05/10/2009
- New services and new vehicles go live on megabus.com routes in the UK
- Number of low cost rail seats doubled from Portsmouth and Southampton
Cost-conscious travellers will have even more opportunity to grab great deals from today (5 October 2009) with the latest expansion of Stagecoach Group's budget coach and rail services megabus.com and megatrain.com.
megabus.com is expanding its low-cost UK coach network with the introduction of new services and new vehicles. The improved timetable begins today, offering greater frequency on popular routes as well as a new cross-country service between Cardiff and Newcastle, via Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds.
Passenger demand for the UK's market leading budget coach provider is increasing and the expansion also includes improving frequency on routes between Leeds and London, Cardiff and London and Portsmouth and Leeds.
megabus.com has also provided a boost for affordable travel over the festive season, pledging to run services on Christmas Day and New Year's Day.
Passengers will be able to travel between London and Newcastle, Sunderland, Middlesbrough, Leeds, Sheffield, Nottingham, Leicester, Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, Coventry, Cardiff, Newport, Bristol, Swindon and Reading.
Meanwhile, Stagecoach's budget rail service megatrain.com - which offers fares from as little as £1 - has doubled the number of seats available on routes from Portsmouth and Southampton to London.
Megatrain.com fares are available on parts of the South West Trains, East Midlands Trains and Virgin Trains networks.
To keep up with passenger demand, megatrain.com is now making thousands more seats available every week from Portsmouth and Southampton to London.
The latest expansion of megatrain.com includes:
- Weekday megatrain.com services up from 11 to 19 a day between Portsmouth and London
- Saturday services on the same route increased from 11 to 26.
- The number of low-cost seats between Portsmouth and London up from around 2,600 to almost 5,000 each week.
- megatrain.com seats available on 16 extra services on weekdays from Southampton and London, taking the total to 25.
- An extra 21 megatrain.com services on the Southampton-London route on Saturdays, taking the total to 30.
- Nearly 6,000 low-cost seats on the Southampton-London route a week - more than double the existing number
Stagecoach Group Chief Executive Brian Souter said: "This latest expansion of both megabus.com and megatrain.com will allow us to meet the growing demand from passengers for an affordable, reliable and greener travel option.
"Our research tells us that train travel is the top transport choice for customers going from Portsmouth and Southampton to London and we're responding to that by providing even more low-cost seats on our high-quality train services."
For further information go to www.megabus.com or www.megatrain.com.
ENDS
NOTES TO EDITORS
Stagecoach Group
Stagecoach Group is a leading international public transport group, with extensive operations in the UK, United States and Canada. The company employs 30,000 people, and operates bus, coach, rail, and tram services.
megabus.com
megabus.com was launched in the UK in 2003 and currently carries over 2 million passengers a year, covering around 40 locations. In the US, megabus.com now links 30 cities across the Midwest and Northeast and has carried 3million passengers since its launch in 2006. One million of those customers have used the service in the past six months alone.
megatrain.com
megatrain.com provides travel for as little as £1 to around 30 locations in the UK on the South West Trains, East Midlands Trains and Virgin Trains networks.
For further information contact:
Lindsay Reid
Corporate Communications Manager
Stagecoach Group
10 Dunkeld Road
Perth
PH1 5TW
Phone: 01738 442111
Fax: 01738 443076
Mobile: 07500 446896
