16/10/2003

Stagecoach has won a major Scottish transport award for its highly-successful Kick Start project in Perth, which is now being used as a model by the Government for similar schemes across the UK.

The company beat off strong competition to take the accolade of Most Innovative Transport Project in Scotland at the inaugural Scottish National Transport Awards in Glasgow.

Stagecoach also narrowly missed out on taking the prestigious Scottish Public Transport Operator of the Year title for its West Scotland bus operation.

The awards, organised by the Centre for Transport Policy in Aberdeen, celebrated the achievement of the transport industry in Scotland.

The Kick Start project, focused on the award-winning Service 7 Scone-City Centre-Hillend route, was a partnership between Stagecoach and Perth and Kinross Council.

Stagecoach has invested £300,000 on the route since it was improved three years ago. The Perth-based company doubled the frequency of services to every 10 minutes, introduced new low floor buses, and simplified the fares. An innovative telesales campaign, the first for a bus company, was used to encourage more people to leave their cars at home and take the green option of the bus.

Perth and Kinross Council also introduced a bus priority scheme on the route, which included bus lanes, priority for buses at traffic signals and new bus shelters.

Passenger numbers have shot up by 60% in three years and the route is now used by around 20,000 passengers a week, many of whom regularly leave their cars at home.

The Department for Transport in London has taken up the Kick Start concept and is finalising plans to fund similar projects later this year. Transport officials at the Scottish Executive have visited Perth to look at the results of the project and are currently consulting on a scheme for Scotland.

Robert Andrew, Deputy Director Stagecoach Scotland, who collected the award, said: “We are delighted that the Kick Start project has achieved further national recognition. The initiative has really captured the imagination of politicians, policy makers, transport commentators and, most importantly, passengers.

“This award is a reflection of the hard work of our team in Perth and the support we have had from councillors and officials at Perth and Kinross Council. We are now looking at bringing the successful concept we have piloted in Perth to other parts of our bus network across the UK.”

ENDS

For further information, please contact:

Steve Stewart, Head of Media and Public Affairs, Stagecoach Group
Tel: + 44 (0) 1738 4421111

Notes to Editors:

• Awards were made in 10 categories



• The other shortlisted organisations for the Most Innovative Transport Project in Scotland were: BAA Scottish Airports, Badenoch and Strathspey Transport Company, Lothian Buses and SIAS Ltd.



• The Scottish Public Transport Operator of the Year award was won by First Glasgow.



• Stagecoach’s Kick Start project was commended at the UK Bus Industry Awards in 2001.



• Stagecoach West Scotland, which operates 350 buses and carries around 100,000 people every day, has seen passenger numbers shoot up by over 17%. The company operates a wide range of services in urban and rural areas, a network of express coach connections, and low-cost, frequent Magicbus services in Glasgow. It has focused on making a real difference to bus travel through improved reliability, better information for customers and increased services and frequencies throughout the network.