Orbital (bus service)

Orbital is a circular bus route in Leicester, UK. It is operated by Centrebus.

History

Centrebus have operated the 40 service since around 2003 but the history can be traced back to the early 1980s.

As part of the Leicester bus partnership, Centrebus and Leicester City Council successfully applied for ZEBRA funding for electric vehicles to operate on service 40, these were launched on 24 October 2022.[1]

Route

The route is 30 miles (48 kilometres) long and forms a circle around the outlying areas of the Leicester City area.[2]

Orbital currently provides journeys in clockwise and anticlockwise directions up to every hour Monday to Saturday, once funding has been secured additional electric buses will be launched which will see the frequency increase to every 15 minutes with evening and Sunday services launched.[3]

orbital (clockwise)
Overview
OperatorCentrebus
Route
StartLeicester General Hospital
ViaOadby, Wigston Magna,Eyres Monsell, Aylestone, Fosse Park, Thorpe Astley, Braunstone Frith, Glenfield, Glenfield Hospital, Beaumont Shopping Centre, Mowmacre Hill, Gipsy Lane, Hamilton, Netherhall Road, Thurnby Lodge and Goodwood Road.
EndLeicester General Hospital
orbital (anti-clockwise)
Route
StartLeicester General Hospital
ViaGoodwood Road, Thurnby Lodge, Netherhall Road, Hamilton, Rushey Mead, Gipsy Lane, Mowmacre Hill, Beaumont Shopping Centre, Glenfield Hospital, Glenfield, Braunstone Frith, Thorpe Astley, Fosse Park, Aylestone, Eyres Monsell, Wigston Magna, Oadby and Goodwood Road
EndLeicester General Hospital

Vehicles

Orbital is currently operated with six Yutong E10 buses in a distinctive green livery with Orbital branding.[4][5]

Centrebus originally operated a number of Dennis Darts on the service with Optare Esteem buses launched onto the route in 2007 which were replaced by Optare Solo SRs in 2016.

References
  1. Moorhouse, Sam (2022-10-17). "New £2.1m Orbital electric bus service for Leicester to start". LeicestershireLive. Retrieved 2022-10-17.
  2. "Longest electric circular bus route launches in Leicester". BBC News. 2022-10-17. Retrieved 2022-10-17.
  3. "Orbital". Leicester Buses. Retrieved 2022-10-17.
  4. "UK's longest electric circular bus route launching". Bus & Coach Buyer. 2022-10-13. Retrieved 2022-10-17.
  5. "Leicester and Centrebus win ZEBRA first delivery race". routeone. 2022-10-14. Retrieved 2022-10-17.
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