Stagecoach in £4million new bus delivery for Wigan

Stagecoach is taking delivery of more than 30 new buses worth almost £4million to go into service at its recently acquired Wigan bus operations.

The new vehicles –which are manufactured by Scottish-based ADL – will operate within local communities in Wigan and will go into service before Christmas.

The £3.9million fleet of new vehicles come just weeks after Stagecoach announced the completion of its acquisition of Wigan bus operations from First Manchester.

And, from January, Stagecoach’s new customers in Wigan will benefit from the company’s great value fares, including unlimited travel on Stagecoach services across Manchester through its popular Megarider ticket which costs just £12 a week – a third cheaper than the cost of a Manchester-wide ticket under the previous operator. Stagecoach also plans to introduce a Wigan-only weekly ticket, costing just £9, which will provide unlimited travel on services within the Wigan area.

A total of 31 vehicles are being delivered to the area – 11 ADL Enviro 300 single-deckers and 20 ADL Enviro 200 midibuses. The vehicles all have Euro 5 engines, which are amongst the greenest in Europe. These buses are in addition to 30 mid-life single-deck vehicles already transferred into Wigan which will significantly improve the fleet profile. The new vehicles will run both on Wigan local routes, and the inter-urban services to Ashton-in-Makerfield, Leigh and Bolton.

The Wigan operations are now managed as part of Stagecoach Manchester, which prior to the acquisition employed 1,850 staff and carried nearly 100 million passengers a year on a fleet of around 630 buses.

Stagecoach Manchester Managing Director Christopher Bowles said: “We are committed to improving services for our passengers in Wigan and this is the first step towards that. We’re also pleased to be providing our customers in Wigan with the same good value fares that Stagecoach passengers benefit from across Manchester and we look forward to attracting even more people on to our greener, smarter bus services.”

The Wigan business recently acquired by Stagecoach operates commercial bus services and a small number of school contracts and has around 300 employees.

The recent purchase included the owned Lockett Road depot in Wigan, as well as some leased premises in Wigan bus station, staff facilities and approximately 120 vehicles.