PERTH, Scotland Stagecoach Group, owner of Coach USA, Coach Canada and megasbus.com, is pilot testing an ad campaign in England that attempts to attract riders because buses are more environmentally friendly than autos.

Part of the impetus for the campaign comes from the latest financial results reported by Stagecoach. The company attributed some of its passenger growth during fiscal 2007 to environmental concerns boosting bus ridership.

Specifically, the company said customers in English cathedral cities, such as Oxford, Salisbury and Canterbury, were switching to buses to escape congestion and reduce their environmental impact.

'We are seeing a lot of passenger growth in a lot of cathedral cities in the south of England in particular,' said a Stagecoach spokesman. 'People are switching from car to bus, partly because of congestion but also because of increasing awareness of the environmental impact of car travel.'

To test whether it can attract more individuals with environmental concerns to buses, Stagecoach has hired a leading English ad agency to develop a series of humorous 40-second commercials that are being shown on TV in areas around Cambridge and Peterborough.

The company has committed $700,000 for the pilot consumer campaign. Plans for a national roll-out are being developed but whether they will be launched depends on the results of the test in the southeast of England.

Brian Souter, Stagecoach Group CEO, said: 'This is a completely fresh way to market public transport and a first for the UK. Buses are for everyone and carry a diverse range of customers from lots of different backgrounds.

'Stagecoach has attracted rising numbers of passengers for the past five years in a row. We believe that with increasing congestion and more environmental awareness, there is huge potential to get even more people on board the nations buses.'