Coronavirus - COVID19: Service information

Before you travel

• Use the award winning First Bus App. With great travel features to help you move confidently, including buying an mTicket so you don't need to use cash on the bus, journey planning, track your bus live on a map. You can see how far it is from your stop and how many seats are free ⇒
   
• Where possible, please wash your hands before and after travelling and we advise you to bring your own hand sanitiser with you.
   
• If you are flexible on travel times, use our Space Checker tool ⇒ which allows you to plan ahead to see when your favourite bus stop and service is usually less busy. 
   
• Our  buses are now operating at normal capacity, but you're encouraged to keep your distance from other customers wherever possible

  There may be situations where it is more difficult to maintain distance from people, for example when boarding or alighting, on busier services, at busier times of day and when walking through interchanges. In these cases, you should avoid physical contact, try to face away from other people, and keep the time you spend near others as short as possible.

• It's mandatory to wear a face covering on board
   
• If you are exempt from wearing a face covering please be prepared to inform your driver or show a Sunflower lanyard or our journey assistance card: Extra help to Travel Card ⇒
   
• We encourage all customers in England and Wales to download the NHS COVID-19 app ⇒ The app is free to download from the App Store and Google Play.

At the bus stop

• Why not use the First Bus app ⇒ to track where your bus is, and reduce the amount of time you’re waiting at the bus stop.
  You can also see how many seats are available on the bus so that you’re confident there is plenty of space to travel, or if you are not time restricted you may wish to catch a later bus which is less busy.
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• When waiting at the stop, space out from fellow passengers.
   
• Following government guidance, we recommend you wear a face covering on board our services
• When the bus arrives, please allow time and space for passengers to leave the bus before you step onboard.
   
• If you are waiting at a bus stop and the bus drives past, it might have reached its reduced seating capacity. If the bus does stop, but is near capacity, the driver will only allow one person to board for every person that gets off, so make sure to allow extra time for your journey and be prepared to wait. With the latest version of the First Bus App you can now track your bus live on a map and it also displays how many seats are available on each bus.
   
• Get your bus ticket or payment ready, whether it’s activating your mTicket, having your concessionary pass or contactless card out or ensuring you have the right change. It all helps speed up boarding and minimise the time with your driver making it safer for everyone.

On board

• Following government guidance, we recommend you wear a face covering on board our services
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• Please do not pay with cash.
  We encourage passengers to make cashless payments to avoid cash handling. If you need to use cash, we would be very grateful if you could provide the correct fare for your journey.
   
• Our  buses are now operating at normal capacity, but you're encouraged to keep your distance from other customers wherever possible
• Even if temperatures are low it's really important that windows on the bus remain open to assist air flow. If you get on the bus and notice a window has been closed, please open it to help us maintain this.    
   
• Please be patient while getting on and off and do not queue in the aisle or next to the driver. If you are able, please sit upstairs when possible leaving lower deck seats for those less mobile.
   
• Please refrain from eating or drinking on board and please take any rubbish with you to assist with keeping our buses as clean as possible.
   
• We are continuing with the systematic daily deep cleaning of our buses and facilities, particularly regular disinfection of touch points such as handrails, poles and window handles. For more details on our enhanced cleaning programme, please see below.