The bus and coach transport operator came up with the idea of offering a free ride on their special “Love Bus” for brides and grooms-to-be as for many people, a bus trip may have played a significant part in their relationship, with many couples getting together after first meeting on a bus journey, or maybe their first date involved a trip on a bus.

If you’re planning to pop the question on February 14^th, and your other half says “yes” you are eligible to enter the free prize draw to win a free wedding us courtesy of Arriva (remember ladies, 2012 is a leap year so if you’re sick of waiting for a proposal, now’s your chance to take matters into your own hands!) The competition is only open to those planning to tie the knot in 2012.

The winning couple can choose to ride in the Love Bus themselves, or alternatively the novelty coach could be used to transport all of their wedding guests. Arriva will deck the Love Bus out with decorations, as per the bride’s instructions, and the vehicle will also be filled with free goodies and presents courtesy of the bus and coach hire provider.

For full terms and conditions of the competition, and more information on the Love Bus prize and how you can enter, please visit the Arriva website.

The North East bus and coach transport operator, which transport 72 million passengers every year, has teamed up with the Corethree platform to provide the electronic ticketing facility for bus and coach passengers. The e-tickets will be compatible for use on a wide range of smartphones including iPhone, Blackberry, and Android.

The tickets must be displayed to the driver on the passenger’s phone when boarding each bus or coach service. A number of anti-fraud checks have been put in place to prevent fraudsters taking advantage of the new electronic ticketing service. The multi-layer solution uses colour, words and moving digital water marks to distinguish the genuine e-tickets. A number of elements will also change on the tickets on a daily, hourly or even weekly basis to combat any attempts to replicate the bus fares.

The transport operator already offers a mobile app to allow passengers to access bus and coach timetabling, locate nearest bus stops and live service updates via mobile devices.

The mobile ticketing system is due to come into play on February 8^th on Go North East bus and coach services.

Customers can ride on the TopShop double-decker bus for free, with a timetable of the bus’s routes available in store and also online. As well as dropping off and collecting customers from the new TopShop store, the bus also runs along routes in other parts of the city taking passengers to popular spots including the beach and a nearby open air swimming pool.

As an extra incentive to encourage passenger onto the TopShop bus, the retailer is giving away travel tickets to each passenger that boards with one in every ten of the first 300 tickets issued winning an instant prize or a TopShop gift card of up to $500 value. In-keeping with the London theme, the travel cards are designed to look like the Oyster Card, the electronic travel ticket used by commuters in London.

Regular updates about the TopShop double-decker’s route in Melbourne are being made on the retailer’s Twitter and Facebook pages. The free bus is expected to run until February 24^th.

Coach Broker is offering reduced rates across its entire fleet of coaches and minibuses for football fans travelling to Wembley Stadium for the Carling Cup Final, so whether you’re a committed Cardiff supporter or you’re backing Liverpool all the way, you can benefit from the cheap coach hire rates being offered for the Carling Cup Final at London’s Wembley Stadium.

With access to the UK’s largest fleet of coaches and minibuses, you’ll be spoilt for choice when it comes to finding the right vehicle for your trip to Wembley. If you’re travelling to London with a huge group of friends and family, or perhaps as part of a club, then we can offer you the chance to all travel together in one of our 80-seater double-decker coaches. Alternatively we can provide you with a standard size coach or 50-60 seats, or for smaller parties there’s the 32-seater coach, 25-seater mini coach and a range of minibuses which seat anything from 8 to 20 passengers, so we really have every base covered.

All of our coaches and minibuses are provided along with a highly experienced driver who will take care of every detail of your journey so you can concentrate on the important stuff – the football and enjoying yourself!

Liverpool football fans get in touch today and book your coach hire to Wembley and we’ll guarantee you a highly competitive rate.

A sniffer dog alerted the authorities to a quantity of marijuana rolled into joints which was contained in a red prescription bottle onboard the tour bus, and also another two containers of the drug.

The 40-year-old rapper “freely” admitted the marijuana was his, according to the authorities, which resulted in him being turned in to the local Sheriff and detained at the checkpoint. Snoop was later released, although the music maker is due to return to make a court appearance later this month where he will face charges of possession of drug paraphernalia.

Snoop Dogg, real name Calvin Broadus, has previous convictions for drug possession and also gun offences. Referring to this recent case involving the uncovering of marijuana on the rapper’s tour bus, it’s been revealed that Snoop could choose to end the case by paying a fine of $537, or he could appear in court later in January.

The checkpoint where Snoop’s tour bus was searched is no stranger to celebrity arrests as the country singer Willie Nelson was also detained at the same point back in 2010 when marijuana was also found on his tour bus.

Around 500 people took to the streets in Golders Green in North London to see the “Boris bus” as it’s been nicknamed, up close for the very first time. An eclectic mix of people including students, tourists and local councillors turned out to give the new double-decker the once over and deliver their opinion on the re-mastered Routemaster last Friday.

