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The newsletter of Stagecoach Group Issue 115 | May 2016 STAGE ON page 3 page 9 INSIDE Pitch Perfect partnership | Ewe can get fundraising 10-year vehicle investment drive passes £1billion STAGECOACH has announced new vehicle orders Stagecoach – are also working together to produce worth £97million, taking the company’s total a business case for the introduction of contactless investment figure to more than £1billion in just technology on every bus in the country. 10 years. The business case is expected to be completed The 480-strong vehicle fleet will be introduced from by late spring 2016 and the scheme, funded April this year as the company continues reinvesting predominantly by the private sector, could see profits into improving overall customer experience. new EMV contactless technology installed in more Over the past 10 years, Stagecoach has delivered than 32,000 UK buses outside London – providing more than 6,500 new vehicles for passengers. cashless travel and capped pay-as-you-go-fares in This year’s orders signals an £82million investment all urban areas. drive to introduce the new buses and coaches Stagecoach Group Chief Executive Martin Griffiths across the Group’s regional networks in England, said: “Everything we do is geared towards improving Scotland and Wales. The London network will with free internet access during their journeys. the services we provide to our customers. We benefit from a £10million vehicle replacement order Stagecoach has also made a multi-million pound are investing in state-of-the-art, cleaner, greener and a further £4.5million will be spent on coaches investment in digital technology and recently vehicles, digital technology and smart ticketing to for the Group’s megabus.com operations. launched a new transformational, fully-mobile raise the bar and deliver an even higher standard of As most of the new vehicles will be built in the UK, UK Bus website which lets customers check live service. These latest vehicle orders are an important this year’s order will help support manufacturing journey times and buy tickets via their smartphones. part of our strategy to encourage even more people jobs and small businesses in the supply chain which In line with the country’s other major bus operators, to take the bus. produce key components from drivers’ seats and Stagecoach has also invested heavily to introduce “Local bus services are the backbone of the toilets to wheelchair lifts and destination displays. smart multi-operator bus ticketing in all nine of country’s transport networks. Stagecoach provides Each of the 480 vehicles ordered will meet Euro 6 England’s smart city regions with support from local millions of people every day with a greener way to emissions standards and include CCTV, while many transport authorities. access work, health, education and leisure, and we will include the latest Wi-Fi technology to customers Britain’s five main bus operators – including continue to offer the best value bus fares in Britain.” Stagecoach launches Investing in the future mental health AN £800million, three-year investment programme Tim Shoveller, Managing Director of Stagecoach Rail, to increase capacity and improve over half-a-million said: “This is the biggest improvements programme support pledge daily journeys has been launched at London for decades and will boost capacity by 30% during STAGECOACH has launched a new UK-wide Waterloo Station. the busiest times of the day by 2019. It will also initiative to provide further support for bus As one of the biggest investment announcements create the extra space and upgraded infrastructure passengers and staff with mental health conditions. in decades, the project will provide a 30% increase needed to increase capacity for our longer distance The company’s Pledge to Help campaign in peak time capacity by 2019 and include: mainline services in the near future.” includes enhanced training and awareness A bigger and better London Waterloo station programmes, and will provide additional New fleet of Siemens-built Class 707 trains support to help improve the experiences of both Extended platforms at 10 stations for longer trains employees and customers with mental health on the Reading line conditions. Mental Health Action Group and Improved depots and maintenance facilities to Anxiety UK have welcomed the move, which has service and support the network’s biggest ever also received the backing of the UK Transport fleet of trains Minister, Andrew Jones MP. New technology utilised to improve train efficiency The pledge will focus on improving the and punctuality confidence of people with mental health The majority of station and infrastructure conditions to enable them to use the bus improvements is funded by the Department for without issue. Enhanced training and awareness Transport as part of Network Rail’s £40billion