06/10/2004

• Bargain £1 fares spark 400% growth in seven months
• Service hailed “transport phenomenon of the year”

megabus.com, the UK’s first web-based low-cost inter-city bus service, has carried more than one million passengers, the company announced today (6 October 2004).

Passenger numbers have grown by 400% in the last seven months as more and more people are attracted to the bargain fares offered by the Stagecoach service.

megabus.com is based on the same concept as the budget airlines, with cheaper fares for passengers the earlier they book.

Around 800,000 travellers have used the service since the nationwide launch in March this year and it now links nearly 30 towns and cities across the UK.

Brian Souter, Stagecoach Group Chief Executive, said: “megabus.com has been the transport phenomenon of the year. The growth of the service has been amazing in such a short space of time.

“The response from passengers has been incredible – not just in terms of the rush to get the best value bus fares in Britain, but customers’ high level of satisfaction with our award-winning service.”

Using a mix of high-capacity double-decker vehicles, bendy buses and luxury double-decker coaches, the megabus.com network offers journeys of up to 575 miles from just £1 per seat.

Research shows it is appealing to a wide customer base, including students, commuters, families and “silver surfers” - over 55s who use the Internet. Passengers have also switched from trains and cars, as well as travelling by bus and coach for the first time.

Booking is via a simple, dedicated and secure e-commerce website, www.megabus.com, with credit and debit card transactions processed by WorldPay, part of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group.

Travel is ticketless and each booking is given a unique reference number shown to the driver on boarding. For peace of mind, customers are automatically e-mailed the booking reference when purchases are confirmed online. Passengers can also choose to have their booking confirmation sent by SMS message to their mobile phone.

megabus.com was named UK transport innovation of the year at the National Transport Awards this summer and was also a finalist at the recent National Business Awards for Scotland.

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

Seats on megabus.com can be booked up to six weeks in advance or one hour before departure. All reservations are subject to a 50p booking fee.

megabus.com now operates on the following routes across the UK:

• Aberdeen-Dundee-Perth-Edinburgh
• Aberdeen-Dundee-Perth-Glasgow-Manchester-London
• Birmingham-London
• Bournemouth-London
• Brighton-London
• Bristol-London
• Cheltenham-Gloucester-London
• Edinburgh-Glasgow (in association with Motorvator)
• Inverness-Perth-Edinburgh
• Inverness-Perth-Glasgow-Manchester-London
• Leeds-Sheffield-Chesterfield-London
• Leicester-Milton Keynes-London
• Liverpool-London
• Newcastle-Leeds-London
• Oxford-London
• Plymouth-Exeter-London
• Portsmouth-London
• Southampton-London
• Swansea-Cardiff-London

A £1 fare on megabus.com’s Inverness to London route, a distance of 575 miles, is equivalent to 0.17p per mile.