Stagecoach London 19132 (LX565 EAG) Enviro400 in Megasightseeing livery seen outside St Pauls. MARK LYONS
Stagecoach has announced a joint venture with City Sightseeing and Groupo Julià which will see it operate a hop-on, hop-off sightseeing service in London.
The new service, which starts on May 20, will use the open-top Alexander Dennis Enviro400s previously operated on Stagecoach’s Megasightseeing.com tour which it is not currently planned to resume. The buses have been repainted in City Sightseeing’s red livery and will initially run half-hourly and operate under the London Service Permit previously issued to London City Tours. A full circuit of the route is expected to take about 150 minutes.
Grupo Julià began running its London City Tour in March 2015, although it ceased using its own vehicles when it entered a marketing agreement with RATP-owned the Original Tour in August 2018. The City Sightseeing brand has been licenced to the Original Tour for use in London since it acquired the goodwill of Ensignbus’ sightseeing operations in 2001.
Enrique Ybarra, CEO of City Sightseeing, said: "Since we founded City Sightseeing, London has always been an inspiration. After developing the hop-on hop-off service around the world through more than 100 cities on six continents, I am very happy to see City Sightseeing at the cradle of the hop-on, hop-off business.
"Together with renowned partners Stagecoach and Grupo Julià, we want to provide the best experience to the city’s visitors, as we put all the experience gained and our industry network to make City Sightseeing London the leading operator."
Paul Lynch, Regional Director for Stagecoach, said: "Buses will play a crucial role in the recovery of the country and of course, our capital city. Boosting domestic tourism is a key priority and as people now start to plan the return to doing the things they enjoy doing, such as day trips and staycations, the launch of this new open-top tour bus service will provide an easy, convenient and environmentally friendly way for people to tour the great sights of London.”
