New overnight sleepercoach service will use 10 Van Hool Astromega coaches with prices ranging from £15 to £60
Stagecoach has announced it is to launch a major network of overnight sleepercoach services from Scotland to London this summer using a £5m fleet of specially-designed vehicles.
The fleet, consisting of 10 new Van Hool Astromega 15m double-deck coaches, will operate overnight seven days a week under the new megabusgold.com brand.
The services link London with Aberdeen, Aviemore, Cumbernauld Dundee, Dunfermline Edinburgh, Falkirk, Ferrytoll park and ride in Fife, Glasgow Inverness and Perth, providing more than 1,700 lie-flat beds between Scotland and the capital every week.
The coaches boast 53 luxury leather seats, which convert into 42 lie-flat beds,
As well as tables, power sockets, free WiFi and a toilet. Customers also receive complimentary refreshments during their journey as well as a sleeper kit which includes an eye mask, a toothbrush and toothpaste. In addition, as a pilot, passengers will be given a choice of a blanket or a onesie to sleep in during their journey.
Prices on the new services range from £15 to £60. Journey times are comparable to existing sleeper train services, with customers able to make the trip from both Edinburgh and Glasgow to London in less than eight hours.
The launch of the new sleepercoach network follows the success of a pilot route between Glasgow and London using refurbished vehicles fitted with bunk beds.
The first of the new coaches replace existing vehicles on the current overnight route between Glasgow and London. All routes on the sleepercoach network are expected to be launched during the summer and will be operated through the Scottish Citylink joint venture between Stagecoach and ComfortDelGro. The vehicles will also operate on the existing Scottish Citylink Gold network through the day between Glasgow, Aberdeen and Inverness.
Stagecoach Group CEO Sir Brian Souter, who unveiled the first of the new coaches at The O2 in London, said: “It used to be just popstars who had beds on board their buses – now everyone can benefit from a comfortable, great value overnight journey. You can go to sleep in one city and wake up in another ready to start the day without having to pay extra for a hotel room.”
Further information can be found at www.megabusgold.com
