More UniRider buses for “unexpected” passenger increase

**Stagecoach Midlands has increased the amount of buses from Leamington to campus at peak times, after it reported an ‘unexpected increase’ in the number of passengers on the UniRider service.**

The company introduced three new buses to cater for extra commuters at the busiest points in the day after concerns were expressed that they could not cope with student demand.

Chris Childs, marketing manager of Stagecoach Midlands said that it was difficult to predict travel patterns at the start of term. He said: “Although the same numbers of students come to the area each year, we don’t know where they live. We don’t have previous knowledge of this.

“We have spare buses to ensure that everyone arrives to their destination on time. As people get used to their timetable, a pattern will develop. There’s always an influx at the beginning.”

Stagecoach recently spent £1.6 million on new buses from Sydenham to the University of Warwick via Leamington which are equipped with free Wi-Fi. Mr Childs said this was “a massive investment” for students.

Steve Burd, Managing Director for Stagecoach Midlands said: “We are delighted to introduce this new fleet of buses onto our Unibus routes and I’m sure they will prove very popular – particularly the free Wi-Fi.

“We have worked very closely with the University to continue to grow and develop this service, which is a real success story”.

The new buses are designed to allow mobility impaired students or those with large luggage to travel with ease. The free Wi-Fi is on all new buses although initial connection problems were reported last week. Mr Childs said there had been an issue with the hardware pipe, but emphasised that “students will absolutely love the Wi-Fi”.

However, many students said they were not aware of this latest feature. Jenny Smyth said “I had no idea there was Wi-Fi, but I will definitely be using it.”

Patrick Mackenzie, second-year Philosophy, Politics and Economics student said, “I’ve never used the Wi-Fi because I didn’t know about it. I think in general the buses are regular enough. My main problem is the weekend buses, I think they also need to cater for people who need to travel to campus at that time”.