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First unveils fleet of red Southampton buses

Posted: 23 December 2013 | First Hampshire | No comments yet

A number of fully refurbished First buses will be making a colourful entrance in Southampton over next few weeks…

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A number of fully refurbished First buses will be making a colourful entrance in Southampton over next few weeks. To reflect the official colour of the City of Southampton and its football team, First’s fleet of buses on Service 3 operating between Lordshill and Thornhill are now a bright red colour and simply called ‘the three’.

In the coming weeks, a total of 14 red buses will operate on ‘the three’. This represents an investment by First of £100,000 in this particular service.

All the buses are four year old Volvo B7RLEs with seven litre, euro 4 engines. They have been fully refurbished to include leather seats, LED lighting and wood-effect floors with distinctive red customer information inside and pictures of iconic Southampton landmarks on the bulkhead section behind the driver.

At the same time, it is all change on Service 1 from Adanac Park to Southampton city centre where eight brand new buses are being introduced. These are all Wrights Streetlite midis with 4.5 litre euro 5 engines that make them more fuel efficient and environmentally friendly.

Commenting on the new buses, Chrissie Bainbridge, General Manager, First Hampshire, says: “Many older bus users will remember when the whole bus fleet in Southampton was red, or red and white. It seemed a wonderful idea to reflect this on our popular ‘the three’ route which will run through the heart of this great city.

“It is also a significant investment by First, which is continuing to enhance and improve its services to our local communities, the aim being making our customer experiences much more enjoyable. We look forward to getting feedback from our customers about the improved quality of buses on both services.”

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