08/03/2005

Stagecoach today (8 March 2005) welcomed the Scottish Executive’s announcement of £22.5 million funding over a three-year period to kick start bus services across Scotland.

The Scottish Executive took up the Kickstart pump-priming concept following a successful pilot project by Stagecoach in Perth, which saw passenger numbers on a flagship route in the city grow by 70% in three years.

Scottish Transport Minister Nicol Stephen was joined in Perth today by Stagecoach Group Chief Executive Brian Souter and Provost Bob Scott, of Perth and Kinross Council, as the Executive announced the first round of successful projects to benefit from the Bus Route Development Fund.

Among the 22 schemes to receive £12.2 million of Scottish Executive backing is a major £820,000 joint initiative between Stagecoach and Perth and Kinross Council to improve bus services in the Muirton and North Muirton areas of Perth.

Services 5/6 and 9/10 are being increased in frequency from every 10 minutes to every five minutes as part of the project. Passengers will also benefit from 10 new fully accessible, low-floor buses equipped with CCTV security systems and better infrastructure along the route. The improvements are expected to be in place by Christmas this year.

Brian Souter said: “We are delighted the Scottish Executive has taken forward the Kickstart concept and the new funding is excellent news for passengers. It is great to see the innovative approach first trialled in Perth become a model for the rest of the country to get more people onto buses and cut congestion.

“We have forged a strong partnership with Perth and Kinross Council and this latest investment in new vehicles, more frequent services and better infrastructure will make a real difference to people in the Muirton and North Muirton areas of Perth who rely on the bus.”

Mr Souter added: “Stagecoach has funded a number of Kickstart projects of its own around the UK and we are seeing thousands of people getting on board our buses. There is no doubt Kickstart is a winner all round – for passengers, taxpayers and the environment.”

Stagecoach launched a pilot of the Kickstart pump-priming concept in Perth in October 2000. The company invested £300,000 on the Scone-City Centre-Hillend No.7 route, doubling the frequency of services to every 10 minutes, introducing new low floor buses, and simplifying the fares.

An innovative telesales campaign, the first for a bus company, was used to encourage more people to take the green option of the bus. The campaign included the offer of a week’s free travel to try out the bus and around 30% of people who took up the promotion were former car users.

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

Passenger numbers on the route have now increased by 80% since the improvements were put in place and around 20,000 passengers a week are using the service, many of them choosing to leave their cars at home.

ENDS

For further information, please contact:
Steve Stewart, Head of Media and Public Affairs, Stagecoach Group
Tel: 01738 442111

Notes to Editors:

Stagecoach is one of Scotland’s biggest bus and coach operators, running around 1,000 vehicles across the country and employing 2,500 people.

An international quoted company with its headquarters in Perth, Stagecoach provides services across a wide geographic area, from the Highlands to south-west Scotland, carrying around 75 million passengers a year.

Stagecoach has local bus operations in urban and rural areas, covering Inverness, Aberdeenshire, Fife, Perth, Glasgow, Ayrshire and Dumfries. It also operates a network of inter-city services linking Glasgow, Ayrshire, Edinburgh, Fife, Aberdeen, Inverness and Perth.

Kickstart is a three-year pump-priming initiative to develop new and existing bus services with the potential for growth as part of a partnership between bus operators and local authorities. Public funding helps the route in the early years when passenger numbers are not high enough to make the service commercially sustainable. By the end of the three-year period, services can run without the need for ongoing support from the taxpayer.