A NAPPY NEW YEAR! Green parents earn free travel PAGE 6 The newspaper of Stagecoach Group Issue 73 Winter 08/09 Strong results 3 Top of the league 5 Awards aplenty 8 Bio-bus birthday 15 GREEN LIGHT FOR Smarter WORKING Stagecoach staff have key role in cutting carbon footprint The bus is simply Braziliant! BRITAIN’S most expensive been using the Service 250 in centre of Manchester. STAGECOACH employees are at across the Group plays a part to football star stunned fans by Manchester to take his girlfriend Robinho, who plays for the heart of a major bid to reduce reduce the company’s carbon snubbing flash motors – to catch a on shopping trips. Manchester City, stumped up £6 the company’s carbon footprint. footprint and ensure that we carry Stagecoach bus! Other passengers could not for two tickets on the five-mile As part of its commitment to out our operations in an environ- Robinho, the £32 million Brazilian believe it when they saw the pair journey to the out-of-town environmental sustainability, mentally friendly manner. superstar, is reported to have board the double decker in the Trafford Shopping Centre. Stagecoach has appointed energy “We know from recent research One traveller said: “He sat consultancy Inenco to put in place that our approach to the downstairs as if it was the a three-year Group-wide Carbon environment is very important to most normal thing for a multi- Management Programme to reduce our customers and, by promoting millionaire footballer to do. the company’s carbon footprint our message of greener smarter “Word quickly went round and improve energy efficiency. travel, we can help show about who he was. Nobody quite To do this Inenco will assess passengers and staff how they can believed it and some just stared current levels of energy live greener lifestyles.” open-mouthed. consumption across every As part of the Carbon “You’d think Robinho would Stagecoach operation before Management Programme, each have a fleet of luxury motors like putting in place new processes, Stagecoach division – UK Bus, UK so many other Premier League key performance indicators, Rail, Coach Canada and Coach players. targets and initiatives to drive USA – will be monitored. Inenco “At the very least you’d expect improvement across the company. will determine the Groups’ global him to be driven by a chauffeur carbon footprint by March 2009 and or maybe, at a push, pay for a IMPORTANT will then deliver an implementation taxi. But a bus? Amazing!” plan for emissions reduction by Stagecoach’s objective to September 2009. This will include It’s one-nil for public transport as encourage people out of their cars a set of agreed carbon reduction Robinho ditches the car for the bus. and on to public transport is one of targets for each Stagecoach division. the solutions to the ever-increasing By May next year, the company challenge of climate change aims to provide information on However, the company must also its global carbon footprint to the ensure its business is operated in an Carbon Disclosure Project which environmentally friendly way. is the world’s largest corporate Initial work carried out by Inenco greenhouse gas emissions database. indicates that Stagecoach could Stagecoach has already achieve significant carbon savings undertaken several successful over the three-year period. carbon-cutting initiatives. But, to achieve the carbon The Group’s wide-ranging reduction the company is aiming environmental strategy includes for, all staff will be asked to play investment in renewable fuels and their part, whether they are part of cleaner engines, state-of-the-art large-scale environmental projects energy-efficient facilities, water or whether they are asked to make and waste recycling initiatives and small changes to their working day. offering green travel incentives to Stagecoach Group Chief businesses. Executive Brian Souter said: “This is a very important initiative for our Turn to page 13 for news on business. It is crucial that everyone more energy-saving success. New Lynch-pin City sights tours continue to grow Stagecoach North East has appointed a new Newcastle and Gateshead for five years and were for Stockport manager to oversee the continued growth of its City franchised by Stagecoach North East in early 2007. Sightseeing tours in Newcastle and Gateshead. Since taking over the brand, Stagecoach has signifi- Stagecoach’s Stockport Martin Musther will manage the operations of the cantly updated the fleet and developed the business depot at Daw Bank has open-top buses from the company’s Slatyford depot. considerably. welcomed on board Colm Having worked for Stagecoach North East for 21 Martin said: “Becoming the new City Sightseeing Lynch as its new Operations years, Martin was the ideal choice for the role. Manager is a fantastic opportunity and I am Manager. Originally