08/10/2006

• Transport group orders 45 vehicles for market-leading low-cost service
• Special 15-metre state-of-the art coaches are the longest in Britain
• Operator targets budget airline travellers with “green coach” campaign
• Manufacturers Volvo and Plaxton to supply first of fleet from Easter 2007

Stagecoach Group announced today (8 October 2006) an investment of more than £11million in a fleet of new state-of-the-art coaches for its market-leading low-cost travel operation megabus.com.

The Perth-based transport group has placed an order with manufacturers Volvo and Plaxton for 45 new coaches.

The new vehicles, at 15-metres, will be the longest coaches in Britain and the first of their kind to be manufactured in the UK.

Fitted with air-conditioning and toilets, the new 63-seat coaches are fully accessible and will have a special lift for wheelchair passengers.

Brian Souter, Stagecoach Group Chief Executive, said: “megabus.com offers the best value inter-city travel in Britain and this new investment will provide a further step-change in the quality of service we provide our customers.

“The new vehicles will bring our investment in megabus.com to around £18million in the past 18 months, and we see further opportunities to attract more people to low-cost inter-city travel.”

megabus.com operates a network of services covering nearly 40 major locations in the UK and carries around 2 million passengers a year.

The first of the new coaches will be delivered from February next year, with the full order completed by the end of May 2007.

The new investment comes as megabus.com launches a campaign urging budget travellers to dump “gas guzzler” airlines and switch to low-cost inter-city coach travel to minimise damage to the environment.

Stagecoach compared the environmental performance of megabus.com with low-cost airline easyJet.com on the popular Glasgow to London route. The survey found that, on a per passenger basis, megabus.com is:

• More than six times more fuel-efficient than easyJet
• Produces seven times less CO2 emissions
• Offers cheaper fares for budget travellers

The figures come at a time when the Government is looking closely at the environmental impact of the huge expansion in low-cost air travel. It is one of the key issues in the in-tray of Douglas Alexander, the Secretary of State for Transport.

Brian Souter added: “Bus and coach travel is the greener way to travel and far less damaging than airlines. Not only is megabus.com easy on the wallet, it is easy on the planet.”

Earlier this year, Stagecoach expanded megabus.com to the United States, with passenger able to travel on daily non-stop express coach services between Chicago and a number of other Midwest cities from as low as $1.

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

• An electronic image of one of the new coaches is available in jpg format at 300dpi resolution.
• megabus.com booking, timetable and departure/arrival point information is available at www.megabus.com. All megabus.com reservations are subject to a 50p booking fee.
• The survey compared the environmental performance of a Neoplan Skyliner megabus.com vehicle (capacity 91 passengers) with that of an easyJet 737-700 aircraft (capacity 149 passengers) between Glasgow and London.
• The megabus.com vehicle used 2.3kg of fuel per passenger, compared to 14.9kg used by the easyJet plane. CO2 emissions per passenger were 6.2kg for megabus.com and 46.9kg for easyJet.
• The comparative costs (including fees and taxes) of the cheapest available Glasgow-London trips bookable on 20 September 2006 for travel on 27 September 2006 were £10.50 for megabus.com and £40.99 for easyJet.