Competitive fares have been at the heart of passenger growth in Sheffield for bus company Stagecoach.

Use of services in the city has grown by 42 per cent in the six months from May 2007 compared to the same period in 2006. The growth is 83% compared to the same period in 2005.

The success follows a relaunch of the company’s network in Sheffield in May 2006 with a series of initiatives designed to appeal to new and existing users.

Cheap saver tickets are one of the biggest growth areas with weekly Megarider tickets for seven days of unlimited travel around Sheffield (and on Supertram) for £9.50 and dayrider tickets costing just £2.70.

Paul Lynch, managing director of Stagecoach Yorkshire said: We are delighted with this significant increase in Sheffield and these saver tickets, which have remained the same price since being launched in May 2006, have certainly been central to the growth. The figures indicate that our investment and improvements in Sheffield are working and passengers are responding positively to the changes.

The network review in 2006 saw Stagecoach investing in newer buses, simplifying routes, improving reliability and punctuality and promoting cheap saver tickets.

Between May and November 2007, Service 83 experienced an increase of 87 per cent on the same period in 2006, while service 88 was up by 42 per cent.

Stagecoach has also reported very high increases on the Service 120, 123, 25 and 52 for the same period.

Mr Lynch added: We are committed to providing our customers with a first class service in Sheffield and value-for-money fares, as we do for all routes across our networks across the country. It is fantastic that we are able to report such positive improvements in Sheffield just eighteen months after the network review.

Stagecoach Sheffield, which took over the Yorkshire Traction Group in 2005, operates 100 buses in Sheffield and has recently invested £4.1 million in a fleet of 41 new vehicles for its services in the city.