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 Leicester.[2]
Orbital operates to an hourly frequency Monday to Saturday serving the housing, retail and business areas around the A563 Outer Ring Road.
Future
As part of the Leicester Buses partnership, Leicester City Council are seeking funding to increase the frequency to every 30 minutes alongside the introduction of (less frequent) evening and Sunday services with additional electric buses.[3]
In March 2025, Centrebus announced changes to the service with it being split into two routes from 27 April in a bid to improve the reliability.[4]
Vehicles
Orbital is currently operated by four Yutong E10 buses in a distinctive bright green livery with Orbital branding alongside two further examples with Greenlines branding which act as spare vehicles for use on Hop! or the Hospital Hopper services.[5][6]
Centrebus have operated the service since 2003 and previously used a number of Dennis Darts on the service. In 2007 Optare Esteem buses were launched onto the route and these were replaced by Optare Solo SRs in 2016.
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