a bus driver, 48-year-old Martin was thoroughly looking forward to the new challenge. Colm (25), who was born awarded a place on the company’s development “My priorities will be to continue to grow the in Dublin, started out programme and has since fulfilled the role of Duty business by focusing on key areas such as tourism, with Stagecoach only two Manager and Assistant Operations Manager at the engaging with local businesses and ensuring years ago on the Graduate Slatyford depot. we operate the services to the highest possible Martin Musther has taken the helm of Newcastle and Development Programme The City Sightseeing buses have operated across standards.” Gateshead’s City Sightseeing tours. at the Group’s Cambridge depot. He progressed through the ranks quickly and has experienced all aspects of the business, from cleaning buses and designing timetables for A YEAR OF SUCCESS new services to driving buses, before becoming Assistant Operations Manager at Newcastle’s Slatyford depot last year. at EMT FRANCHISE Colm said: “Although the career move seemed daunting at first, I can’t EAST Midlands Trains has passengers and compiled a list of the we’ve wasted no time in making a 3. Appointed a contractor to start wait to work in a busy celebrated its first birthday. top 100 achievements made in the start on improvements and planning a £20 million redevelopment of environment and get To mark the special event on first year. for a brighter future for passengers. the Etches Park depot in Derby stuck into maintaining and November 11, the Managing Director Tim Shoveller “Looking at this list, which is only 4. Sold over 60,000 megatrain.com hopefully exceeding the company handed out said: “In the relatively short period a fraction of what we have done, fares to or from London from demanding standards that free birthday cake to since the launch of the franchise makes me feel very proud and only £1 plus a 50p booking fee are in place at Stockport, in excited to anticipate what we can 5. Launched the ‘My Journeys’ terms of service provision expect in the future. personalised section of its and quality.” “We have a new and improved website – including ‘create your Mark Threapleton, timetable and £90 million still to own timetable’ Managing Director of invest in stations, trains and depots. 6. Seen the start of major Stagecoach Manchester, “This major investment, coupled improvement work by Network added: “I am confident Colm with the obvious green benefits of Rail at Derby station to install will be an asset not only to rail travel, will attract even more new lifts and rebuild the the Stagecoach Manchester people to use our services, helping platforms and canopies team, but also to the to invest in the future of the railway 7. Introduced a £79 through fare to Stockport community as a for us all.” Paris with East Midlands Trains whole.” In ten of East Midlands Trains’ and Eurostar achievements in its first year, the 8. Operated a much more reliable company has: Sunday service than prior to the Driver saves franchise – running more than 1. Seen the first refurbished East 95% of all Sunday services player’s life Midlands Train completed 9. Seen 6.7% more passengers (entire fleet being refurbished) travelling by train QUICK-THINKING Coach What a year! Nottingham Platform Assistants Dave Carlisle (left) and Dave Bevan 2. Operated more than 120,000 10. Filled 315 vacancies, including Canada driver Bob Jaynes did celebrate the special event. train services 132 new entrants. a hospital dash after one of his passengers suffered a serious allergic reaction on his bus. Customers in the driving seat Pier-Olivier Cotnoir, who IN THE PINK plays for the Peterborough SINCE its launch 12 months ago, In terms of the overall appearance Liftlock Stars hockey team, almost 100 people have joined a of the bus, 88 per cent say vehicles came within minutes of dying passenger survey to give Stagecoach are clean, tidy and comfortable, after suffering the reaction North East vital feedback on its although litter can be a problem due to a peanut allergy. services’ performance. at certain times of the day, with The 19-year-old had The company invited people to sign discarded tickets and newspapers accidentally eaten a cookie up to the scheme in a bid to gauge the main culprits. that contained traces of customer opinion and pinpoint Stagecoach is now investigating peanuts. His reaction was so trends over a sustained period so that ways to reduce litter and has severe that his medication issues can be dealt with quickly. introduced other new measures to failed to help. After attending a training session, improve its passenger experience, Bob recognised this and took the volunteers complete a monthly such as trialling air fresheners on decisive action to go straight survey covering service reliability popular routes.