Railway programmes will also be introduced to help Upgrade Plan to deliver a more reliable railway boost confidence in bus travel, alongside a for passengers. Investment is also being made to confidential support line for employees to help introduce 150 new train carriages to create extra break down barriers. capacity for South West Trains passengers. London Waterloo Station 1 Did you know? South West Trains is giving out more than 2,300 iPhones to frontline customer service employees ON STAGE Big news for Virgin Trains customers What a Virgin Trains passengers are to benefit from a To access the huge selection of entertainment, series of measures designed to further improve the customers need to simply download the BEAM Laugh! customer experience. app from the Apple or Android app store on their Flush tweet spares blushes On its West Coast route, the company has launched phone or tablet before they get on-board, either its industry-leading, complimentary on-board at home or by using the free station wifi. And if Oxford Tube staff used the power of social entertainment service, which is streamed directly the destination arrives before the end of the film, media to help a customer avoid a potentially to customers’ own devices.The brand-new app, then BEAM will remember exactly where it left off, embarrassing situation. BEAM, will give customers access to an array of free allowing customers to finish their new favourite When said customer struggled to find the flush entertainment through their own device. viewing on the return leg. button while using the coach toilet, they sent a BEAM content includes a selection of classic and Patrick McCall, Co-Chairman for Virgin Trains, distress text message to mum for assistance. new films such as The Wolf of Wall Street, Breakfast said, “We’ve worked really hard to provide a Ensuring she wouldn’t be panned for being slow at Tiffany’s, Bridesmaids, Theory of Everything and fantastic range of entertainment to cater to all to act, the customer’s mum used her head and Despicable Me 2 as well as a mix of popular box of our customers’ tastes and are really proud to tweeted Oxford Tube customer services for help. sets and TV series from House of Cards, Poldark and offer this service that is the first of its kind to the Quick-thinking Customer Service Advisor Ben Fortitude. To keep the kids busy, BEAM will have a train industry. The new service is more advanced Louch sent the mother a photo of the toilet with separate section for children, playing popular TV than the systems currently available on planes as directions on how to flush. This was passed on shows like Peppa Pig, Ben 10 and Horrible Histories. customers use their own devices.” to the customer and thankfully Operation Flush A selection of leading magazines will also be Meanwhile, on the East Coast route Virgin Trains was a success. available, including Newsweek, Men’s Health, Top has announced plans to add a little extra magic to If you have seen or heard something funny Gear, Total Film, Hello, Grazia, Living Etc., Ideal Home its menus by bringing in TV chef James Martin as – online, in the papers, on social media or just and Marie Claire. Executive Chef to its catering team. while out and about – send your contributions To celebrate its launch, Virgin Trains partnered James has been hard at work with the Virgin for the ‘What a Laugh’ section in the next edition with Hollywood blockbuster Independence Day: Trains Food Champions and Catering Project Team to [email protected] Resurgence, the sequel to the Oscar-winning at Rail Gourmet’s development kitchen, advising Independence Day which is also available on BEAM. on the new summer menu which features a very An Independence Day: Resurgence train-wrap was British signature taste full of local, quality and n Scrumming down unveiled at London Euston. flavoursome ingredients. for charity The industry-leading on-train entertainment service was developed by Virgin Trains in conjunction STAGECOACH South Wales drivers each made a with GoMedia. The entertainment includes films donation to swap their uniforms for rugby tops which are updated monthly and the magazines’ to raise almost £600 for Noah’s Ark Children’s latest issues. The BEAM entertainment system will Hospital Charity for Wales, in Cardiff. be complimentary to all Virgin Trains customers. Nigel Winter, Managing Director for Stagecoach in South Wales, said: “We are always happy to back our staff in their fundraising efforts and would like to commend them for supporting Celebrating top rail awards such a good cause. They are constantly coming up with new ways to raise money to keep our South West Trains has recognised employees from The Customer Service Award winners were partnership with local charities flourishing.” across Customer Services at the department’s as follows: Noah’s Ark is the official charity of the Children’s second annual awards event.