Press Releases

• First Bus' Roundtree Way in Sprowston has ben independently verified as a net zero-emission bus depot
• The depot has been the home of 70 new state of the art electric buses since April 2024

More than £30 million is to be invested in safer, greener and healthier travel in Basildon.

• The project to electrify Roundtree Way depot is complete
• The depot is now the operational centre for 70 state of the art electric vehicles
• This is the first complete zero-emission commercial bus fleet in England outside of London

• First Eastern Counties is making some changes to Orange and Red Line services from Sunday 25th February
• For the Red Line, 23/23A and 24/24A, the Monday to Friday timetable has been revised in order to improve the punctuality of the service, while also starting the service earlier in the morning
• On Saturdays, the red line buses will operate more frequently providing up to three buses per-hour, increasing the combined frequency to every ten minutes along the common sections of the route
• The Orange Line 21, from Monday to Friday additional morning journeys between Bowthorpe, West Earlham and Norwich will provide a bus up to every ten minutes

First Bus invites city residents to ‘Meet the Bus’ day

• International Women in Engineering Day gives female engineers a platform to encourage more women to enter the industry.
• First Bus' dedicated apprentice training academy offers women a clear pathway to begin their career in engineering.
• First Bus apprentice Maddi Simmons encourages young women to apply for an engineering apprenticeship.

• Works begin to convert Roundtree Way depot in Norwich into all-electric fleet depot. 
• The depot will become one of three all-electric fleet depots in the UK, outside of London. 
• 70 Brand New Wrightbus vehicles, 11 single deck and 59 double deck buses, to be delivered from Autumn 2023 through to March 2024.  
• Over 60 tonnes of tailpipe emissions saved per bus every year. 

• - Macmillan Cancer Support appointed as new national charity partner for First Bus for next three years.
• - Macmillan were chosen by thousands of First Bus colleagues across the UK operations.
• - Initial donation of £10k to kick off fundraising efforts.

• York and Norwich set to become the UK’s first bus depots outside of London to run fully electric fleets 
• Four First Bus depots benefit from boosted joint investment in electric fleet 
• First Bus to reach a total of over 600 zero emission buses across the UK by March 2024

• Tap & Cap allows the customer to achieve the best value fare for their journey without needing to commit to long term tickets in advance.
• Customers simply tap their payment method on the ticket machine reader next to the driver and the technology does the rest.
• Further rollout of the Tap & Cap technology will be rolled out in Basildon in April.