The American tourists who’d arrived to view the new addition to London’s transport network were given a talk on the history of the original Routemaster before boarding the new version for a guided tour.

A technical consultant from Transport for London was also on hand to offer information on the new eco-friendly bus and to answer any questions from the people who’d arrived to look over the double-decker.

The new Routemaster features two staircases to allow easy access up and down from the top deck, as well as the original open back platform which was one of the distinguishing features of the original Routemaster.

The first new double-decker London bus is due to appear on London streets on February 20^th and will operate on the number 38 bus route between Victoria and Hackney.

Essex based Crusaders Holidays who operated out of their Clacton-on-Sea office, announced the winding up of the business earlier in December after coming into financial difficulty. Luckily, Crusaders Holidays were affiliated with Bonded Coach Holidays which meant that all monies paid by customers who had booked with the company prior to it going into administration would be safe.

This message has been reiterated by the new owners who say that no customer will lose out financially, and that they are working extremely hard to ensure all scheduled tours can go ahead as planned, or customers will be issued with a refund.

The new owners said they’ve faced issues getting some of the planned tours up and running as a handful of the hotels involved in the holidays had cancelled the Crusaders reservation after news reached them of the company’s problems, however Motts Leisure say they are working hard to overcome difficulties such as this.

Bosses at Motts Leisure who took over have just taken over Crusaders Holidays say they hope to retain all of the staff left at the company after the firm went into administration and that they also plan to continue to operate part of the business from the operator’s original offices in Clacton, Essex.

Prior to going into administration, Crusaders Holidays had been providing coach tours throughout the UK and parts of Europe since 1974.

This state of the art website has been designed with the customers in mind, with easy to navigate web pages, useful tips on picking up a cheap deal on coach hire and high quality images and videos making it easier than ever to track down the perfect coach or minibuses for a forthcoming trip.

Cheapcoachhire.co.uk operates throughout the UK so whether you’re searching for a low cost deal on minibus hire for a stag do in Blackpool, or double-decker coach hire for a school trip to London, a standard style coach for an airport transfer to Manchester, or a mini coach for a night out in Cardiff, cheapcoachhire.co.uk are able to coordinate a coach or minibus hire service which meets your every need at an all time low cost rate.

With an extensive range of coaches and minibuses in varying sizes and styles available for hire nationwide, choose from executive style coaches with reclining seats and onboard WC and tea and coffee making facilities, to standard style 8-seater minibuses ideal for those on a tight budget, to 80-seater double-decker coaches with DVD players and plasma screens, to 42-seater coaches plus many, many more.

It’s never been easier to obtain a quote for coach or minibus hire thanks to the new services offered by Cheapcoachhire.co.uk. With a specially designed quote form already created, just fill in your basic journey information and one of the experienced customer advisers will get back to you with your cheap coach hire quote in next to no time.

Check out the sleek new website now and see for yourself just how easy it is to track down cheap coach hire.

The Bus Eireann Coach service was travelling between Limerick and Dublin at approximately 8am when Mosharaf Hossain, who was a passenger on the bus, noticed the vehicle was veering off the M7 motorway and swaying across the road dangerously. When Mr Hossain looked to the coach driver, he saw that he appeared to be slumped over the wheel and not in control of the coach.

Without thinking, Mr Hossain quickly jumped to his feet, grabbing the wheel of the coach and steering it safety onto the hard shoulder and bringing the vehicle to a halt. However in the process of bringing the coach under control, the bus seemed to hit another car and also a barrier.

An ambulance was called to take the coach driver away for medical checks, it’s still not known what happened for the driver to collapse at the wheel, but he was reported to have been able to walk from the coach to the ambulance.

The bus company say they are in the process of carrying out a full investigation into what happened and have taken statements from all 15 passengers travelling onboard at the time. Bus Eireann also expressed their gratitude to Mr Hossain for bringing the coach under control and added that they intend to give him due recognition for his role in bringing the coach and its passengers to safety.

The summer is the busiest period for all coach hire companies and so the success of the £9 coach tickets, which allowed customers to travel anywhere in the UK on the standard rate fare, helped National Express attract new customers during this time. According to the coach operator’s figures, 300,000 passengers took up the £9 bus fare offer which was available to anyone booking a one way ticket, a minimum of 14 days in advance.

The coach and rail operator also credited their Eurolines brand with helping to boost revenue by 6% in this period.

National Express weren’t the only coach travel provider to report an increase in passenger numbers and profits this year with Stagecoach, which operates both rail and bus routes, reporting that they’re on target to meet full year expectations as a result of growth in both train and coach travel.

The figures from these two leading public transport operators seems to suggest that more and more people and opting to leave their cars at home and jump on the bus and train instead. With fuel prices and the cost of motoring continuing to rise, coach offers such as the one from National Express this year are proving very tempting for those who would normally choose to travel by car.