Bus firm in line for a string of top honours

Along with Alexander Dennis Ltd (ADL), Stagecoach has been shortlisted in the Most Innovative Transport Project of the Year category at the Scottish Transport Awards for their new low-entry coaches, used on the Express City Connect network.

The vehicles are also finalists in the Excellence in Transport Accessibility category as well as being in the running for two awards at the UK Coach Awards in “Making Coaches a Better Choice” and “Innovation” categories.

Stagecoach is nominated for the Excellence in Travel Information and Marketing category of the Scottish Transport Awards and also gained a place on the shortlist for the UK Coach Awards’ Marketing Excellence title.

Both nominations are for the marketing team’s work in promoting the Express City Connect network.

They also scored a second nomination in the Excellence in Travel Information and Marketing category as part of the Scotland-wide student ticket campaign, jointly nominated with the Stagecoach North and West Scotland operating companies.

Douglas Robertson, Managing Director, Stagecoach East Scotland said: “To be shortlisted for Operator of the Year Award again just goes to show that the team here is consistently providing the best possible service to our customers, year after year.“The introduction of new low access coaches has driven customer demand by over 11 per cent, with the routes served by the new coaches, such as the X55, showing increases of up to 28 per cent.

“This investment has greatly improved the customer experience on our express network, coupled with our driver training and continued service development and we’re delighted that these nominations recognise our service improvements.”

In a recent bus passenger survey by Transport Focus, Stagecoach East Scotland is said to have achieved the highest satisfaction score of any operator in the UK at 97 per cent.