Morebus is celebrating this week as its m1 and m2 services reach a 20 year milestone.
The number of journeys taken on the routes, which operate between Bournemouth and Poole, has grown by 272 per cent since their launch in December 2004.
Andrew Wickham, Morebus Managing Director, said: “This is an incredible success story – and wonderful confirmation that more people are choosing to travel by bus across our region.
“When we launched these routes at the end of 2004, 49,000 journeys were taken during the first week.
“Our most recent figures show that this number has increased to 183,000.
“The Covid pandemic aside, we have seen steady growth year-on-year – and we expect this trend to continue.
“These high-frequency routes provide vital commuting links between the two towns and they also run throughout the night, as our n1 and n2 services.
“We have worked very hard to make travelling with us as attractive as possible – including a recent investment of £7.7m in a new fleet of double decker buses to operate along our m1 and m2 routes.
“It’s all about enticing people out of their cars and opting to use sustainable transport instead.
“Our team has done tremendous work to achieve this – and we also have a successful partnership with BCP Council, who are introducing a raft of improvements to bus stops, security, and to road layouts – giving extra priority to buses and helping to speed up journeys.
“With less cars on our roads, we are heading towards less traffic and congestion – which will improve reliability and, ultimately, help improve air quality across our region.”
Morebus is holding a birthday celebration for its m1 and m2 routes at Poole Bus Station on Thursday 12th December.