New buses and ticket price cut
Stagecoach in £ 3 million fare war
A bus giant has effectively declared a trade war on its rail rival.
Stagecoach has slashed fares for the arrival of eight luxury buses which will take- over the busy A77 Ayr- Glasgow route.
The powerful Plaxton Elite coaches seat 61 on the one level - replacing the ageing double deckers which are now being sold off for private trip operators.
The eight- wheeled coaches feature blue leather seats, air- con, USB points and four ways to pay including contactless.
And with Ayr Railway Station currently plagued with the hotel problems, Stagecoach hopes to lure people off the rails and on to the X77 service.
The return peak ticket price has been slashed 25% from £ 12 to just £ 9 for the next month compared to the train’s Ayr- Glasgow price of £ 15.80
Stagecoach West Scotland managing director Sam Greer was at the launch at the Burns Museum in Alloway on Thursday.
He said: “It’s a major investment of £ 3million and we are hoping for reverse connectivity, not just taking people out of Ayr, but bringing them to South Ayrshire.
“It is terrific rolling stock with leather seats, free wifi and charging points.
“We are trying different things and realise our main competitor here is rail.
“But journey times are comparable and these coaches provide more comfort with our soft leather seats.
“All the drivers have been given additional training to make the journey more of a pleasure.”
The 12.5ft high coaches are ergonomically designed like a Boeing 747 for more fuel effeciency than the ageing double deckers, which did carry more at 82.
They’ve been sold off after covering nearly 100,000 miles each a year.
Councillors including Provost Helen Moonie and MSP John Scott enjoyed a preview of the service and were driven onto the A77.
The fleet - based on a Volvo chassis and engine - begins work at 6am from Ayr and the last service gets into Ayr at 1.15am.
On a Saturday the services runs every hour until 4am, reaching Ayr at 5.15am.
Over the course of a year the X77 buses will complete nearly 21,000 trips.
They feature dynamic steering on the back axle and the 410bhp diesel 10.8 litre engine meets new Euro 6 air pollution laws.
Stagecoach has brought in new App technology so people can see where the buses are in real time.
And instead of the old days when people could only pay by exact fare cash, all of the new fleet have onboard contactless payment or via smartphone app as well as coins of the realm.