We're going further together for Yorkshire!

Exciting new deal to join up intercity bus travel between the White Rose County and destinations across Britain.

Four leading Yorkshire bus companies are teaming up with the UK’s fastest growing intercity coach network to offer joined up journeys between local cities and towns and over 40 destinations across Britain.

Coastliner, Cityzap, The Harrogate Bus Company and The Keighley Bus Company – all part of forward-thinking bus group Transdev – are joining in partnership with leading long distance coach provider Megabus.com to offer through tickets at amazing low prices, with a single easy change at Leeds Bus and Coach Station.

The deal means that from Monday, 4 September 2017, passengers travelling to Yorkshire with megabus.com will be able to continue their onward journeys to places served by the four Yorkshire companies’ buses – which cover a huge area of the White Rose County using one ticket bought via one simple booking system.

Several key Yorkshire destinations which currently lie beyond the Megabus.com coach network will become easy to reach using one ticket to make an easy connection at Leeds Bus and Coach Station – providing a welcome boost for all-year tourism in visitor hotspots including York, Harrogate, Ripon, Keighley for Bronte Country, Whitby, Scarborough and Bridlington.

At the same time, thrifty Yorkshire locals will be able to travel through from their home city or town on one low-cost ticket to exciting places on the Megabus.com intercity coach network across Britain, stretching hundreds of miles from Inverness to Plymouth, and including the capital cities of London, Cardiff and Edinburgh.

The new through tickets are also expected to prove popular with students at universities and colleges across Yorkshire, including the University of York, York St John University, and the Coventry University Campus in Scarborough.

Add-on single fares for local bus travel to join Megabus.com coaches at Leeds will be just £3 from Ripon, Harrogate or Keighley, or £5 from York, Malton and Yorkshire Coast resorts including Whitby, Scarborough, Filey and Bridlington, bringing car free, carefree intercity travel within easy reach.

Transdev CEO Alex Hornby said: “This amazing deal joins up travel between Yorkshire’s finest cities and towns and an impressive list of destinations right across the country.

“It really couldn’t be simpler to transfer between our buses and Megabus.com intercity coaches at Leeds Bus and Coach Station – we’re literally a few steps apart – and we’ve put everything together to make it easy to book online and make amazing savings.

“For example, someone travelling from Harrogate to London can hop on our frequent buses into Leeds, and then join one of 10 daily Megabus.com departures to London. Our buses run from early morning to late evening, seven days a week, making connections easy.

“With our add-on one-way fares starting at just £3, plus Megabus.com one-way advance fares to London also being low cost, amazing savings are going to be a whole lot closer from now on!”

The full list of places across Yorkshire which will offer through advance booked fares to and from destinations on the Megabus.com intercity coach network via Leeds will be available soon on the megabus.com website.

Tony Simmons, Operations Director for megabus.com said: “This is a great opportunity for passengers travelling on our services to and from Leeds to reach their final destination in an easy way whilst paying a great price. By adding these additional stops passengers will be able to travel across Yorkshire in comfort and with the ease of knowing that their onward journey is taken care of.

“By teaming up with Transdev we’re making it even easier for our customers to use our services to travel across the UK whilst benefiting from great value fares.

All of Transdev’s frequent bus routes into Leeds will be part of the offer, including Coastliner and Cityzap services from York, Malton and the Yorkshire Coast; the 36: Riding Redefined service from Ripon and Harrogate; and The Keighley Bus Company’s route 60 from Keighley.

Full timetables for all Transdev buses into Leeds are available online at: http://harrogatebus.co.uk, http://www.keighleybus.co.uk and http://www.yorkbus.co.uk.

ENDS

Media Contact:

Transdev, including The Keighley Bus Company, Cityzap, The Harrogate Bus Company and Coastliner: For further information, please contact Ben Mansfield or Matt Harrison: 01423 884131 or email: [email protected].

Notes to Editors:

Through tickets for travel between Megabus intercity coach services and selected Yorkshire destinations served by Transdev buses will be available only as part of advance bookings made via the megabus.com website, from Monday 4 September 2017. Through tickets cannot be purchased from bus drivers on the day of travel.

Transdev operates bus services across much of Yorkshire through its four popular branded companies, including:

The Keighley Bus Company - operating local services in and around Otley, Ilkley and Wetherby under its well-established Wharfedale Links brand, as well as other routes further afield in West and North Yorkshire;

The Harrogate Bus Company - providing local bus services in Harrogate, Knaresborough and Wetherby, as well as longer distance routes linking the area with Ripon, Leeds, York, Boroughbridge and Pateley Bridge;

Cityzap buses run non-stop between York and Leeds every 30 minutes from first thing in the morning through until 7pm. Each Cityzap bus features comfortable coach leather seating with a range of single and double seats upstairs giving extra personal space. And, for those wanting to stay in touch on the move, there’s a free USB power point at every seat, plus fast and free 4G Wi-Fi throughout the journey;

Coastliner buses link the Yorkshire Coast resorts of Whitby, Scarborough, Filey and Bridlington, plus Malton and York with Leeds seven days a week. A £2.34 million investment has introduced 10 new luxury double deck buses to the Coastliner network in 2017, featuring comfortable coach seating with tables, wireless mobile device charging points and at seat USB power, audible next stop announcement, fast and free Wi-Fi and much more.

Parent company Transdev is one of the largest public transport operators in Europe, with a reputation for delivering high quality public transport. Visit http://www.transdevplc.co.uk for details of all Transdev services in the UK.

megabus.com

- megabus.com is the UK and North America's leading low-fares, high-quality inter-city coach service, covering around 210 destinations.

- Around 15 million passengers a year use megabus.com services in the UK, North America and Canada.

- The megabus.com network covers 30 US states and two provinces in Canada.

- megabus.com has more than 1500 employees.

Stagecoach Group

- Stagecoach Group is an international public transport group, with extensive operations in the UK, the United States and Canada. The Group employs around 39,000 people, and operates around 12,000 buses, coaches, trains and trams.

- Stagecoach is one of the UK's biggest bus and coach operators with around 8,500 buses and coaches on a network stretching from south-west England to the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. Low-cost coach service, megabus.com, operates a network of inter-city services across the UK.

- Stagecoach is a major UK rail operator, running the East Midlands Trains network. It has also partnered with Virgin to run the East Coast and West Coast inter-city rail franchises.

- Stagecoach operates the Supertram light rail network in Sheffield.

- In North America, Stagecoach operates around 2,500 buses and coaches in the United States and Canada. megabus.com links around 120 key locations in North America. Stagecoach is also involved in operating commuter, transit, contracted, charter and airport shuttle services.