Stagecoach’s UK Bus eco-driving champions recognised through an awards scheme

• Christopher Ball Memorial Awards scheme held as a tribute to former employee
• Stagecoach Oxfordshire recognised as top company according to GreenRoad system for third consecutive year
• Third individual driver award win for Merseyside driver Dave Birch
• Macduff named best depot for eco-driving performance for second time
• System helps achieve improvement in fuel efficiency across UK bus operations

PERTH, Scotland, 25-Jul-2017 — /EuropaWire/ — Stagecoach’s UK Bus eco-driving champions have again been recognised through an awards scheme held in tribute to a former employee.

Christopher Ball, Stagecoach Ecodriver Project Manager, sadly passed away in 2014. Christopher worked tirelessly to roll out the GreenRoad eco-driving technology to Stagecoach’s bus companies across the UK and was a respected and well-liked employee.

As a tribute to Christopher, an awards scheme in his memory was introduced in 2015 and the company has recently awarded the 2017 winners. The Christopher Ball Memorial Award is awarded to the best performing company in Stagecoach UK Bus, with glass bowls also presented to the best depot and best driver.

Overall winner of the award – for the third consecutive year – was Stagecoach Oxfordshire for its employees’ consistently strong eco-driving performance over the past year.

Stagecoach North Scotland’s Macduff depot won the top depot award for the second time, while Stagecoach Merseyside driver Dave Birch, from Birkenhead depot, was named top driver for the past 12 months after winning the same accolade for the past two years.

The GreenRoad system is installed on all Stagecoach vehicles at the Group’s bus companies. Using a traffic-light LED system on the dashboard, the system gives drivers instant feedback on their driving manoeuvres, encouraging smoother, safer, and more fuel-efficient driving.

To date, use of GreenRoad’s system and Stagecoach’s comprehensive driver training programme has helped deliver an improvement in fuel efficiency and reduction in CO2 emissions across Stagecoach operations in the UK.

Stagecoach UK Bus Regional Director Robert Andrew said: “This is the third year of these awards, which are an important way for us to pay tribute to the hard work Christopher put in to introduce this eco-driving technology at our bus companies.

“Smoother, fuel-efficient driving is safer, provides more comfortable journeys for our customers and helps cut our carbon footprint. I would like to congratulate our winners – who have excelled again this year and have displayed excellent eco-driving skills over a consistent period of time.”

Christopher Ball’s father John was once again involved in presenting the awards. He added: “I would like to congratulate the winners of these awards and it’s a real testament to them that we are awarding the same winners as last year. It is good to know that Christopher’s hard work is being continued and he would have been delighted that the GreenRoad system is helping to deliver such high standards of driving across Stagecoach.”

Richard Hemming, GreenRoad Vice President of Customer Success, commented “GreenRoad is delighted to be partnering with Stagecoach again to deliver the Christopher Ball Memorial Awards in 2017. Christopher Ball was an integral person in rolling out GreenRoad within Stagecoach and this creation of a culture of safer driving is now firmly embedded in the Stagecoach business benefitting passengers and employees alike. Stagecoach has some of the highest driving standards within GreenRoad’s client portfolio. Congratulations to the winners; the standard to achieve such a win in Stagecoach in 2017 is very high. Christopher Ball would have been very proud of the results achieved by the 2017 winners”.

It was revealed earlier this year that Stagecoach bus employees again topped a global eco-driver performance scheme which measures fuel-efficient driving.

More than 4,800 Stagecoach drivers were awarded Fleet Elite status under the programme managed by GreenRoad, whose telematics system serves professional drivers in the UK, Ireland, Europe, the Middle East, America, Australia and New Zealand.

Over 2,400 of Stagecoach’s Fleet Elite drivers have achieved the Gold badge for consistently maintaining the Fleet Elite driving standard for three consecutive years. Stagecoach drivers account for almost half of the 9,930 drivers globally who met the Fleet Elite standard in 2016 and some 19% of Stagecoach’s 19,000-strong driving team achieved the prestigious benchmark.

Fleet Elite standard drivers must clock up more than 500 driving hours in a year and achieve an average of five or less events, such as harsh braking or acceleration, per 10 hours of driving over the calendar year. In fact, 127 Stagecoach drivers scored zero – a perfect score – during the period.

Further information about Stagecoach UK Bus can be found at www.stagecoachbus.com

ENDS

For media enquiries, please contact:  Stagecoach Group Communications on 01738 442111 or email: media@stagecoachgroup.com

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 40,000 people, and operates around 13,000 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 South West Trains, Island Line and East Midlands Trains networks. It has a 49% shareholding in Virgin Rail Group, which operates the West Coast rail franchise.  It also has a 90% shareholding in Virgin Trains East Coast, which operates the East Coast rail franchise.
• Stagecoach operates the Supertram light rail network in Sheffield.
• In North America, Stagecoach operates around 2,300 buses and coaches in the United States and Canada. megabus.com links around 130 key locations in North America. Stagecoach is also involved in operating commuter, transit, contracted, charter, airport shuttle and sightseeing services.

About GreenRoad

GreenRoad provides a single, comprehensive solution for changing driver behaviour and managing fleet performance and efficiency.  GreenRoad’s platform helps fleet operators improve driving safety, increase fuel economy, lower insurance premiums, and reduce accident-related costs. GreenRoad’s advanced business intelligence and performance analytics enable fleets to optimise daily and strategic operations.

GreenRoad engages drivers directly to generate meaningful, lasting change through real-time, in-vehicle feedback and highly effective change management methodology.

With over 8 billion miles monitored and 600,000 driving years logged, GreenRoad serves leading companies of all sizes and across many industries, including trucking, passenger transportation, construction, food service, delivery, and public safety.

The company has offices in the US, UK and Israel.

SOURCE: Stagecoach Group plc.

MEDIA CONTACT

• Office hours (0800-1800): + 44 (0)1738 442111 (Please note – our communications team is not based in one office so this number is for our switchboard, who will note your enquiry and pass it on to the media team). Alternatively, please contact us via the email address below.
• Email: media@stagecoachgroup.com.
• Out of office hours: + 44 (0)8448 222888 and quote MEDIA1