Travelling safely in England

England is currently in   a national lockdown   and our priority remains to keep our customers and employees safe.

To keep our buses safe and clean, we have daily deep cleans with extra disinfecting throughout the day. We pay special attention to handrails, bells, seats and poles to make sure they're regularly and thoroughly cleaned. Watch our video to find out more about our cleaning regimes. 

Unless you’re exempt, you must wear a face covering throughout your journey and when using indoor public transport hubs in England. And if you need to travel by bus, please follow the guidance set out below so everyone can travel on our services with confidence. 

You can find full details below of how you can travel safely on our services.

Make a plan:

• Allow extra time for your journey and try to travel at quiet times. We’ve introduced a Space Checker in our live map view, on the Stagecoach Bus App, so you can find the quietest time to travel, based on how many people normally use the service.
• Check our latest timetables before you travel.
• We do not provide hand sanitiser on our buses or trams so it is important that you thoroughly wash or sanitise your hands before and after you travel.
• Unless you're exempt, please remember to wear a face covering throughout your journey ensuring it covers your mouth and nose. See our Face Covering FAQs page for more information and exemptions.

Social distancing at the bus stop:

• You must wear a face coverings  when using indoor public transport hubs in England, unless you are exempt.
• To allow for social distancing buses will have limited capacity. If your bus has a BUS FULL sign please be prepared to wait for the next bus. 
• Please be kind and look out for other passengers who might need to travel more urgently than you. 
• Take note and follow any posters at your bus stop which offer guidance about how to travel safely. Please see here for an example poster that can be found at the bus stop.
• At bus stops, try to keep at least one metre away from anyone else in the queue.  
• There may be additional signage to guide you at bus stations on how to queue.
• Let people off the bus before you get on and try to keep a safe distance between you, the driver and other customers.  
• Pay by contactless, or buy in advance and use a Smartcard or mobile tickets

Social distancing on the bus: 

• Only one person can sit in a double seat, unless you’re with a member of your household or social bubble.
• You must sit diagonal to the person in the row in front and behind. You should  leave the seat behind and next to them empty.
• Please leave the seat behind the driver free.
• You will also notice posters on the bus with guidance on how to social distance while on the bus. See here for another on bus example poster.
• If you’re physically able to use the top deck of the bus please do as this keeps seats free on the lower deck for people who are unable to use the stairs. 
• Don't stand on the bus.  
• Once you’re on the bus open a window, if you can, to help with ventilation. 
• When leaving the bus stay seated, ring the bell and take everything with you. 
• Let us know if you think your bus is too busy to allow for social distancing.  

Paying for your journey:

• You can use contactless payment methods on all our buses. 
• You can also buy tickets online on a smartcard and on our app.  
• If you can only use cash, please try to have the exact fare. 

Still need more information take a look at our travelling safely FAQs.

New social distancing measures are in place for added safety. If you’ve got   feedback for us, we’d love to hear it.

For more details about timetables and other information about travelling at this time, check out our Coronavirus page.

Last updated at 21/12/2020