New Stagecoach Buses for £60 million

Stagecoach Group has announced a £60 million investment into hundreds of new and greener buses and coaches for local communities in Britain. The transport group has placed initial orders for 390 vehicles for the 2012-13 financial year, which will be used for its regional networks outside of London. Later in the year, the group plans to place more orders.

The orders follow a yearly competitive tendering process and brings the company’s total investment into new buses and coaches for its regional operations to over £370 million during the last five years. It also comes just weeks after an independent study officially recognised the group as the best value major bus operator in the UK. TAS, as transport specialist, found that weekly travel costs an average 17% less than rivals. Stagecoach’s own research also found that travelling by bus could save motorists about £150 per month.

The orders include the UK’s first new 15-metre state-of-the-art interdeck coaches to be operated on the group’s megabus.com budget unit, and the first buses to be delivered will come this May. All of the buses and coaches will meet the updated Euro 5 emissions standards, which drive up the quality of bus travel for locals in England, Wales and Scotland. Vehicle manufacturers Volvo, Wrightbus, Van Hool, ADL, Plaxton, Scania and Optare will supply the company with 11 mini-buses, 19 hybrids, 37 coaches, 87 single-deckers, 95 double-deckers, and 141 midi-buses – all of which are due to be in service by next January.

Stagecoach is already the biggest investor in green hybrid electric buses in the UK. These vehicles produce 30% less emissions than standard buses. The group, in the last year, has bought 123 green hybrid electric buses for £23.5 million for its operations England, and the government’s Green Bus Fund is supplying a further £11 million in funding.

Stagecoach UK Bus managing director Les Warneford says that this recent multi-million pound investment is part of the group’s commitment to give local communities good value and high-quality. With fuel prices so high and the cost of running a personal vehicle increasing, choosing smarter, greener bus travel is making even more sense, he added.

Meanwhile, Stagecoach Group’s business in North America is being recognised for its commitment to reducing carbon emissions. Coach USA, one of the biggest motorcoach transport firms in the country, has been honoured with the Green Highway Award from the United Motorcoach Association. The company has also been honoured for several other green achievements – fuel saving measures, maintenance procedures, facilities management, policies to reduce engine idling and recycling programmes.

Coach USA is still updating its fleet, which has over 1,600 buses and coaches, with newer vehicles that feature the most recent clean-diesel engine technology. The company is testing new technologies to offer a 4% to 6% cut in fuel usage as well. It already exceeded its carbon emissions reduction target by 15% in just the first three years of its programme.

President and chief operating officer Dale Moser says they are committed to improving their environmental practices even more and showing consumers that coach travel is a more affordable and greener alternative to air and car travel. Motor Coach Industries vice president of sales and marketing Patricia Ziska added that Coach USA’s and megabus.com’s efforts benefit the whole industry and raise the profile of such travel as the greenest way to get around.