'another day on the buses'

· Budget coach service takes delivery of 17 wheelchair-accessible vehicles

· New 79-passenger coaches raise quality of expanding low-cost network

· Online booking engine welcomes 500,000th United States customer

Stagecoach Group is investing $10 million in America’s first inter-city double-decker coaches.

The first of the fleet of 17 new closed-top double-deckers is being introduced tomorrow (7 September 2007) at the Group’s expanding budget inter-city coach operation megabus.com in the United States.

Double-decker coaches are in regular service in the UK and elsewhere in Europe, but these are the first on inter-city services in the United States.

Manufactured by the Belgium-based company Van Hool, the new wheelchair- accessible vehicles have been produced to meet US specifications.

The 79-passenger state-of-the-art coaches will run on megabus.com Midwest routes operated out of Chicago, with all vehicles in service by January 2008.

The full press release is here.

PS (7 Sept).

I’ve found a picture of one!