Facebook offers of six months ‘unlimited travel’ on Stagecoach buses are not genuine

We’ve seen posts on Facebook claiming the bus operator Stagecoach is offering “6 Months Free Travels for £1 only [sic]” to residents in various locations across the UK.

But these offers are not genuine.

One of the posts, shared by a page called “Public Transport in Devon”, reads: “Devon residents - Get 6 Months Free Travels for £1 only! Stagecoach invites you to join an initiative to improve mobility and promote public transport. Get your hands on one of 500 smart cards offering 6 months unlimited travel across Perth and its surrounding areas for just £1! Hurry, the offer is valid until the end of the month.”

Similarly worded posts have been shared by other “Public Transport” pages for various locations, including Ayrshire, Mansfield, Lincoln, Chester and elsewhere.

None of the links shared in the posts are to the official Stagecoach website. Some are broken, while others direct users to a website which features the Stagecoach logo, but otherwise does not resemble the company’s official website.

We’ve not found any evidence of this offer being advertised on Stagecoach’s website, or on its verified Facebook account.

The company has previously warned that posts like these circulating on social media are fake, and confirmed to Full Fact that this offer is “not genuine”.

We regularly fact check posts falsely claiming companies are offering free or heavily discounted products.

It is always worth checking posts sharing offers that seem too good to be true. One way to verify this is to see whether the offer has been shared by the company’s official page—this will often have more followers, a verified blue tick on platforms like Facebook or Instagram and a longer post history.