New Bus Ticket to Keep

PRESS RELEASE

4 JULY 2014

NEW BUS TICKET TO KEEP

YOUNG PEOPLE INDEPENDENT

Stagecoach in East Kent has announced a new range of bus tickets for young people which will extend Kent County Council issued passes to allow unlimited travel on Stagecoach buses.

The new Stagecoach ‘PLUS’ tickets will be valid when children are unable to use KCC’s new Young Persons Travel Pass, meaning those aged 11-16 will still be able to benefit from unlimited travel at any time of the day as they did under the previous Freedom Pass Scheme.

Jeremy Cooper, Commercial Director of Stagecoach in East Kent said: “Our new ‘PLUS’ tickets are designed to complement the KCC passes to make sure parents still have the option of purchasing an unlimited travel pass. We wanted to make sure young people were still able to enjoy the benefits of our comprehensive bus network and go out and make social and leisure journeys independently.”

The Young Persons Travel PLUS ticket costs £50 for the year or £25 for half the year and will only be accepted when presented with a Young Persons Travel Pass. The PLUS ticket is valid when the KCC pass is not - in the evening, at weekends and during August. For parents who do not want to purchase a PLUS season ticket, Stagecoach has also pledged a £1 cap on single fares for holders of the Kent pass if they travel outside the times their pass is valid.

There is also a new PLUS add-on ticket for holders of statutory scholars passes so those entitled to free travel to school can also upgrade their pass to make it valid at anytime. Scholars PLUS tickets cost £100 and are valid in the evening, at weekends and during all school holidays whereas scholar passes only allow one journey to and from school.

PLUS tickets are available to buy online at stagecoachbus.com/eastkent. The tickets will be available to collect from schools at the start of term along with council issued passes.

ENDS

About Stagecoach:

· Stagecoach is one of the biggest bus operators in the UK, running around 7,000 vehicles in nearly 100 towns and cities in the UK.

· Stagecoach Group’s headquarters are in Perth, Scotland, where it began operating in 1980 with just two buses. The company floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1993 and now has an annual turnover of around £1.3 billion.

· Stagecoach South East is made up of Stagecoach in East Kent and Stagecoach in East Sussex and is one of 18 locally managed companies within Stagecoach Group.

· Stagecoach South East headquarters are in Canterbury and the company currently runs over 450 buses and coaches, employs over 1250 staff and carries more than 46 million passengers per annum.