Lincolnshire's 'chance to shine'
The managing director of Lincolnshire’s largest independently owned bus and coach company has spoken of his hopes for future county growth.
It comes as work on a Greater Lincolnshire Local Transport Plan begins and extra government money is pledged,
PC Coaches of Lincoln Ltd which has been serving Lincolnshire since 1978 - is looking forward to attending the inaugural Great Exhibition of Lincolnshire, where Stephen Bryce says the county will have a ‘chance to shine’.
The company employs 160 local people in the company’s headquarters in Lincoln and depots in Louth, Horncastle and Grimsby. All staff are local - many taken on with no experience and given extensive training, progressing to be fully-trained drivers.
With a fleet of 125 vehicles, tens of thousands of travellers use PC Coaches every year – from those going to schools and colleges to national and European holidaymakers.
Keen to see Lincolnshire thrive and grow, Stephen welcomes the improvements to transport links and infrastructure that the Greater Lincolnshire Combined County Authority, (GLCCA) and its elected Mayor Dame Andrea Jenkyns, are planning.
The company will also be exhibiting at the Great Exhibition, being held at the Epic Centre, at the Lincolnshire Showground in October.
Stephen said, “Like myself, there are many business people here who have grown up in Lincolnshire and remember the days when the road between Newark and Lincoln was a single-carriageway winding around the villages! We have made progress since those days, and I welcome that.
“This is a fantastic county and to reach its full potential our transport infrastructure needs to continue to advance and improve. There is also great potential for us to take advantage of new technologies in the future. For example, Immingham looks set to become a ‘hydrogen hub’ and if that is realised our coaches of the future could take advantage of that.”
Stephen added: “Meanwhile I am really looking forward to the exhibition – one of our coaches will be outside to welcome exhibitors and delegates as we gather to showcase this wonderful county.”
As reported, the GLCCA has taken on the responsibility for developing a new Local Transport Plan for Greater Lincolnshire.
At a meeting in July it was agreed that the initial focus would be to create and agree a plan that will lead the authority’s ambition to ‘deliver a reliable and sustainable transport system with improved connectivity, service quality, and affordability’.
There was good further news earlier this week when the Government announced that the GLCCA was to get an uplift of £5.6m on its Local Transport Grant to support the development of this detailed plan.