEMASTER bus complete with conductor!

- Special timetables will be available from the display bus on Friday.

- Metroline is one of the top five London-based bus companies, currently running 13.5% of the capital’s bus services under contract to Transport for London.

- Metroline carries 250 million passengers every year, operates 96 routes, covers over 37.5 million journey miles each year, employs almost 3700 people and runs a fleet of over 1,200 buses in North, West and Central London and South Hertfordshire.

- Metroline is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Singapore based ComfortDelGro Corporation Limited, which is the world's second largest listed land transport company.

Enquiries: For further Metroline enquiries please contact: Heather Whitbread Communications Coordinator 020 8218 8824