Stagecoach is investing £60m in 'greener' coaches and buses

TRANSPORT group Stagecoach said today it planned to invest around £60million in nearly 400 “greener” vehicles for its bus and coach fleet.

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The new vehicles, which meet European emission standards, will be delivered from May and include a new coach model for its megabus budget service.

All but 24 of the vehicles will be built by Alexander Dennis and its Plaxton coach building subsidiary, with Volvo, Optare, Wrightbus and Van Hool supplying the rest.

The new fleet involves 95 double-decker buses, 87 single-deckers, 141 midi-buses, 11 mini-buses, 37 coaches and 19 hybrid vehicles.

It investment includes eight more vehicles for the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway, the longest of its kind in the world, which opened in August last year.

Stagecoach said the new orders meant it had now invested £370m in new vehicles for its regional bus operations over the past five years.

UK bus managing director Les Warneford said: “This latest multi-million pound investment is part of our commitment to give local communities high quality, good value bus travel.”

Stagecoach carries around 2.5 million passengers on its 8.000 buses every day in a network stretching across the UK, including major operations in London, Cambridge, Liverpool, Newcastle, Hull, Manchester, Oxford and Sheffield.

Stagecoach also has bus and coach interests in North Amercia and a UK rail division which owns South West Trains, East Midlands Trains and a 49% stage in West Coast Main Line operator Virgin Trains,