First Bus to provide free travel for Armed Forces to attend VE Day 80 events in Essex
First Bus East is proud to honour the 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe (VE) Day by offering free bus travel to veterans and current UK armed forces personnel travelling to VE Day events across Essex from Monday 5 May to Sunday 11 May 2025.
Eligible passengers can travel free by either wearing their military uniform or showing a valid service ID card to the driver.
First Bus is also proud to be a part of the Chelmsford VE Day celebrations, taking place in Chelmsford City Centre on Monday 5 May 2025 from 10.00am to 5.00pm. This free, family-friendly event organised by Chelmsford For You, will feature military vehicles, live 1940s music, historical talks, and children's activities.
The First Bus stand, featuring a historic Routemaster Bus, will be located at the corner of Springfield Road (by the town sign), opposite Metro Bank. On the bus will be immersive WWII-themed sessions with renowned storyteller Mike Dodsworth, and the First Bus team will be on hand with information about services, as well as handing out free branded merchandise.
James McCluskey, Commercial Director at First Bus East, said: “Across First Bus, a number of our colleagues are veterans, and we’re very proud of their efforts and sacrifice. This is our way of saying thank you to them, as well as honouring the men and women who choose to serve and protect the freedoms we now enjoy.
“We want to make bus travel to and from VE Day 80 events, such as the one taking place in Chelmsford on Monday 5 May, as easy as possible, and I am pleased that our business can play our part in supporting and remembering those in military service past and present.”
For more information on First Bus’ services, including timetables, please visit First Bus website. For live bus tracking, please download the First Bus app.
Notes to editors
About First Bus
At First Bus, we’re on a mission to grow bus usage – so we’ll get behind initiatives that move people out of cars and onto the bus.
We’re one of the UK’s largest bus operators, transporting more than 1.5 million passengers a day. Our local bus services serve more than 25% of the population of Great Britain and over half of the UK’s top 15 most populated urban areas.
We are a leading operator in the majority of our local areas, including major urban centres such as Glasgow, Bristol and Leeds.
We have proudly launched our First Bus London operation and now operate 83 routes in west and central London from 10 garages serving 180 million passengers annually.
The combined operation now manages a fleet of over 5,750 buses across the UK.
Transforming our business for the better, we’re putting our people and customers at the heart of everything we do. That’s why we’re the UK’s largest national bus operator to achieve real Living Wage employer status, cementing our position as an employer of choice in the sector.
First Bus is committed to operating a zero-emission bus fleet by 2035. We will have over 1000 zero-emission buses in operation across our UK fleet by the end of 2025.
We’re passionate about giving back to the communities we serve, which is why we’re helping local businesses to progress their decarbonisation journeys – giving them access to our charging hubs while our buses are on the road.
We also operate, Specialist Passenger Solutions, First Travel Solutions, York Pullman Bus Company, Lakeside, Ensignbus, Anderson Travel - and the Aircoach network and Matthews in Ireland.
First Bus is a division of FirstGroup.
Find more information on our website here: https://news.firstbus.co.uk/