First celebrates Finglands anniversary

First is celebrating the first anniversary of running bus services from Rusholme since the acquisition of Finglands in February 2014. The celebration was marked today with local Rusholme Councillors and Chair of the Transport for Greater Manchester Committee, Councillor Andrew Fender. Since the take over, customer journeys have grown from under 50,000 per week in 2014 to over 100,000 per week in 2015. The growth is the result of a number of initiatives including the addition of 45 new buses. Together with new buses, improved depot facilities and new ticket machines, the total investment is over £10m.

New links have been created with the introduction of the cross-city 42 service between East Didsbury & Crumpsall via Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road, Manchester City Centre and Cheetham Hill. First has also extended service 41 between West Didsbury and Manchester to create a new cross-city service to Eccles via Salford. These initiatives have boosted the number of drivers employed to over 120 who have all undergone new customer care training. First aims to build on this in the spring when Wi-Fi is introduced on its buses in Manchester, as well as real time information for customers.

MD of First in Manchester, Teresa Broxton, said, ‘In the last 12 months great value fares, new connections and high quality bus services have led to impressive customer growth. I’m sure our continued focus on value for money and improving quality of service for customers will help attract even more people to uses First buses.’