AV82 - Aston Villa Shuttle Service

[Michael Bevan]

Just seen that Stagecoach are going to be running an AV82 service from Birmingham to Villa Park on match days. Service will be starting from Dudley Street to Villa Park three hours before kick-off, then from Grosvenor Road to New Street after the match...

https://www.avfc.co.uk/news/2024/march/28/New-express-city-centre-shuttle-buses-set-to-launch-on-matchdays/

[Stu]

Looks like Leamington are running this, using 5 Unibus branded E400MMCs today.

[Jay71]

I wonder why Stagecoach got this contract.  Was it down to them being cheaper than rival operators

[EK40]

Looks like Leamington are running this, using 5 Unibus branded E400MMCs today.

looks like its mixed depot for european nights like today, nuneaton and leamington are running a couple and even a X4 branded gold mmc has come from as far as kettering.

[ellspurs]

From the press release at the top:

'Ian Campbell, Operations Manager at Stagecoach, added: "We are delighted to be helping fans with a quick, comfortable, and cost-effective shuttle service to get to and from Villa Park. We are pleased to be working with Aston Villa to help make supporter travel safer and more sustainable."'

Ah, yes, sustainable travel, with vehicles travelling 55 miles from the bus company's depot to carry out the "sustainable travel". (note: if they're still not allowed to use the motorways when travelling to/from depot then it'll be a bit further than that.)