Stroud couple set up peak time coach service to London

Tom and Rebecca MacMillan say their new coach service to London could save commuters thousands of pounds every year

A couple from Stroud who said they were becoming increasingly frustrated at the cost of peak-time travel to London are setting up their own commuter coach service to the capital.

Tom and Rebecca MacMillan said they hoped GoStroud would save commuters thousands of pounds every year, and they could expand to other towns or cities.

Rebecca, who works as an improv teacher and performer, said about 100 people had already expressed an interest, with some "moved to tears" when they heard about it "because this makes the difference about whether or not they can continue with their work in London".

Rail and coach companies have welcomed the plan saying it gives commuters more options.

Hollie Benneyworth says the new coach service will enable her to cover the cost of travelling to work in London two or three times a week

Hollie Benneyworth, who works in tech marketing in London, said the new service could really help her when she returns from maternity leave in September.

"Going on the train, including travel inside the city, is going to cost me upwards of £600 a month so that, alongside even more childcare, is just making the whole scenario unaffordable," she said.

"And the prospect of going back to work, which I really love, is becoming a bit more daunting because of the financial implications."

The GoStroud coach will run three times a week, leaving Stroud at 06:00 for West Drayton where commuters can catch the Elizabeth Line into central London.

The return coach will get back at about 20:00 BST and, with all fares combined, will cost just under £50 a day in total.

Tom, who works in agricultural policy and often has to travel to work in London, said the peak service could be very expensive with the only current alternative being getting a train from Stroud at 05:30 that gets into London very early.

"If you were to get an advance ticket a month ahead, which obviously lots of people try to do, the cheapest I could find was about £144," he said.

For many commuters who choose to live away from London, affordable travel is increasingly important.

Harry Harvey, who works for a national charity in London, said any money he was able to save as a result of using the new service would go towards buying a house.

"There are so many opportunities that you have at your fingertips living in a town like Stroud," he said.

"It's connected to London but, unfortunately, if you don't earn a certain amount of money, it's not a simple task to get there and I just think that this enables me to continue doing what I want to do."

Emily Hawkerr only works in London a couple of times a month but she said the cost of travel was becoming prohibitive

Emily Hawkerr, a graphic designer who mostly works from home in Stroud, said being in London just a couple of times a month was important for her but that it was becoming increasingly unaffordable.

"I have to cover my own travel and it's stopping me working the way I want to work and leaving me feeling quite isolated working from home a lot of the time.

"I feel really lucky to have the job that I have but it is potentially not sustainable with the way things are going with the trains and prices."

Rebecca said she was a fan of public transport and that she and her husband did not want to take on the big train and coach firms.

"We just want to provide an additional offering... a really affordable option," she said.

In a statement a Great Western Railway spokesperson said: "We welcome anything that encourages people to leave their cars at home and think differently about how they travel.

"That can only be good for our communities and our environment.

"We believe the train remains the best option for most commuters travelling between Stroud and London."

A National Express spokesperson said it already provides daily affordable coach journeys from Stroud to London but that "GoStroud's coach trial could demonstrate how different services can work alongside each other to support more sustainable forms of travel".

It said one could deliver "scale, frequency and national connectivity" and the other "a targeted, commuter-led service".

The statement said: "Both can play a role in providing more affordable alternatives to rail travel which is increasingly important as people manage the increasing cost of living."

Tom and Rebecca are using Barnes Coaches, a 106-year-old family coach company in Swindon, for the new service.

Transport manager Ross McKay said: "Supporting local groups, organisations and communities has always been an important part of our journey and we are delighted to be working alongside GoStroud as they travel onwards with this exciting new hire to London."

The GoStroud coach will run as a trial over five days next month before launching three times a week from September.

Tom and Rebecca said they were "optimistic" about the trial.

They are already looking at how the model of a community-focused coach service could work on other peak-time routes, with a return service to Bristol being considered.

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