New Coach Services Launched

13 May 2011, 12:08 | Updated: 13 May 2011, 12:11

New coach services for Ringwood, Bournemouth and Poole have been announced today (13th May).

National Express has launched a new service, the 206, from Bournemouth's Travel Interchange to Gatwick Airport 10 times a day and to all terminals at Heathrow Airport 12 times a day.

Services to Portsmouth, Fareham and Chichester have increased from 1 to 11 times a day and Bournemouth to Southampton, has more than doubled from eight times a day to 18 times per day.

More than £1.5million has been invested in new coaches and 25 jobs have been created to operate the service.

Andrew Cleaves, Managing Director, National Express coach said,

"We're proud to be investing in the region with new and improved coach services offering great value ticket prices. Coach services across the South Coast are extremely popular attracting new customers as well as our many loyal customers including staff working at the airports. Our customers travel in safety and comfort and we will continue to invest in great customer service for the people of Dorset and the surrounding areas."

National Express is working with Bournemouth’s Excelsior Coaches to deliver the service for people across the region.

Kathy Tilbury, Managing Director of Excelsior Coaches said, "We have invested nearly £1.5million taking delivery of six new vehicles in order to carry out the new service.  There have been opportunities for everyone in the business to get involved and new positions have been available, as well as the recruitment of a further 20 staff to complement the existing delivery teams to allow us to deliver the contract. Without doubt our delivery standards and performance in the National Express quality tables is one of the main reasons why we have been awarded this contract."