Service to use pre-booked seats and utilise nine converted Dennis Tridents
Megabus.com is to launch a new sightseeing tour in London.
Tickets for the megasightseeing.com service went on sale on Monday, March 26, with services beginning on St. Georges Day (Monday, April 23).
The service takes two hours to travel non-stop to around 50 famous tourist sights. Tickets are available from £1 per seat – plus a 50p booking fee. Tours will depart every hour from three different locations across the city.
Tours will depart from Stop X in Park Lane opposite the Hilton Hotel, Stop TA at Tower Hill and Belvedere Road near the London Eye. Seats must be pre-booked via the megasightseeing.com website, but can be reserved right up until the time of departure (subject to availability).
The sightseeing tours – being operated by Stagecoach London – will run daily between 1000hrs and 1700hrs, with additional services available during the busy seasons.
Nine vehicles, all Dennis Tridents, have been adapted by Alexander Dennis Limited (ADL) across its Anston and Harlow workshops. Four vehicles are fully open-top and five offer a partially covered top deck.
A GPS commentary system provides English-language commentary of all of the sights through interior speakers. The buses have received a full retrim including LED lighting to the floor and front LED destination fitment.
Wayne Allen, Commercial Manager Workshops from ADL, said: “It has been our pleasure to undertake these high quality refurbishments on behalf of Stagecoach. We’re looking forward to passengers getting to experience the comfortable ride on these vehicles while taking in the breath-taking London sights from the top deck.”
The exterior of the buses sport the face of the megabus.com mascot Sid and each vehicle has been named after a famous person with a London link. The names of the vehicles are King Henry VIII, Sir Christopher Wren, King George V, Queen Elizabeth II, Lord Nelson, King Charles II, King William I, Sir Winston Churchill and Queen Victoria.
Mark Venables, Managing Director of megabus.com, said: “By teaming up with Stagecoach London to deliver our megasightseeing.com services we’re bringing our brilliant value fares to a whole new audience. Around 19 million tourists visit London every year and this is the perfect sightseeing choice for those coming to this great city – a great value, non-stop tour of the capital’s most famous sights, from a brilliant top-deck vantage point.
“We look forward to welcoming people from around the globe on to our services.”
Paul Lynch, Managing Director of Stagecoach London, said: “We are so proud to be launching this new product. With our superb value tickets this is not only a fantastic service for tourists coming to London but for people living or working in or around London who might have a couple of hours to spare, or friends and relatives visiting from out of town. With our great value tickets a family can enjoy a day out for a great price.”
Visit the Megabus site for more information: www.megasightseeing.com
