Leicester man travels 72 bus routes to highlight pollution

Adham Fisher took on 15-hour bus challenge to raise awareness of the role of public transport in tackling air pollution

A man from Leicester managed to travel on 72 different bus routes in the city in a single day as part of a challenge to highlight the role of public transport in tackling air pollution.

Challenged last month by campaign group Healthy Air Leicester and Leicestershire to travel on as many bus routes as possible, Adham Fisher spent more than 15 hours sat on the city’s buses on June 9.

Adham Fisher managed to travel on 72 Leicester bus routes in 15 hours

He used a flexi-day ticket to catch buses from all the major bus companies and he was only allowed to count each bus route number once, even if he made multiple journeys on it.

The campaign group said: “Healthy Air Leicester and Leicestershire have now verified Adham’s records and we are pleased to confirm that he travelled on 72 different bus routes during the day, starting at 5:57 am at the Haymarket Bus Station and finishing at 9:22 pm.”

Healthy Air Leicester and Leicestershire thanked Mr Fisher for his effort towards raising awareness of air pollution, which was covered in local media.

Campaign group member Hannah Wakley said: “We were incredibly impressed that Adham managed to travel on 72 buses in one day and his challenge has helped to raise awareness of air pollution and promote public transport in Leicester.”

Anyone interested in trying to beat Mr Fisher’s record is now being encouraged to contact the campaign group, which is in the meantime planning another public transport challenge for Mr Fisher.

The campaign group said: “This is proving to be more difficult because there is currently no bus ticket available that covers more than one bus company in the county, so his day’s travel will be more expensive. However, we hope to be able to reveal the details soon.”

Mr Fisher is somewhat of a public transport challenge veteran, having previously visited cities such as Paris, New York, Toronto and Nottingham to travel on local public transport systems with the aim of visiting all stations on the system in the shortest possible time.