Photos show Stagecoach Group Chief Executive Sir Brian Souter and Stagecoach Group Finance Director Martin Griffiths. Martin Griffiths will become Stagecoach Group Chief Executive on 1st May 2013.
18 April 2013
STAGECOACH TO LAUNCH NETWORK OF SLEEPERCOACH SERVICES FROM SCOTLAND TO LONDON
• Overnight network linking 11 key Scottish towns and cities to London
Clever interior layout allows leather seats to convert to lie-flat beds
Complimentary refreshments, free wi-fi and sleeper kit for customers
Great value prices from £15 with journey times similar to sleeper train
Stagecoach today (Thursday 18 April) announced it is to launch a major network of overnight sleepercoach services from Scotland to London this summer using a £5m fleet of specially-designed vehicles.
The fleet of 10 new coaches, equipped with a clever interior layout that allows the leather seats to be converted into lie-flat beds, will operate overnight seven days a week.
Sleepercoach services will link London with Aberdeen, Aviemore, Cumbernauld Dundee, Dunfermline Edinburgh, Falkirk, Ferrytoll park and ride in Fife, Glasgow Inverness and Perth.
The services will provide more than 1,700 lie-flat beds between Scotland and London every single week.
The state-of-the-art double-deck coaches boast luxury leather seats with tables, power sockets, free Wi-Fi and a toilet. The specially designed vehicles have 53 seats that convert into 42 beds.
Customers will receive complimentary refreshments during their journey as well as a sleeper kit which includes an eye mask, a toothbrush and toothpaste. In addition, as a pilot, passengers will also be given a choice of a blanket or a onesie to sleep in during their journey.
Prices on the new services will range from £15 to £60. Journey times are comparable to existing sleeper train services, with customers able to make the trip from both Edinburgh and Glasgow to London in less than eight hours.
The launch of the new sleepercoach network follows the huge success of a pilot route between Glasgow and London using refurbished vehicles fitted with bunk beds.
Stagecoach Group Chief Executive Sir Brian Souter, who today unveiled the first of the new coaches at The O2 in London, said: “It used to be just popstars that had beds on board their tour buses – now everyone can benefit from a comfortable, great value overnight journey. You can go to sleep in one city and wake up in another ready to start the day without having to pay extra for an expensive hotel room.”
Specially designed and manufactured by Van Hool in Belgium, the sleepercoaches will operate under a new megabusgold.com brand. The first of the new coaches will replace existing vehicles on the current overnight route between Glasgow and London. All routes on the sleepercoach network are expected to be launched during the summer and will be operated through the Scottish Citylink joint venture between Stagecoach and international transport group ComfortDelGro.
The vehicles will also be used to operate on the existing Scottish Citylink Gold network through the day between Glasgow and Aberdeen and Inverness.
In 2003, Stagecoach launched the budget service megabus.com, revolutionising coach travel by offering fares from just £1* via a simple online booking system. Around five million passengers now use megabus.com in the UK every year to travel to more than 60 locations across the country.
Stagecoach expanded the megabus.com brand to North America in 2006. It now serves more than 100 locations in the United States and Canada, and has welcomed around 25 million passengers.
Further information about the new sleepercoach services can be found at www.megabusgold.com
ENDS
For media enquiries, please contact: Stagecoach Group Communications on 01738 442111 or email: media@stagecoachgroup.com
Notes to Editors:
*All megabus.com and megabusgold.com bookings are subject to a 50pence booking fee
SLEEPERCOACH TIMETABLES
Inverness-Aviemore-Glasgow-London / London-Glasgow-Aviemore-Inverness
Inverness
Departs 1930
London
Departs 2315
Aviemore
Departs 2014
Glasgow
Departs 0730
Glasgow
Departs 2310
Aviemore
Departs 1010
London
Arrives 0700
Inverness
Arrives 10.53
Falkirk-Dunfermline-Ferrytoll-Edinburgh-London / London-Edinburgh-Ferrytoll-Dunfermline-Falkirk
Falkirk
Departs 2120
London
Departs 2300
Dunfermline
Departs 2200
Edinburgh
Departs 0700
Ferrytoll
Departs 2215
Ferrytoll
Departs 0745
Edinburgh
Departs 2300
Dunfermline
Departs 0800
London
Arrives 0650
Falkirk
Arrives 0845
Aberdeen-Dundee-Perth-Cumbernauld-London / London-Cumbernauld-Perth-Dundee-Aberdeen
Aberdeen
Departs 2115
London
Departs 2130
Dundee
Departs 2240
Cumbernauld
Departs 0515
Perth
Departs 2315
Perth
Departs 0600
Cumbernauld
Departs 2359
Dundee
Departs 0635
London
Arrives 0745
Aberdeen
Arrives 0810
SLEEPERCOACH PICK-UP AND DEPARTURE POINTS
LOCATION
DETAILS
Aberdeen
Bus Station, Guild Street
Aviemore
Rail Station Interchange
Cumbernauld
Town Centre South
Dundee
Seagate Bus Station
Dunfermline
Bus Station, Queen Anne Street
Edinburgh
St Andrews Bus Station
Falkirk
Newmarket Street
Ferrytoll
Ferrytoll Park & Ride
Glasgow
Buchanan Bus Station
Inverness
Bus Station, Castle Street
Perth
Broxden Park & Ride
London
Victoria Coach Station
SLEEPER COACH FACTFILE
• Vehicle cost: £500,000
• Capacity: 42 lie-flat beds at night, 53 daytime seats
• Ticket prices: £15 to £60
• Journey time: from 7hr 50mins
• A few sleeper coach services ran in the UK in the 1920s
• Albatross Sleeping Car Co operated a scheduled service between London and Liverpool in 1928, catering for 12 passengers.
• A double-decker service was also operated by Land Liners Ltd between London and Manchester in the late 1920s
• Sleeper coaches in the UK are now mostly used as tour buses for music groups
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 8,000 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 serves more than 100 cities 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.