Stagecoach Bluebird and Aberdeenshire Council Improve Stonehaven Bus Services
Today, Aberdeenshire Council and Stagecoach Bluebird jointly launched an improved bus services between Aberdeen, Stonehaven and Montrose, which will commence on Monday 3rd April 2006. This initiative is supported by the Scottish Executive’s Bus Route Development Grant.
The new ‘Coastrider’ services will operate up to every 15 minutes, Monday to Saturday between Stonehaven and Aberdeen and mainly hourly between Stonehaven and Montrose, with additional journeys at peak times.
With support from the Scottish Executive and Aberdeenshire Council, Stagecoach Bluebird are undertaking a three-year initiative on the newly branded ‘Coastrider’ service, whereby investment by the partners allows commercial bus services to be improved through public support, with a view to the enhanced services becoming self-sustaining after three years.
Under this partnership, £590,000 has been committed to the initiative. This investment includes the purchase of 5 new state-of-the-art, easy access, low floor buses with the latest "green" environmentally friendly engines. The destinctively branded "Coastrider" vehicles also benefit from CCTV, offering added passenger and driver security.
Passengers using the improved services will also benefit from enhanced infrastructure, including new bus shelters, bus stops and boarding kerbs. Information provision will be improved with new timetables and bus stop flags incorporating details of Traveline Scotland’s SMS text message service for bus times.
Councillor Allison McInnes, Chair of Aberdeenshire Council’s Infrastructure Services Committee in launching the new services said: “Through our Local Transport strategy, Aberdeenshire Council is committed to provide improved, high quality, public transport services across Aberdeenshire in partnership with Stagecoach Bluebird and other transport operators.
Through successful joint working, the improvements that we are implementing today, build upon previous investment by both Aberdeenshire Council and Stagecoach Bluebird raising the standard to that of a Quality Bus Corridor. In doing so, the partners are providing a sustainable alternative to the private car, whilst at the same time providing higher quality services and facilities for existing bus passengers, addressing two of the Council’s main priority areas sustainability and social inclusion.
In particular, I welcome the much improved passenger information, including, for the first time, the ability of intending passengers to text for bus times. High quality reliable information is critical to the successful delivery of public transport services.
The initiative also emphasises our on-going commitment to the Quality Partnership for Public Transport, which also includes Aberdeen City and First Aberdeen. This partnership was re-launched last year with specific quality targets and standards and the improvements along the Aberdeen – Stonehaven - Montrose corridor will help us achieve these demanding targets."
Robert Andrew, Deputy Managing Director, Stagecoach Scotland: “Stagecoach hope that by offering these service improvements in partnership with Aberdeenshire Council, we are offering potential passengers an attractive travel alternative to using the car. The increasing number of commuters and shoppers that are turning to bus travel is encouraging but we aim to increase this further, helping to reduce the number of vehicles on the road in the area.
Our partnership with the Scottish Executive and Aberdeenshire Council has allowed us to introduce these service improvements much quicker than we would have been able to do independently. It has also given us the opportunity to carry out a high-profile marketing campaign to promote the services and increase patronage. We urge people to take advantage of the telemarketing scheme we will be using in the area. It will give people the chance to discuss their current travel choices, satisfaction with existing bus services and includes free travel offers to encourage people to try the bus."
