STAGECOACH services in Swindon are getting ready for their busiest month of the year.

As the new school term begins, more than two million passengers will use 256 Stagecoach West coaches to get where they want to go.

The company serves Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, South Gloucestershire and South Herefordshire,

It hopes that contactless payments will help speed things up and keep services running on-time.

Miriam Luff, marketing manager at Stagecoach West, said: “We all recognise increased traffic congestion when the schools go back, but the bus services we provide help alleviate some of that congestion.

“When you consider the of the number of cars bus travel helps keep off the road, coupled with the increasing concern with air pollution, we believe our investment in more efficient, greener buses is also having a positive impact on people’s quality of life.

“As for contactless payments - we introduced it for convenience, speed and security for passengers and it’s proved popular.

"Since launching in November 2017, there have been 715,000 contactless payments on our buses.”

When the contactless system was revealed in November Rupert Cox, managing director of Stagecoach West, said: "The roll-out of contactless payments on our buses has involved a major investment for Stagecoach but we believe the benefits for our customers are overwhelming.”

Earlier this year the company also announced £2.5 million investment in a fleet of luxury Stagecoach Gold buses, complete with free on board Wi-Fi and USB charging points for customers and cleaner, quieter Euro 6 engines which were designed to cut emissions.

In August, it announced a further £3 million investment in a fleet of 12 more Gold buses.