Stagecoach staff benefit from £1 million of new bikes through Cycle to Work Scheme
12 Sep 2012
• 1500 Stagecoach employees take advantage of bike initiative
• Part of Stagecoach drive to encourage sustainability and healthy living
Stagecoach Group employees have benefited from £1 million worth of new bikes in less than a year through the company’s Cycle to Work Scheme.
Almost 1500 of the company’s bus drivers and support staff, as well as employees at Stagecoach’s Group headquarters in Perth, have taken advantage of the scheme, which helps support a healthier, more sustainable lifestyle.
Under flexible pay and benefit arrangements the company provides employees with a bike to use for cycling to and from work. The initiative, which also covers cycling equipment, provides savings of hundreds of pounds on the retail price of the bikes through bulk discounts, and employees also make savings on tax and national insurance.
Through the scheme, staff can choose from more than 140 cycles including mountain bikes, hybrids and road bikes, up to a total value of £1,000.
Employees from each of Stagecoach’s regional bus companies, as well as staff at its London operation, have taken up the offer since January this year.
Along with introducing the Cycle to Work scheme, Stagecoach has also invested in improved cycle facilities for staff, including better bike racks as well as lockers and shower facilities at bus depots.
Only 1 in 3 people in the UK currently owns a bike and Stagecoach is supportive of the Government Cycle to Work initiatives which will boost the country’s health and the take-up of more sustainable travel options.
Stagecoach UK Bus Managing Director Les Warneford said: “This is proving to be a very successful scheme and I’m delighted that so many of our employees have taken advantage of the offer.
“Sustainability is at the heart of our business and this scheme is a great opportunity for our staff to use a greener, and healthier, form of transport to and from work as well as in their spare time.”
The Cycle to Work Scheme is the latest employee health initiative introduced by Stagecoach, following on from the company’s Healthy Heart Bus Project which saw more than 3,000 UK Bus employees benefit from a voluntary heart health screening programme over a two-year period. The project, which was delivered in partnership with BMI Healthcare involved a bus refurbished as a cardio-screening unit which toured Stagecoach’s UK bus depots, providing free heart health check-ups and advice for employees.
Stagecoach Group announced earlier this year that it has retained the prestigious Carbon Trust Standard after taking tough action on carbon reduction. The Group has shown a significant improvement in carbon efficiency over the two year certification period, since its initial certification was awarded, and during the same period the company also cut its emissions on an absolute basis in the UK overall.
In 2010, Stagecoach launched Revolution in the Way We Travel, a five-year plan to reduce further the carbon emissions from its transport operations in the UK and North America. Stagecoach Group is targeting an overall reduction of 8% in carbon emissions from buildings and a cut of 3% in carbon emissions from annual fleet transport by April 2014. Specific stretching targets have been set for each of its bus and rail businesses, supported by an £11million green investment programme.
Stagecoach reports annually on its carbon emissions through its corporate website, www.stagecoach.com, and also provides information on its global carbon footprint to the Carbon Disclosure Project, the world’s largest corporate greenhouse gas emissions database.
Stagecoach has won a number of awards for its environmental initiatives. The company won the Sustainability Award at the 2012 Scotland plc Awards and, in October 2011, Stagecoach, along with Alexander Dennis Ltd., won the Green Award at the 2011 Route One Operator Excellence Awards for the introduction of hybrid-electric vehicles. The Group also won the Environment Award at the 2011 UK Bus Awards.
For further information about Stagecoach Group visit www.stagecoach.com
ENDS
For media enquiries, please contact: Stagecoach Group Communications on 01738 442111 or email: media@stagecoachgroup.com
Notes to Editors:
Stagecoach Group
• Stagecoach Group is a leading international public transport group, with extensive operations in the UK, United States and Canada. The company employs around 35,000 people, and operates bus, coach, rail, and tram services. Around 3 million customers use the Group's transport services every day.
• Stagecoach is one of UK’s biggest bus and coach operators. Around 2.5 million passengers travel on Stagecoach's 7,700 buses every day on a network stretching from south-west England to the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. The company's business includes major city bus operations in London, Liverpool, Newcastle, Hull, Manchester, Oxford, Sheffield and Cambridge. It also operates the market-leading budget coach service megabus.com, which links around 60 key cities and carries 5 million passengers a year in the UK.
• Stagecoach is a major UK rail operator, running the South West Trains, Island Line and East Midlands Trains networks. It has a 49% shareholding in Virgin Rail Group, which operates the West Coast inter-city rail franchise.
• Stagecoach also operates the Supertram network in Sheffield.
• In North America, Stagecoach operates around 2,700 buses and coaches in the United States and Canada. Budget coach service megabus.com links more than 70 key locations in North America. Stagecoach is also involved in operating commuter and transit services, as well as tours, charters, sightseeing tours and a small number of school bus services.