Stagecoach orders £6.5m of Elites and Enviro400s

Stagecoach Group is investing over £6.5m in a fleet of new buses and coaches for its Cambridge operations. A total of 18 new Plaxton Elite coaches will go into service on the X5 service, which operates between Cambridge and Oxford, via St Neots, Bedford and Milton Keynes. The vehicles are expected to go into service by the end of this year and will provide free wi-fi and toilets for passengers. They will seat 57 passengers or 55 when the wheelchair space is required. The operator has also ordered six Scania based ADL Enviro400s to go into service on the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway, which connects Cambridge, Huntingdon and St Ives. The new vehicles will have Euro5 engines, free wi-fi, power sockets and air chill. They are expected to go into service by the end of 2014.

MD of Stagecoach East, Andy Campbell, said, ‘This is great news for our customers. The X5 service is used by around 1.3 million passengers a year and provides a vital public transport link between Oxford and Cambridge. We are delighted to be launching these new vehicles later in the year. The Busway has proved to be a great success and we’re pleased to be delivering more new buses for the customers who rely on those services every day.’