Double joy for Coventry bus passengers as pioneering PrimeLines wins two national awards
A £41.5m project which has revolutionised bus travel for people in Coventry has won two prestigious national transport awards in the space of just 24 hours.
The pioneering PrimeLines initiative has won the UK Bus Award for Infrastructure and the RTIG Inform Award for Innovation, formally confirming that Coventry passengers have one of the best, most ground breaking bus networks in the UK.
Judges chose the scheme - a partnership between Coventry City Council, transport authority Centro and bus company National Express Coventry - thanks to the work it has done to enhance the whole bus passenger experience, cut journey times and boost punctuality.
The awards celebrated the way PrimeLines has used state-of-the-art technology to transform bus travel in the city, already leading to a six per cent rise in passenger numbers, with one fifth of people on the road now travelling into the city by bus during the morning peak.
This includes £7m of new low floor buses introduced by National Express Coventry and a series of highways improvements including 5.3km of bus lanes, 13 bus gates and 4.9km of other bus priority measures allowing passengers to bypass traffic jams on their journey.
Judges also recognised the installation of Real Time Information displays at over 200 bus stops in the city and throughout Pool Meadow Bus Station.
These electronic boards link into Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) technology on the buses to show passengers exactly how many minutes until their service is due*. The information is also available at all 1,500 stops across Coventry via the internet and mobile phones.
In addition, traffic lights at 80 junctions across the city have been configured to recognise the AVL and change to green as the bus approaches, helping to ensure that services keep to time and travel into the city quickly to provide an attractive and realistic alternative to the car.
The PrimeLines project is part of ongoing work to improve the quality of public transport across Coventry which continues to be a priority even though these awards have been won.
