The new services were launched by Italy’s Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, Riccardo Nencini, at an event in Florence.
megabus.com will link 13 locations in Italy with fares on all journeys from just €1*, taking the total number of destinations on the company’s European network to almost 150.
The new network will cover Rome, Milan, Florence, Venice, Naples, Turin, Bologna, Verona, Padua, Siena, Genoa, Sarzana (La Spezia) and Pisa.
As well as boosting public transport, tourism and the economy, the company is investing in Italy by creating around 100 new jobs through the opening of new bases near Milan and in Florence.
Welcoming the new megabus.com network, Deputy Minister Nencini said: “megabus.com will connect Italian cities, from the north to the south, with low fares, giving students, workers and tourists the opportunity to visit our country. This is a new way of travelling for Italy and megabus.com's investment and job creation in Italy has been a brave choice. Delivering the possibility for everybody to travel without constraints brings people more freedom and I really thank megabus.com for believing in this country."
Tickets for the new services, which will run from 24 June 2015, are on sale now at the Italian language website www.megabus.com. For travel on the first five days of the new services (24, 25, 26, 27 and 28 June), megabus.com has confirmed that all tickets will be priced at €1*.
A fleet of 23 state-of-the-art megabus.com coaches – representing an investment of more than €11million - offer free Wifi, power sockets, air conditioning and a toilet.
megabus.com say that by using bigger coaches results in a low cost per passenger and keeps fares down.
As part of the latest expansion, megabus.com is creating around 45 jobs initially at a new operating base close to Bergamo, near Milan. Vehicles will be parked, cleaned and maintained at the base under a partnership with local company Autoservizi Locatelli.
The company has also opened a second crew base in Florence, with offices in the city’s Santa Maria Novella area, where over 50 staff will be located. The majority of the new megabus.com employees are Italian nationals and are employed on permanent Italian contracts.
“Italy is a fantastic country with some of the most vibrant and popular cities in Europe. We are confident our low-fares and high quality travel experience will help deliver more affordable travel to people in Italy and bring even more tourists to the country.”
megabus.com part of Stagecoach Group in Scotland, has operated since 2003. It expanded from the UK to North America in 2006 and has served mainland Europe since 2012.
Major destinations on the network include London, Manchester, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, Lyon, Toulouse, Barcelona, Lille, Luxembourg, Cologne, Frankfurt, Munich, Berlin, Hamburg, Hannover and Leipzig.
megabus.com offers Italian, French, German, English, Spanish and Dutch language websites. Services are popular with families, students and tourists looking to save money on travel and spend extra on entertainment when they arrive at their destination.
All megabus.com drivers undertake a detailed operational and customer service training programme. It includes route familiarisation and driving assessments and this is in addition to meeting all of the EU standard qualifications for professional bus, coach and lorry drivers. megabus.com ensures full compliance with relevant EU working time legislation and has stricter maintenance standards than legal requirements as part of its commitment to safety.
The success of megabus.com’s services has seen it create more than 500 jobs over the past decade in the UK and Europe and a further 1,000 jobs in North America.
NOW SEE THE LATEST ON THE NEW FOCUS FLICKR SITE:
From the modern day to times past. The most recent special weekend held at the Crich Tramway Village in rural Derbyshire was the 'Classic London' event. A variety of London buses, taxi cabs, trams and trolleybuses and buses recalled the vintage years led by the re-introduction into service of London County Council tram number 106. After many years of painstaking work the tram was re-launched onto the tracks and this and other vehicles are in an album that can now be viewed by clicking here
