COMPETITION COMMISSION RULING PUTS AT RISK £3.5MILLION INVESTMENT IN NEW INTER-CITY COACHES FOR SCOTLAND

20 November 2006

• Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness and Perth may lose out
• Major improvements for wheelchair passengers now under threat

A £3.5m investment in new state-of-the-art coaches for Scotland’s inter-city coach network is being put at serious risk as a result of a decision by the Competition Commission, it was revealed today (20 November 2006).

The Competition Commission ruled in October that parts of the Scottish Citylink and megabus.com operations - operated under a joint venture between Stagecoach and ComfortDelgro - should be split and it is currently consulting on the divestment of some services.

The joint venture said last month that it was deeply concerned at the Competition Commission’s decision, which would work against the interests of customers and make coach services less competitive.

A fleet of 15 new coaches were due to be introduced on megabus.com services in Scotland next year s part of an £11million investment in 45 new vehicles for the low-cost travel product’s services across the UK.

The new air-conditioned vehicles, at 15-metres, will be the longest coaches in Britain and were due to delivered between February and May 2007.

But now the joint venture has warned that passengers on some of Scotland’s most popular coach routes – linking cities such as Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness and Perth - could lose out on the multi-million investment if the Commission presses ahead with its plans to break up services.

Passengers with disabilities would be particularly affected as the new 63-seat coaches are fully accessible and have a special lift for wheelchair users.

Tom Wileman, Managing Director of the Stagecoach-Scottish Citylink joint venture, said today: “Passengers are returning in large numbers to coach travel as a result of better connections, faster services, and consistently low fares. The planned investment would deliver an even better travelling environment and vastly improved accessibility for people with disabilities.

“But any move by the Competition Commission to break up the highly-popular and integrated inter-city coach network in Scotland would threaten the ability of coach services to compete with the train and the car, and seriously undermine the business case for investing in new vehicles.

“The Competition Commission’s plans run counter to virtually ever piece of independent evidence presented to its inquiry and unless there is a change of heart coach passengers in some of Scotland’s main cities will lose out.”

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