From 4 March 2008, Uno has taken over the St Albans operation of midlands bus operator Centrebus, increasing our penetration into the St Albans area and expanding our fleet size from 58 vehicles to over 80.

Commenting on the takeover, Uno Managing Director, Bill Hiron, said: ‘There are considerable benefits to placing the current Centrebus St Albans operations under common management with our own business in the area. Centrebus has been successful in putting the business on a sound financial footing, and by working with St Albans City & District Council and other key stakeholders, and applying our successful branding and marketing formula, we believe we can encourage greater use of buses in the historic, but congested, City of St Albans. Uno has achieved consistent year on year passenger growth since 2002, and with political will and partnership working, there is no reason why that cannot be replicated.’

Uno is a subsidiary of the University of Hertfordshire, and the University’s Secretary & Registrar, Philip Waters, who was the original architect of the University’s participation in bus travel, commented: ‘…many University students and staff live in and around St Albans. The University takes travel planning issues very seriously, and there are clear possibilities from this proposal to influence travel patterns across the whole central Hertfordshire area, to the benefit of the University and the wider community’.

Over the coming months, Centrebus’s St Albans fleet will be re-branded with our distinctive livery. No other changes are immediately planned.