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Stagecoach places £97million orders for new vehicles

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Volvodart

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http://www.stagecoach.com/media/news-releases/2016/2016-04-11.aspx

STAGECOACH PLACES £97MILLION ORDERS FOR NEW VEHICLES

11 Apr 2016

Around 480 new buses and coaches ordered, many equipped with wi-fi
£1billion orders for more than 6,500 new vehicles placed over past 10 years
Latest intake of vehicles all meet latest Euro 6 emissions standards
New orders help Stagecoach deliver a fully accessible fleet
Stagecoach Group today (11 April 2016) announced new vehicle orders worth £97million.

A new fleet of around 480 vehicles, many equipped with free wifi, will be introduced in the coming 2016-17 financial year as the company continues its policy of reinvesting profits in improving services for customers.

The latest announcement takes Stagecoach Group's total orders of new buses and coaches to more than £1billion since 2006/07, delivering more than 6,500 new vehicles for passengers.

This year’s orders mean around £82million of new buses and coaches will be introduced in Stagecoach's regional networks in England, Scotland and Wales. There is also a £10million order for new buses for London and around £4.5million will be spent on coaches for the Group’s megabus.com operations.

Most of the new vehicles are set to be built in the UK, helping to support hundreds of British manufacturing jobs and smaller businesses in the supply chain who produce key components from drivers' seats and toilets to wheelchair lifts and destination displays*. All of the new vehicles meet Euro 6 emissions standards.

All of the new vehicles will be fitted with CCTV while most will also have wi-fi installed, giving customers free internet access during their journeys.

The latest orders follow an annual competitive tendering process and the first of the new vehicles will be delivered from Spring 2016.

Highlights of the latest investment are almost 280 low-floor double-decker vehicles to go into service across the UK, ensuring that Stagecoach work has met its requirements under the UK Disability Discrimination Act deadline for double deck vehicles. The company previously met the DDA deadline for smaller vehicles.

There are also almost 100 single decker and midi vehicles and 14 coaches for UK Bus express service, as well as 13 new coaches for megabus.com and 36 minibuses for local regional companies. Around 65 of the new buses will be used for Stagecoach Gold services.

In London, Stagecoach has placed a £10million order for more than 50 new vehicles.

Stagecoach has also made a multi-million pound investment in digital technology and recently launched a transformational new, fully mobile, UK Bus website which lets customers check live running times for their services and buy travel from their smartphone.

Along with the country's other major bus operators, Stagecoach has also invested heavily to complete the introduction of smart multi-operator bus ticketing in all nine of England's smart city regions with support from local transport authorities.

Britain’s five main bus operators – including Stagecoach – are also working together to produce a business case for the introduction of contactless technology on every bus in Britain. The business case is expected to be completed by late spring 2016 and the scheme, funded predominantly by the private sector, could see new EMV contactless technology installed on every one of the UK’s 32,000-plus buses outside London. It would offer cashless travel for those who want it and capped pay-as-you-go-fares in all urban areas.

Stagecoach was rated by customers as the best value major bus operator in the UK for the third consecutive year in the most recent Bus Passenger Satisfaction survey carried out by Transport Focus.

Stagecoach Group Chief Executive Martin Griffiths said: “Everything we do is about making travel even better for our customers. We are investing in state-of-the-art, cleaner, greener vehicles, digital technology and smart ticketing to raise the bar and deliver an even higher standard of service. These latest vehicle orders are an important part of our strategy to encourage even more people to take the bus.

“Local bus services are the backbone of the country’s transport networks. Stagecoach provides millions of people every day with a greener way to access work, health, education and leisure and we offer the best value bus fares in Britain.”

Details of the new orders are as follows:

UK REGIONAL OPERATIONS

278 ADL MMC E400 double-deckers
71 ADL MMC E200 single-deckers
13 ADL MMC E200 midibuses
11 Volvo B11/R Plaxton Elite 6x2
2 Volvo B11/R Plaxton Elite 4x2
1 Volvo B11/R Plaxton Elite i
30 Mercedes Benz Sprinter City 45 minibuses
6 Optare Solo SR Slimline minibuses
MEGABUS.COM OPERATIONS

7 Volvo B11/R Plaxton Elite i
6 Van Hool Astromega double-deckers
LONDON OPERATIONS

37 ADL MMC E400 Hybrid double-deckers
3 ADL MMC E400 double-deckers
13 ADL MMC E200 single deckers
For further information about Stagecoach bus services, visit www.stagecoachbus.com.

