The Leicester Bus Partnership has selected a mobility-as-a-service (MaaS) application to simplify choosing bus travel in the Midlands city
Announced in April 2022, the Leicester Bus Partnership is an eight-year plan led by Leicester City Council and six bus operators, including Arriva, First Bus, Kinch Bus, Stagecoach, Centre Bus and Roberts Travel Group.
Within the eight-year programme is a three-year transport improvement plan, which for bus travel includes a plan to adopt electric buses, new bus routes, a co-ordinated timetable, and improvements in passenger information and ticketing. The city has also committed to a fleet of bus shelters with living roofs to help biodiversity in the city and a carbon-neutral bus station.
The partnership with German/Australian MaaS technology provider Skedgo will see a journey planner embedded into the Leicester Buses website. Travellers in Leicester will be able to plan door-to-door trips by bus.
The Leicester Bus Partnership said: “The partnership with SkedGo aims to help make bus travel easier by allowing users to plan their journey on one central website, rather than having to visit each individual operator’s website for their bus travel needs. This is one of the main steps in helping to make the Leicester Buses website the ‘go to’ place for information on bus travel in Leicester.”
Leicester is the second major city in the UK to form a partnership with SkedGo; the MaaS technology provider is now working with Transport for Greater Manchester having agreed on the terms of their partnership in June 2022.
Earlier in the year, the Department for Transport (DfT) announced a consultation on MaaS, which public sector technology leaders and transportation experts welcomed, but said that local authorities require legislation to support the success of MaaS.
