Stagecoach triumphs at Scottish transport awards

Stagecoach Group celebrated two successes at the 2013 Scottish Transport Awards last night (Thursday 20 June) when its bus operations scooped two top awards.

Stagecoach East Scotland won the Excellence in Technology and Innovation Award for its ‘Improving Relations through Social Media’ project which has delivered improved passenger information through the use of Twitter to provide regular service updates and deal with customer enquiries.

East Scotland bus driver Mike Reid, won the Frontline Employee of the Year category. Mike drives the St Andrews sightseeing services during the summer months and drove as part of the Torch Relay convoy for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games last year.

As well as being a popular bus driver, Mike is well known locally for his charity work and was awarded a British Empire Medal (BEM) in the Queen’s New Year Honours list last December. He was awarded the honour for charitable services in Fife and Angus after raising around £65,000 for good causes over the past 25 years.

In addition, Stagecoach West Scotland Operations Manager Kenny Monaghan was commended in the same category. Kenny has worked in the bus industry for 30 years and in a variety of roles for Stagecoach. He recently completed a nine day charity bike ride raising £2,000.

Stagecoach East Scotland Managing Director, Charlie Mullen said, “We are delighted to win two awards at such a high profile event. It’s great to see Mike crowned front line employee of the year. We would also like to thank our employees across East Scotland who work hard to deliver high quality customer service to our passengers.

“Being recognised for our twitter pilot also sends a strong message about how important it is to get information out to our customers in a timely and appropriate way. We’re delighted the hard work of our social media team has been recognised in this way.

“Through innovative ideas and affordable fares, we are proving that bus travel is a real alternative to the car and we will continue to work hard to attract even more people on to our greener, smarter bus services.”

Stagecoach had six entries shortlisted reflecting excellence across a number of areas including bus service operation, frontline customer service, marketing, social media and sustainability.