Scottish Citylink today (Wednesday 4th August 2004) underlined its commitment to maintaining its position as market leader following the takeover of Motorvator by Stagecoach.

Citylink is Scotland’s largest provider of express coach services and Managing Director, Neil Wood, is confident the company will retain its market share on the flagship Glasgow – Edinburgh route.

Neil said: “There has been increasing competition on the Glasgow-Edinburgh route and supply has doubled since 1998 with a total of 10 journey opportunities every hour between coach and rail travel.

“The combined coach and rail market between Glasgow and Edinburgh is worth approximately £20m per year but the growing number of rivals has not altered our market share and I am confident that Citylink will remain the market leader for coach travel.”

The Glasgow – Edinburgh route has seen increasing competition over recent years. Motorvator entered the market in 1999, following Citylink in a number of ways, including using Citylink’s service number, but Citylink has still grown passenger numbers by over 30% over this period.

Recent developments include the introduction of Megabus and additional seating capacity on Scotrail services, however Citylink passenger numbers and revenue remain on a par with last year.

Neil added: “Stagecoach, under the guise of Megabus, adopted predatory tactics by swamping the market with cheap, even free, fares. However, Megabus has had no effect on Citylink market share on this route and the service has failed to take off."

Citylink is committed to continually improving its service and introduced on-line booking in September 2003. Careful yield management of fares has allowed the company to offer tickets from as little as £1 – with no booking fee – making it the price leader on this route. These offers have proven very successful with research indicating significant modal shift from car and rail.

The company also prides itself on its fast and frequent services with up to four services per hour. Citylink also offers the best spread of journeys with departures up until midnight each day with additional late night services at weekends.

Issued by the BIG partnership on behalf of Scottish Citylink.

For further information please contact:

Kay Pullar on 0141 333 9585.