IPSWICH Buses is spending almost £300,000 improving its services to the Whitton and Castle Hill area of the town.A fleet of four new hi-tech double-decker buses has been introduced on services between the town centre and the north west of the town.

IPSWICH Buses is spending almost £300,000 improving its services to the Whitton and Castle Hill area of the town.

A fleet of four new hi-tech double-decker buses has been introduced on services between the town centre and the north west of the town.

The new buses should bring a major improvement to a route which has suffered from rush-hour overcrowding and unreliability over recent months.

Each of the buses has 72 seats and also have easier access for people in wheelchair and with pushchairs.

Their introduction means only routes 14 and 22 do not this type of low floor technology for those with buggies or wheelchairs – and new buses are to be introduced on these routes early next year.

That will mean all Ipswich Buses' commercial routes will be operated by low-floor buses 11 years before the government's requirement for all commercial bus routes to be operated by low-floor vehicles which comes into force in 2015.

Ipswich Buses managing director Malcolm Robson accepted the new vehicles were badly needed.

"We have had capacity problems along there and have been leaving people behind.

"In the mid 1990s we were looking to replace double deckers with a more frequent single-deck service.

"Now we are having problems recruiting enough drivers so we are moving back to more double deckers which can carry more people," he said.