Stagecoach offers two free weekends of travel in Exeter following reliability issues

Stagecoach South West will be offering days of free bus travel in Exeter in an effort to make up for the company's reliability in recent months.

The traffic commissioner ordered Stagecoach to deliver £120,000 of free travel after an investigation found 21% of services had not run to timetable.

Bus journeys will be free over the weekends of 10, 11 December and 17, 18 December within the Exeter Plus travel Zone. Free travel will be available on the routes of all Exeter city services as well as parts of some bus routes that enter in and out of Exeter City Centre.

This includes journeys across Exeter and within the boundaries of Ottery St Mary, Cullompton, Bickleigh, Crediton, Okehampton, Whitestone, Longdown, Kennford, Teignmouth, Exton, Woodbury, Woodbury Salterton, Nine Oaks Cross and Exmouth, excluding Sandy Bay.

Stagecoach South West Managing Director Mike Watson said: ‘We deeply regret the level of service experienced by some of our passengers in recent months.

"Moving forward, our priority is to build on the extensive steps we have been taking to drive up the reliability of our services for our local communities.

"We are committed to working with our local authority partners to ensure these improvements continue and are sustained.”

Over the two weekends customers will not need to purchase a ticket within the free travel zone.

Customers who have pre-purchased tickets are being reminded not to activate them on the free travel dates and to save them for another day.

Stagecoach hopes that the free travel weekends will give customers an opportunity to give the bus a try again, whilst easing traffic into the city.