Current managing director Elisabeth Tasker is moving elsewhere in the group and in her five years in Merseyside has overseen £26.3m of investment into new vehicles. Tony McDonough reports.

Bus operator Stagecoach is on the hunt for a new boss for its Merseyside and South Lancashire division as current managing director Elisabeth Tasker is set to move to a new role in the group.

Ms Tasker is to take the helm at Stagecoach’s Manchester and Wigan business.

The company is Merseyside’s second-biggest bus operator, behind Arriva, and has 1,197 employees, including 950 drivers, 407 running  buses out of four depots on 83 commercial routes across the region.

Since Ms Tasker took on the MD role in 2011, the division has invested £26.3m in new vehicles. In 2015-16 alone, the company invested £13.3m in buses and facilities.

Other key improvements that she has overseen during her time in the business include the implementation of smart ticketing and the introduction of a new website and smartphone app.

She was also behind the launch of a new partnership with Merseytravel and Arriva under the Bus Alliance Network, which has helped to improve services and frequencies across the region.

“I have thoroughly enjoyed the last five years working with the team at Merseyside and South Lancashire,” said Ms Tasker.

“They are a fantastic, dynamic group of people and have enabled us to drive forward real improvements, deliver better services for our customers and move the business forward in a positive direction.”

An internal recruitment process is now underway for the position of managing director, Stagecoach Merseyside and South Lancashire.