Stagecoach SW takes Golden Hop to school for Catch the Bus Week

To celebrate Greener Journeys fifth annual ‘Catch the Bus Week’, Stagecoach South West promoted taking the bus to a hundred Year 6 Torbay primary school children.

The bus company took Gary Rabbit, one of six ‘Golden Hop’ open top buses, to Eden Park Primary School in Brixham. Here, they delivered interactive sessions to groups of children on topics including how to buy a ticket, safe travel and using the Stagecoach smartphone app for journey planning, next-stop information and live bus tracking.

The sessions from Stagecoach formed part of the Junior Life Skills Event, open to all Year 6 pupils from Eden Park, Preston and Cockington Primary Schools who, together, form the Coast Academies Trust.

The aim of the event is to equip children with a wide variety of life skills. Other sessions were delivered by the police, fire brigade, Red Cross, Torbay Healthy Lifestyles and Santander Money Matters.

Helen Scholes, Marketing Manager for Stagecoach South West, said: “It was a pleasure to attend the Junior Life Skills event and interact with the next generation of bus passengers. I hope that we helped children build their confidence and knowledge of how to travel safely and easily by bus and we look forward to welcoming them on board in the future.”

Adele Clayton, Assistant Head Teacher and organiser of the event, said: “It was great to have Stagecoach South West partner with us at this year’s Life Skills Event. The children really enjoyed finding out about how to travel by bus and having the open top here made for a real talking point.”

The family of six ‘Golden Hop’ open-top buses launched on 29 April. Each bus features a distinctive yellow livery with its very own ‘bus hopper’ animal character named by local primary schools, including Cockington. Buses runs up to every 20 minutes, 7 days a week, and connects St Marychurch, Torquay, Paignton and Paignton Zoo. Visitors are able to enjoy a unique sightseeing experience; hopping on and off, as often as they like, to visit destinations and attractions along the route. More information on the service can be found here: https://www.stagecoachbus.com/promos-and-offers/south-west/hop-up-top-wi....

Greener Journeys ‘Catch the Bus Week’, now in its fifth year, runs from 3-9 July. It aims to drive awareness of the benefits of taking the bus, encouraging local people to make the switch from the car for a week and consider leaving the car at home for some journeys in the future.

Bus travel with Stagecoach is kinder to the pocket and the company has four times been independently found to have the best value bus fares in Britain. A recent survey carried out by consumer group Transport Focus found that bus passengers rated Stagecoach as the best value major operator in the country.

Full details of the Transport Focus Bus Passenger Satisfaction Survey can be found here:0 https://www.transportfocus.org.uk/research-publications/research/bus-pas...