STAGECOACH IN £4MILLION NEW BUS DELIVERY FOR WIGAN

• New vehicles introduced only weeks after takeover from First Group
• 31 new buses to go into operation in local communities
• Unlimited weekly travel on Stagecoach buses in Wigan to cost just £9

2012-12-20 — /travelprnews.com/ — Stagecoach is taking delivery of more than 30 new buses worth almost £4million to go into service at its recently acquired Wigan bus operations.

The new vehicles –which are manufactured by Scottish-based ADL – will operate within local communities in Wigan and will go into service before Christmas.

The £3.9million fleet of new vehicles come just weeks after Stagecoach announced the completion of its acquisition of Wigan bus operations from First Manchester.

And, from January, Stagecoach’s new customers in Wigan will benefit from the company’s great value fares, including unlimited travel on Stagecoach services across Manchester through its popular Megarider ticket which costs just £12 a week – a third cheaper than the cost of a Manchester-wide ticket under the previous operator. Stagecoach also plans to introduce a Wigan-only weekly ticket, costing just £9, which will provide unlimited travel on services within the Wigan area.

A total of 31 vehicles are being delivered to the area – 11 ADL Enviro 300 single-deckers and 20 ADL Enviro 200 midibuses. The vehicles all have Euro 5 engines, which are amongst the greenest in Europe. These buses are in addition to 30 mid-life single-deck vehicles already transferred into Wigan which will significantly improve the fleet profile. The new vehicles will run both on Wigan local routes, and the inter-urban services to Ashton-in-Makerfield, Leigh and Bolton.

The Wigan operations are now managed as part of Stagecoach Manchester, which prior to the acquisition employed 1,850 staff and carried nearly 100 million passengers a year on a fleet of around 630 buses.

Stagecoach Manchester Managing Director Christopher Bowles said: “We are committed to improving services for our passengers in Wigan and this is the first step towards that. We’re also pleased to be providing our customers in Wigan with the same good value fares that Stagecoach passengers benefit from across Manchester and we look forward to attracting even more people on to our greener, smarter bus services.”

The Wigan business recently acquired by Stagecoach operates commercial bus services and a small number of school contracts and has around 300 employees.

The recent purchase included the owned Lockett Road depot in Wigan, as well as some leased premises in Wigan bus station, staff facilities and approximately 120 vehicles.

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 a leading international public transport group, with extensive operations in the UK, United States and Canada. The Group employs around 35,000 people, and operates bus, coach, train, and tram services.
• Stagecoach is one of UK’s biggest bus and coach operators with around 7,800 buses and coaches. Around 2.5 million passengers travel on Stagecoach’s buses every day on a network stretching from south-west England to the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. The Group’s business includes major city bus operations in London, Liverpool, Newcastle, Hull, Manchester, Oxford, Sheffield and Cambridge. Low-cost coach service, megabus.com, operates between around 60 towns and cities across the UK.
• 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 inter-city rail franchise.
• Stagecoach also operates the Supertram light rail network in Sheffield.
• In North America, Stagecoach operates around 2,900 buses and coaches in the United States and Canada. Megabus.com links around 120 key locations in North America. Stagecoach is also involved in operating commuter and transit services, contracted bus services, charters, sightseeing tours and a small number of school bus services.

 

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