18/06/2004

Six new locations in England added to London network

megabus.com, the UK’s first low-cost inter-city bus service, is launching £1 “with frills” travel between Scotland and London later this month in direct competition with the budget airlines.

Six new towns and cities across England have also been added to the megabus.com network linking London.

Recent research by megabus.com has found that that the low-cost concept is already attracting passengers from the rail network, with 35% of customers saying they had switched from the train.

Transport giant Stagecoach is now expanding its megabus.com operation to offer a range of longer distance routes across the UK, including two services a day that will link Dundee, Perth and Glasgow to London.

The latest extension of megabus.com will also link London with Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield, Chesterfield, Leicester and Milton Keynes.

The Scotland-London route will use “with frills” 70-seat bendy buses, featuring reclining seats, toilets and dedicated luggage space. Standard megabus.com 94-seat double decker vehicles - equipped with new coach-style seats and toilets – will run on the routes in England.

Booking for the new routes, which will go live on 28 June, are being accepted from today at www.megabus.com.

Brian Souter, Chief Executive of Stagecoach Group, said: “megabus.com has already changed the face of inter-city travel. We feel our new longer-distance routes announced today can beat the budget airlines for value for money.

“Our super low fares are just that – there’s no added airport taxes, long check-in times or the extra hassle of transfers to get to your destination. megabus.com’s ‘with frills’ bendy buses will take you in comfort direct to the heart of London.”

More than 500,000 people have already used megabus.com, which now links over 20 towns and cities across the UK.

Earlier this month, megabus.com also added a new text messaging service, allowing customers to get their booking reference numbers sent direct to their mobile phone for just 10p each.

megabus.com, which uses high-capacity double decker buses on its existing routes, is based on the same concept as the low-cost airlines. Research shows it is appealing to a wide market, including students, commuters, families and “silver surfers” - the over 55s market who use the Internet.

Seats on the no-frills ticketless service are yield managed in the same way as the budget airlines. Seats start from £1, with higher fares for last-minute bookings or popular journeys. All reservations are subject to a 50p booking fee.

ENDS

For further information, please contact:

Steve Stewart, Head of Media and Public Affairs, Stagecoach Group
Tel: 01738 442111

Notes to Editors

Full details of the new timetables are available at www.megabus.com.

Megabus.com already operates on the following routes across the UK:

• Birmingham-London
• Plymouth-Exeter-London
• Swansea-Cardiff-London
• Bristol-London
• Bournemouth-London
• Southampton-London
• Portsmouth-London
• Brighton-London
• Oxford-London
• Manchester-Leeds
• Perth-Dundee-Edinburgh
• Perth-Dundee-Glasgow
• Edinburgh-Glasgow
• St Andrews-Edinburgh