28/03/2008

• Online 28-day ticket makes it easier for passengers to switch from car to bus
• Significant growth in internet sales as customers switch on to web purchase

Stagecoach is to launch a new online 28-day bus ticket as part of a drive to make it easier for people to switch from the car to public transport.

The new 28-day megarider ticket, which is available to buy from 31 March, will offer a discount on the cost of buying four individual weekly tickets.

Passengers can log on to www.buymymegarider.com to purchase travel on their local Stagecoach bus network.

Customers in Sheffield will also entitled to use their megarider ticket on the Supertram network as well as Stagecoach bus services.

Stagecoach is one of the UK’s biggest bus operators, running around 7,000 buses in nearly 100 towns and cities across the country, from the Highlands of Scotland to south-west England.

Passengers using Stagecoach services already purchase more than 6.3million weekly bus tickets across the UK every year.

Research has found a huge increase in demand for online purchase of bus travel, with a 60% increase in sales of Stagecoach’s popular unirider student ticket in the past 12 months.

Les Warneford, Managing Director of Stagecoach UK Bus, said: “More and more people using the internet to make a wide range of purchases. Buses are already a greener and smarter way to travel and the new online ticket will make our services even more accessible and convenient for passengers.”

ENDS

For media enquiries, please contact:
Steve Stewart, Director of Corporate Communications,
Tel: 01738 442111 (office) or 07764 774680 (mobile)
steven.stewart@stagecoachgroup.com

NOTES TO EDITORS

Stagecoach Group is a leading international public transport group, with extensive operations in the UK, United States and Canada. The company employs around 30,000 people, and operates bus, coach, rail, and tram services.

Stagecoach is one of the UK’s biggest bus operators, running around 7,000 buses in nearly 100 towns and cities across the country, from the Highlands of Scotland to south-west England. It includes major city bus operations in Liverpool, Newcastle, Hull, Manchester, Oxford, Sheffield and Cambridge.