Meet the megabus team helping to connect families on Christmas Day
Stagecoach’s megabus services will continue to run right over the Christmas period, with coaches connecting cities and towns across the country, even on Christmas Day when around 4500 miles will be covered.
Mark Venables, megabus Managing Director, explains how the company manages to keep services running and make sure its staff get the chance to spend time with their loved ones over Christmas: “We’re really proud to be one of the only public transport providers running services on Christmas Day, but we also recognise that it’s such a special time for families across the country, particularly this year with such a limited window.
“All of our Christmas Day services are run by employees who have put themselves forward – in many cases it’s because they don’t celebrate Christmas on the 25thDecember, but we also have lots of the team whose children have grown up, and who volunteer to work to let colleagues have time with their younger children – I find that really touching. Our team also go out of their way, particularly on Christmas Day, to help customers get into the festive spirit by wearing Santa hats and Christmas jumpers.
"This year we will have drivers, engineers and the all-important cleaners working. Our customers travel to see family members and loved ones, and we also have customers who need to get somewhere on the 25th because they're working on the 24th or 26th December."
Wojciech Kawczynski is a Duty Manager at Victoria Coach Station. Coming from Poland, Wojciech celebrates Christmas on 24thDecember. He says: "Customers travel with megabus because the roads are not busy and like me, some of our customers do not celebrate Christmas typically on 25th. It is the only time of year when people actually take a break and can relax and spend time with their family and friends and we help them do just that. I also get to see my colleagues on their special day.”
Tony Singh is a controller in the Glasgow megabus control room. He says: “I'm really happy to work Christmas Day now that my children have grown up. It gives the rest of the megabus team that have younger kids the opportunity to be with their children.”
Tony Batcheler is a Driver/Mentor at Victoria Coach Station. He adds: "I offer to work Christmas because my family have all grown up and if it allows other members of the team with family to enjoy the time with their kids then I feel I have done my bit.”
Mark concludes: "As a business, Stagecoach and megabus are focused on making sure we have a diverse and inclusive workforce that represents the needs of our customers. These diverse experiences and backgrounds all help to ensure we are delivering the best service for our customers, and we also see the added benefits in times like Christmas Day, when we can run our services using volunteer staff and letting the people who want to spend Christmas with their families do just that.
“We’re extremely proud of the hard work of all of our employees in keeping the country moving and our communities connected during the pandemic, and we would like to thank our customers for their support and wish everybody our best for the festive season.”
Tickets are still available for travel over Christmas and New Year - just scroll to the top to book using our journey planner. Cities and locations served on Christmas day include London, Heathrow Airport, Bristol, Cardiff, Birmingham, Manchester, Manchester Airport, Leeds, Sheffield, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Glasgow.
Customers are being asked to follow the latest government guidelines for both their region and the region they're travelling to.
For England, there are 4 tiers with different rules depending on what tier an area is in. For more information, please see gov.uk for England.
For Scotland, travel within Scotland will be allowed on Christmas Day. From Boxing Day, all of Scotland will have Level 4 restrictions applied. This means that in line with existing law, travel across local authority boundaries between areas in Level 3 or 4 will not be legal other than for specific exempt purposes. For further guidance, please visit the Scottish government website.
For Wales, as Wales is now at alert level 4, there are currently travel restrictions for travel in and out of Wales as well as for travel within Wales. To read more on this, please see the Welsh government website.
