14th Mar 2005 09:00
Stagecoach Group PLC14 March 2005 14 March 2005 STAGECOACH GROUP ORDERS 340 NEW BUSES FOR UK • Three major vehicle manufacturers to supply buses for provincial operations • New fleet will support company's organic passenger growth strategy Stagecoach Group plc announced today (14 March 2005) that it has placed ordersfor 340 new vehicles for its UK bus operations. The fleet of new vehicles will be delivered between June 2005 and the end ofFebruary 2006. The Group expects to place further orders within the next fewweeks. The new state-of-the-art low-floor vehicles will be introduced in Stagecoach'sprovincial bus operations, which last year achieved passenger growth of 1.4%. Orders have been placed with vehicle manufacturers Alexander Dennis, MAN andOptare for 50 single-deckers, 120 double-deckers and 170 midi-buses. Details of the orders are: €120 Alexander Dennis Trident ALX400 double-deckers €50 MAN 18.220 single deck chassis/ Alexander Dennis ALX300 bodies €120 Alexander Dennis Dart Pointer midibuses €50 Optare Solo midibuses Les Warneford, Managing Director of Stagecoach UK Bus, said: "This significantinvestment is evidence of our confidence in the future of bus travel in the UKand complements our strategy for organic growth. "We are continuing to deliver impressive passenger growth in our bus operationsoutside London. Thousands of new users are being attracted out of their cars andon to our services every week as a result of our investment in telemarketinginitiatives and innovative new products. "This latest capital investment will deliver a more comfortable travellingexperience for passengers, better environmental performance, improvedreliability and help make public transport more attractive to car users." All new vehicles are fitted with the latest environmentally friendly Euro 3 lowemission engines and will run on low sulphur diesel. They are equipped withmodern heating and ventilation, low floor access for parents with youngchildren, people with disabilities and elderly passengers, and many feature aspecial 'kneeling' mechanism to assist boarding from the pavement.Stagecoach recently set up a new telemarketing unit at its headquarters in Perthas part of its organic growth strategy and has launched targeted campaigns in anumber of locations in the UK to encourage non-users to switch to bus travel. The campaigns, which include the offer of a week's free travel and focus inparticular on mothers and car users, have seen up to one in five of thosecontacted switch to the bus. Stagecoach is concentrating on a new town or city every six weeks and intends totarget up to 20% of its bus networks in the UK over the next two years. ENDS For further information, please contact:Steve Stewart, Head of Media and Public Affairs, Stagecoach GroupTel: 01738 442111 or mobile 07764 774680 NOTES TO EDITORS Stagecoach is one of UK's biggest bus and coach operators, connectingcommunities in nearly 100 towns and cities. The company runs around 7,000vehicles from Devon in south-west England to Inverness in the Highlands ofScotland, carrying around 2 million passengers every day. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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