About Stagecoach Merseyside and South Lancashire

Key facts May 2013 – April 2014 

• 42.05 million passengers 
• 18.21 million miles operated 
• 1,197 employees 
• 407 buses 
• 99.4% reliability 
• 3.1 million investment

Follow us and tweet your questions and comments to @StagecoachMCSL. 

Our passengers

Passengers numbers increased by over 2.6 million people from 2014 to 2015. In total we carried 42.05 million customers on our buses over the year, an increase of 6.6% compared with 2013. 

Our Birkenhead depot reported a 20 % year-on-year rise in passenger journeys due to the success of the company’s number 1 Liverpool to Chester service which stops at Chester Zoo, Blue Planet and Cheshire Oaks, and the number 38 bus which runs from Heswall to Bromborough connecting people to shopping site Croft Retail Park. 

Our Chester depot has also witnessed significant growth, with passenger numbers growing by 13% compared to last year. The new X8 Liverpool to Chester service, which covers Cheshire Oaks and other key North West retail destinations, has proved popular with passengers with 240,000 passenger journeys being completed in just 10 months. Trips on the Chester City Sightseeing tour have also continued to rise as we see more tourists and retail opportunities in the area. 

We have also seen a 24% increase in students in Merseyside taking advantage of our local bus services due to our low cost anytime travel unirider plus+ bus ticket.

Our staff 

We're a major employer our area and we hire locally based staff. Right now we have: 

•  960 drivers 
• 165 engineers and cleaners 
• 65 supervisors and managers 
• four apprentices 

 We invest in all our staff, running an extensive training programme and annual Certificate of Professional Competence (CPC) courses for all drivers. 

 Our supervisors and management staff all have the necessary qualifications for their professions.

Our staff 

We're a major employer our area and we hire locally based staff. Right now we have: 

•  960 drivers 
• 165 engineers and cleaners 
• 65 supervisors and managers 
• four apprentices 

 We invest in all our staff, running an extensive training programme and annual Certificate of Professional Competence (CPC) courses for all drivers. 

 Our supervisors and management staff all have the necessary qualifications for their professions.

Our fares

We offer value for money fares and tickets  including standard single fares and unlimited travel zone tickets. 

 We also have a range of special tickets for students, young people and jobseekers.

We pride ourselves on offering some of the lowest ticket prices in our region. We believe in delivering a reliable cost effective service to encourage more people to get back on the bus. In July 2015 we implemented a new pricing structure for young people throughout Merseyside and Cheshire. 

The age limit for all child tickets has now been increased to aged 18 years and under and the newly named Young Persons tickets are all half the adult fare on any Stagecoach bus journey*. 

Where we have needed to increase fares on selected tickets we have kept increases to an overall rise of just 2% .

* to the nearest 10p

Our fleet 

We operate a fleet of 407 buses, of which we replaced 23 over the past year, with a total investment of over £3.1 million. 100% of our fleet is now low floor, to provide easy access for the elderly, disabled and customers with buggies and wheelchairs. 

We operated a total of 18.21 million miles over the year, which was up by 6.9% over the previous year. All of our vehicles are inspected and serviced by our engineers at least every four weeks.  They are maintained to a much higher standard than the legal minimum, to ensure safety and comfort. 

 Our Managers and Supervisors carry out rigorous quality assurance checks on all aspects of our planned preventative maintenance system. Every vehicle is cleaned daily, with additional valets every 14 days.

Servicing our buses 

Our vehicles are inspected by our engineers at least every three weeks and maintained to much higher standards than the legal minimum, to ensure safety and comfort.

Free Wi-Fi 

Last year, we introduced free Wi-Fi to buses on routes 59 and 61 in Preston and plan to roll this out further.

Our environment 

We used almost 105 million litres of diesel last year, an average of 7.99 miles per gallon. We work hard to lower fuel consumption and our drivers have all completed safety and fuel efficiency driving courses. 

Following a successful trial at Gillmoss depot, we rolled out 30% Bio-Diesel fuel to our entire fleet from April 2014. As well as providing improved fuel economy, this reduces the amount of mineral oil required in our fuel. Vehicle engines must meet increasingly tough emissions regulations, with all new deliveries being of at least ‘Euro 5’ standard. We have taken a trial ‘Euro 6’ vehicle which is in use to help the manufacturer perfect and refine the performance of this next generation engine technology before wider roll-out. Over 80% of our fleet meets at least the ‘Euro 3’ standard, with 55% of our fleet meeting Euro 5 emission levels. 

We recycle most of our waste, such as paper, litter, used oils, filters, batteries, parts etc. We also recycle the water that we use to wash our buses every night. Our average recycling rate is 98.4%.