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LOCAL SCHOOLCHILDREN OFFICIALLY NAME NEW STAGECOACH MANCHESTER BUSES
Stockport schoolchildren were all smiles on Tuesday 13th March, as they helped leading local bus operator, Stagecoach Manchester, to officially name and launch six new single decker buses, which will serve the Stockport area.
The pupils, from Hillcrest Grammar School, Adswood Primary School and St Thomas’ Primary School, who entered a competition to name the new vehicles. They were joined by the managing director of Stagecoach Manchester, Christopher Bowles, and local councillor, Philip Harding from the Transport for Greater Manchester Committee, to mark the launch into service of the six new buses.
The arrival of the vehicles represents a £¾ million investment in the company’s fleet and a boost for the 325 route, which will operate in the Brinnington area.
Following the speeches and ribbon cutting ceremony, the local children presented posters, bearing the winning bus names, to Christopher and the local councillors.
The winning names were:
• Queenie – Pupils at St Thomas’ Primary School
• Mr Zoomer – Molly-May Sybray from Hillcrest Grammar School
• Sophie – Becky Moore from Hillcrest Grammar School
• Stage-crest – Ethan Richardson-Keeley from Hillcrest Grammar School
• Bizzy Bus – Lewis Edwards from Hillcrest Grammar School
• Steering you to Success – Pupils at Adswood Primary School
As a thank you for their hard work, Christopher rewarded the creative youngsters with £50 worth of high street vouchers each, to be used to purchase books, gardening and arts & crafts products for their schools.
Christopher Bowles commented: “This is a significant investment into our Stockport operations for Stagecoach Manchester. It’s important that we continue to grow and improve our services and we hope that the addition of these vehicles to our fleet will ensure an even higher standard of travel for our loyal customers in the area.”
All vehicles in the new fleet will be more fuel efficient and they will also be fitted with voice-enabled CCTV, to provide customers with safer, greener public transport.
Speaking about the schools competition, Christopher added: “As well as expanding our fleet, Stagecoach Manchester is also committed to building relationships with the communities in which it operates, so I would like to thank Councillor Philip Harding, and the local school children for helping us to launch the new buses.
“We received lots of fantastic entries for the ‘Name That Bus’ competition and it was very difficult to pick just six. I would like to congratulate all the winners and thank everyone who entered for their hard work and creativity.”
Commenting on the launch, Councillor Philip Harding said: “I am very pleased to see six new Stagecoach Manchester buses arrive in Brinnington. The new vehicles will not only improve the experience of bus users in the area, but also help to decrease the carbon footprint in Stockport.”
Simon Crane, Assistant Head or Hillcrest Grammar School, commented: "Bus travel remains an important part of transport to and from School, not only for Hillcrest pupils but for thousands of pupils in and around Stockport.
“We are extremely delighted that Stagecoach has made such a large investment into the local community and extremely proud that Hillcrest pupils, along with children from other local schools, have shown their imagination in naming the new Stagecoach buses."
