FIRSTGROUP PLC
STATEMENT RE:
FURTHER GOVERNMENT FUNDING FOR BUS INDUSTRY
FirstGroup plc (‘FirstGroup’ or ‘the Group’) welcomes the
extension of funding from the Department for Transport (‘DfT’) to
support the provision of vital services by regional bus operators
in England during the coronavirus
pandemic. The new funding round of £218.4m for the industry under
the COVID-19 Bus Service Support Grant Restart (‘CBSSG Restart’)
programme extends the arrangements previously announced at the end
of May for the next eight weeks. Furthermore, the Government has
confirmed that rolling funding of up to £27.3m per week will
continue to be made available under the programme thereafter, until
such time as it is no longer needed. This commitment, on
substantially the same terms as previously announced, demonstrates
the value placed on bus services to support the restart of local
economies, get people back to work and children back to school from
September.
The programme has already allowed the industry to increase bus
service capacity while maintaining social distancing in support of
our communities as Government guidance on use of public transport
services has begun to ease. First Bus operations across
England have increased operated
mileage from c.40% to almost 90% of pre-pandemic levels, with
passenger volumes increasing from c.10% to c.40% since the low
point.
The Group also welcomes the Scottish government’s announcement
of additional expenditure of up to £68m to extend to 8 November the
similar funding scheme it has in place for Scotland’s bus
operators.
Commenting on the announcements,
FirstGroup Chief Executive Matthew
Gregory said:
"The further funding packages confirmed by the UK and Scottish
Governments enable us to keep people travelling safely on our
essential services, allowing social distancing to be maintained on
our vehicles. Bus networks are vitally important to local
economies, both now as people return to education and workplaces,
and in the future as they offer a sustainable transport alternative
to the car.
“Recently we have introduced a number of additional measures to
ensure we continue offering a safe experience for our customers and
also help them to make more informed travel decisions. This
includes seat signage, enhanced and long-lasting anti-viral
cleaning regimes, and upgrades to our mobile app so that customers
can check in real time how full each bus is and the availability of
wheelchair spaces. In the last few weeks we began two more such
initiatives, a pilot scheme in Bristol which allows key workers to book
reservations on specific buses, and a new tool for passengers
initially launched in Glasgow,
which predicts how busy a given bus will be depending on the time
of day, for up to seven days in advance.
“I want to express my thanks to our people who are working so
hard to keep our crucial bus services running for our
communities."
Contacts at FirstGroup:
Faisal Tabbah, Head of Investor
Relations
Stuart Butchers, Group Head of Communications
corporate.comms@firstgroup.com
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7725 3354
Contacts at Brunswick PR:
Andrew Porter / Simone Selzer, Tel: +44 (0) 20 7404 5959
Legal Entity Identifier (LEI): 549300DEJZCPWA4HKM93.
Classification as per DTR 6 Annex 1R: 3.1.
Figures presented in this announcement are not audited. Certain
statements included or incorporated by reference within this
announcement may constitute ‘forward-looking statements’ with
respect to the business, strategy and plans of the Group and our
current goals, assumptions and expectations relating to our future
financial condition, performance and results. By their nature,
forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks,
assumptions, uncertainties and other factors that cause actual
results, performance or achievements of the Group to be materially
different from any future results, performance or achievements
expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.
Shareholders are cautioned not to place undue reliance on the
forward-looking statements. Except as required by the UK Listing
Rules and applicable law, the Group does not undertake any
obligation to update or change any forward-looking statements to
reflect events occurring after the date of this announcement.
About FirstGroup
FirstGroup plc (LSE: FGP.L) is a leading provider of transport
services in the UK and North
America. With £7.8 billion in revenue in 2020 and around
100,000 employees, we transported 2.1 billion passengers. Whether
for business, education, health, social or recreation – we get our
customers where they want to be, when they want to be there. We
create solutions that reduce complexity, making travel smoother and
life easier. We provide easy and convenient mobility, improving
quality of life by connecting people and communities. Each of our
five divisions is a leader in its field: In North America, First
Student is the largest provider of home-to-school student
transportation with a fleet of 43,000 yellow school buses, First
Transit is one of the largest providers of outsourced transit
management and contracting services, while Greyhound is the only
nationwide operator of scheduled intercity coaches. In the UK,
First Bus is one of Britain's
largest bus companies with 1.4 million passengers a day in 2020,
and First Rail is one of the country's most experienced rail
operators, carrying 340 million passengers in the year. Visit our
website at www.firstgroupplc.com and follow us @firstgroupplc on
Twitter.
About First Bus
FirstGroup is one of the UK’s largest bus operators with around a
fifth of bus services outside London. A fleet of some 5,200 buses carries
approximately 500m passengers
annually, serving two thirds of the UK’s 15 largest conurbations.
We also operate the Aircoach network in Ireland. Making journeys easier for our
customers, we were the first national bus operator to accept
contactless card payments across all of our services. Our most
recent investments are in new, state-of-the-art buses across our
key networks. We work proactively with our local authority
partners, making a positive impact on air quality, tackling
congestion and improving customer experience. We are focused on
First Bus becoming a leader in the transition to a low-carbon
future and are committed to operating a zero-emission bus fleet by
2035.