Stagecoach is helping businesses, the education sector and event organisers to bounce back from Covid-19 with a range of tailored solutions through a ‘one stop shop’ approach to help employers, pupils and customers.

As the UK comes out of lockdown, public transport continues to play a vital role in the country’s recovery ahead. As well as helping to restart the economy, it is vital in bringing normality back to many areas of people’s daily lives.

Covid-19 has brought about many societal changes such as home working, more targeted travel and more flexible working. A recent survey carried out by transport and research consultancy SYSTRA suggests that 55% of UK employees would like to change the times that they work, including their start/finish times or working their hours across fewer days.

As a result, Stagecoach has created a new product (Stagecoach Solutions) through which it has developed a range of sustainable options as an alternative to its traditional bus services to help organisations and their people continue their more flexible public transport commute. This includes tailored shuttle buses, education bus services, on demand services and simple corporate travel to support the growing desire of companies to put sustainability at the heart of their business. These options will be offered in addition to its regular scheduled bus, coach and tram services.

As the UK’s biggest bus and coach operator, Stagecoach has 40 years of experience of operating public transport services, and has helped to keep people on the move throughout the pandemic. Stagecoach has recently worked with the NHS and other organisations to introduce tailored services to support employee travel, including “Stagecoach Connect”; offering three new demand responsive bus services for the NHS in the East Midlands.

When larger gatherings are permitted as part of the lockdown easing, Stagecoach will also be able to offer travel support for major events and festivals. It has extensive experience of managing event travel and has been at the heart of every large sporting event for the last decade. This includes global events such as the London Olympics, the Formula 1 British Grand Prix at Silverstone, the Solheim Cup in Scotland, the Commonwealth Games in Manchester and Glasgow, the Ryder Cup and many major music festivals and other events.

A dedicated new website, www.stagecoachsolutions.com, will clearly demonstrate the full range of options available with the facility to speak to somebody about their specific needs or complete an easy web form. The relevant local team will then identify which travel solution can fit the organisation’s needs.

Neil Micklethwaite, Business Development Director for Stagecoach, said: “We have seen many changes in society during lockdown, with more home working, more targeted travel and potentially more flexible working ahead. We want to give companies and educational establishments a range of different ways of helping their employees, pupils and students return safely and with confidence to their work and learning place, without having to rely upon the car.

“Covid-19 has demonstrated the positive impact that tailored solutions can have, such as the launch of our Stagecoach Connect service for the NHS. The extra products we are offering will provide a range of options that enable employees, pupils and students to return to work and school safely and to help companies and educational establishments put sustainability at the heart of their business.

“As Britain’s original and most successful transport start-up, we’re well known for championing new ideas and our new range of transport solutions can support the public and private sector in getting back on its feet, and helping communities across the country recover.”

The options are designed to provide a more sustainable solution to unnecessary single use polluting car trips and the dedicated website provides:

Corporate tickets; offering businesses tailored tickets for employees who regularly use the bus to travel to work
Customised demand responsive services; on demand services available at a time and place that suits businesses and their employees
Education bus services; dedicated bus services for better control of social distancing for schools, colleges and universities
Business shuttle services; helping employees get to work safely with a dedicated eco-friendly service
Rail replacement services; ground transport solutions to help minimise rail disruption
Travel support for major events and festivals when larger gatherings are permitted under lockdown easing plans