03/09/2005
- Coach USA subsidiary helps evacuation from New Orleans
Stagecoach, the international transport group, is sending a convoy of coaches from its United States operations to assist the Hurricane Katrina relief effort in New Orleans.
A group of 24 drivers and 12 coaches from the company's Coach USA division are being dispatched to the crisis-hit Gulf Coast.
The support team - from Coach USA's operations in Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Pennsylvania, New York and West Virginia - is expected to help evacuate some of the thousands of people made homeless by the disaster.
Coach USA employees have also donated bottled water, food items and toiletries, which are being loaded onto the vehicles. The aid will be delivered to the American Red Cross to be distributed to those in need.
Brian Souter, Stagecoach Group Chief Executive, said: "Hurricane Katrina has caused devastation and human suffering on a massive scale and one of the immediate priorities is ensuring people are transported to safety away from the worst-affected areas. We have had a tremendous response from our employees at Coach USA, and our support team will be working closely with the Federal Government and offering them every assistance they can."
The US Federal Government has asked for assistance from coach and school bus opertors as thousands of square miles of Louisiana and Mississippi remain under water.
The Coach USA team will assist the Federal Emergency Management Agency in the New Orleans area over the next two weeks. Evacuees from New Orleans are expected to be taken to Houston, San Antonio and other relief areas in Texas.
ENDS
For further information, please contact:
Steve Stewart, Head of Media and Public Affairs, Stagecoach Group, tel 01738 442111 or 07764 774680.
NOTES TO EDITORS
- Stagecoach Group is a leading international passenger transport provider, with operations in the UK, United States, Canada and New Zealand. The company has 30,000 employees and operates 13,000 buses, coaches, trains, trams and ferries. The Group operates 2,800 coaches and employs 4,400 people in the United States and Canada.
