Our drivers are continually reminding people they should be wearing a mask .. it's hard to believe people aren’t aware

We note with disappointment the letter sent by Jan Ennis-Clark and would like to reply.

Face covering on buses, has ended up becoming a point of tension for our staff and customers. It’s a shame that a minority of people are not following the guidelines and wearing a face covering while travelling. It is hard to believe that at this point people aren’t aware of the need to wear a covering while shopping or travelling on public transport.

We make it clear on all our services and our drivers are continually reminding people they should be wearing a mask when travelling. We know that some people are exempt under government guidelines but we are asking users of our services to be considerate to others, follow the guidance and wear a covering.

Jan also highlights that the driver was not wearing a face covering in the cab of the bus. Like all employers we have taken a number of measures to protect our staff. Whilst drivers are in their cab, they are behind a perspex screen and separated from those boarding, alighting or on the bus. This therefore removes the need for them to wear a face covering whilst in their cab, although they will wear them if they are needing to get out of the cab. Furthermore, they have access to cleaning materials and hand sanitiser to not only keep them safe.

We have always prioritised the safety and comfort of our customers and it is no different now. It’s important to get the message across loud and clear, we are asking all customers to wear a face covering. Doing so is helping to protect everyone else in our communities, not just yourself. We want our customers to do the right thing and cover up for your full journey.

Our drivers want to keep you safe whilst they are driving, we don’t want them to be distracted by trying to keep a check on whether people have still got their face coverings on. That’s why we are asking our customers to be responsible and follow the guidance. The police have the powers to enforce the regulations by fining those not wearing face coverings as required.

We have alerted them to where we are seeing the biggest issues with customers not wearing a face covering and asked for their support, but it will be a shame if it needs the police to enforce this and issue fines.

We know that keeping shared areas well ventilated is also important to help fight coronavirus. We are in the process of adding further signage to our buses to encourage windows to be left open to aid ventilation, as we have started to see windows being closed as summer has ended. Again we know that with the colder weather setting in this might not be to everyone's liking, but again we are asking for our customers to show understanding and work with us to help keep everyone as safe as we can.

All our services are running with reduced capacities to make sure people can social distance whilst travelling. We have moved our fleet around and even hired in some extra buses to make sure we have our biggest buses where we see the highest demand. We’ve also increased the frequency of many routes over the last few months with some now running more often than they did before.

No one wants to be left behind and no driver wants to leave people behind. As passenger numbers continue to grow we will react and do our best to find ways of providing the capacity needed to carry everyone. However people can help by using our busy bus checker app to see when buses are quietest and where possible use a slightly earlier or later bus.

Ultimately people can use our bus services with confidence. All of our services have been accredited with Visit Britain’s “We’re Good to Go” official mark, recognising the work we have done and the processes we have introduced to meet government and industry Covid-19 guidelines. We now ask our customers to work with us, their fellow passengers, neighbours and community by following the guidance and instructions that have been set out for all of us to follow to help everyone stay safe.