Research reveals bus travel costs are 55% cheaper than same commute by car

• Bus passengers save on average more than £90 per month by leaving car at home
• Biggest annual savings of more than £5,500 found in Cambridgeshire
• Stagecoach survey of around 35 key commuter routes in England, Scotland and Wales

 

Perth, Scotland, 2016-Feb-24 — /Travel PR News/ — New national research has found commuters can save around £1,000 per year by catching the bus instead of travelling to work by car – despite falling fuel prices at the pumps.

Bus travel costs are around 55% cheaper than the same commute by car, saving passengers an average of more than £90 a month, according to the study.

The savings – even with fuel prices being at their lowest levels for six years – would be enough to cover the entire annual energy costs for a medium-sized house*.

Research by Stagecoach, Britain’s biggest bus and coach operator, covered around 35 key commuter routes in England, Scotland and Wales. It compared the weekly price of hopping on the bus with the cost of fuel and car parking for the same journeys.

The study found:

• The biggest savings were in the East of England where bus passengers travelling between St Ives and Cambridge were 83% better off, saving more than £5,500 a year compared to motorists.
• In the North-east of England, taking the bus between South Shields and Newcastle was up to £1,100 per year cheaper than driving
• Commuters in Merseyside travelling between Heswall and Liverpool could save more than £1,200 a year month by switching to bus travel
• In Greater Manchester, bus users travelling between Reddish and Manchester could be more than £460 a year better off.
• South West commuters travelling between Torquay and Exeter could save more than £1,000 a year by leaving the car at home and taking the bus.
• In the South of England, bus travel between Worthing and Brighton was found to be more than £2,000 cheaper than going by car
• In Scotland taking the bus between Peterhead and Aberdeen instead of driving was around £1,600 a year cheaper.
• Commuters in Wales who travel between Merthyr and Cardiff could save around £1,400 a year by switching to bus travel

Robert Montgomery, Managing Director of Stagecoach UK Bus, said: “Fuel prices are at their lowest level for six years, but it is still miles cheaper to commute to work by bus for many people up and down the country.

“The average savings would pay a big chunk of people’s annual energy bills and for some it would fund the cost of a family holiday for a week in the sun in Florida.

“It’s also easier than ever before to catch the bus, with smart ticketing, bus tracking available via your smartphone and free wi-fi on many of our new buses.”

Stagecoach works with other major public transport groups in the UK, as well as campaign group Greener Journeys and local authorities to attract more people out of their cars and on to public transport to reduce pollution and congestion in the UK’s towns and cities.

The company is currently offering Dayrider** tickets – which provide unlimited travel within a specific local area – for just £2 to passengers aged under 19 in a special promotion. Stagecoach is also the only bus operator to offer a nationwide discount for jobseekers, giving those with a JobCentre Plus travel card a 50% discount on their bus travel to help them find employment.

Stagecoach has invested more than £630million over the past eight years in brand new buses and coaches for local communities.

Further information on Stagecoach UK Bus services visit www.stagecoachbus.com

ENDS

For media enquiries, please contact: Stagecoach Group Communications on 01738 442111 or email: media@stagecoachgroup.com

NOTES TO EDITOR

The study assessed the cost of making the journey daily by car, taking into account only the cost of fuel, parking and any toll road payments – no other costs associated with car ownership were included.The survey then compared the motoring cost with the cost of purchasing a weekly multi-journey ticket on Stagecoach buses which allows unlimited travel on Stagecoach services within the designated area. The results are based on an average saving calculated across 36 commuter routes in the UK. Individual savings will vary. Fuel prices recorded between 11-21 January 2016. Monthly and annual savings calculated on Weekly Megarider purchases over 46 weeks of the year.

*https://www.ukpower.co.uk/home_energy/average-energy-bill

** More information can be found here – http://www.stagecoach.com/media/news-releases/2016/2016-01-20.aspx

The full Stagecoach results can be found here – http://www.stagecoach.com/~/media/Files/S/Stagecoach-Group/Attachments/media/press/pr2016/fuel-comparison-2016.pdf

ENDS

 For media enquiries, please contact: Stagecoach Group Communications on 01738 442111 or email: media@stagecoachgroup.com

Notes to Editors:

Stagecoach Group

• Stagecoach Group is an international public transport group, with extensive operations in the UK, continental Europe, the United States and Canada. The Group employs around 35,000 people, and operates bus, coach, train, and tram services.
• Stagecoach is one of the UK’s biggest bus and coach operators with around 8,300 buses and coaches. Around 2.8 million passenger journeys are made on Stagecoach’s buses every day on a network stretching from south-west England to the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. Low-cost coach service, megabus.com, operates a network of inter-city services across the UK and continental Europe.
• Stagecoach is a major UK rail operator, running the South West Trains, Island Line and East Midlands Trains networks. It has a 49% shareholding in Virgin Rail Group, which operates the West Coast rail franchise. It also has a 90% shareholding in Inter City Railways Limited, which has been awarded the contract to operate the East Coast rail franchise from March 2015.
• Stagecoach operates the Supertram light rail network in Sheffield.
• In North America, Stagecoach operates around 2,400 buses and coaches in the United States and Canada. megabus.com links around 130 key locations in North America. Stagecoach is also involved in operating commuter, transit, contracted, charter and sightseeing services.

SOURCE: Stagecoach Group plc.

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