ENDS
 
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BestWestern

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More of the same, then. Good news for passengers, dull news for enthusiasts!

Interesting the list reads "E200 single deckers" followed by "E200 minibuses". Surely that's the same vehicle?! Should the first line read "E300"?
 
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Bletchleyite

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The bit about a contactless rollout is very positive - cash on the bus really is out of date - bad for passengers who need to have change, bad for drivers who are more vulnerable to attack to steal it, bad for bus companies as buses run slowly due to slow transactions and increase PVRs. Surprised (and pleased) to see it sounds like a more London like scheme - I'd always assumed it'd just be used to pay for a traditional paper ticket. I guess you'll need to touch on and off.
 
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BestWestern

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Well the Optare Solo is really falling out of favour with the larger operators - only six mentioned whilst the Mercedes Benz Sprinter City 45 takes the bulk of minibus orders.

Brian Suiter has said before that he always held a fondness for the Merc 709Ds, a vehicle which he praised as being tough, cheap and a busman's dream. Now that there's some sort of modern day equivalent being offered, perhaps he's keen to take a punt and see if he can recreate that earlier operational ideal. Personally I'm not convinced, the Sprinter is a van while the 709 was a truck chassis, but we shall see! Alternatively, it could just be that there is a super light duty application somewhere that just doesn't justify buying 'proper' buses.
 

overthewater

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More of the same, then. Good news for passengers, dull news for enthusiasts!

Interesting the list reads "E200 single deckers" followed by "E200 minibuses". Surely that's the same vehicle?! Should the first line read "E300"?

No, there are now the same, just different lengths.
 

BBC

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When is First's ordered likely to be made public? is it reliant on the gas bus bid in Bristol?
 

tbtc

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UK REGIONAL OPERATIONS

278 ADL MMC E400 double-deckers
71 ADL MMC E200 single-deckers
13 ADL MMC E200 midibuses
11 Volvo B11/R Plaxton Elite 6x2
2 Volvo B11/R Plaxton Elite 4x2
1 Volvo B11/R Plaxton Elite i
30 Mercedes Benz Sprinter City 45 minibuses
6 Optare Solo SR Slimline minibuses
MEGABUS.COM OPERATIONS

7 Volvo B11/R Plaxton Elite i
6 Van Hool Astromega double-deckers
LONDON OPERATIONS

37 ADL MMC E400 Hybrid double-deckers
3 ADL MMC E400 double-deckers
13 ADL MMC E200 single deckers

Excuse the ignorance, but does this mean we can forget about the E400H (or similar) in future, outside London?

Or is there a chance of some "green" fund (but Stagecoach won't order hybrid vehicles on a commercial basis, without significant incentives/funding)?

We've certainly had reliability issues with them in Sheffield (Holbrook garage) but they seem decent vehicles when fit.
 

padbus

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Ah. So E200 would be a 'stretch Dart' effort then; light duty but full length? And the 300 must be a heavy duty?

I think you will find that the E300 is now only available as a body on chassis eg Scania. The all-ADL option is various lengths of the E200.

Talking of Scania, there appear to be none in this year's order.
 

Observer

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The Sprinters would work well on routes that barely get used...they only have 16 seats and no standing, they'd be more efficient than what is currently used on them.
 

Stan Drews

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I heard there had at least 20 seats?

They trialled one in Fife for 4 weeks last year, although it didn't seem to go down very well with the passengers. It had 17 seats IIRC, and would certainly need some modifications if it was to become "mainstream". It will be interesting to see where they are going, and for what type of use?
 

Stan Drews

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If 17 including the driver, might it be so they can recruit cheaper drivers for them who only require D1 rather than D?

It was 17 passenger seats, so full PCV would be necessary. It was the excellent fuel consumption (compared with Solos) that was the big attraction from an operators point of view.
 

TheGrandWazoo

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They trialled one in Fife for 4 weeks last year, although it didn't seem to go down very well with the passengers. It had 17 seats IIRC, and would certainly need some modifications if it was to become "mainstream". It will be interesting to see where they are going, and for what type of use?

It's very intriguing esp as small minis (Transits) were quickly superceded by larger examples. Wonder what they have in mind??
 

BestWestern

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It was 17 passenger seats, so full PCV would be necessary. It was the excellent fuel consumption (compared with Solos) that was the big attraction from an operators point of view.

These will be shagged after a year or two, though!

The 'big Mercs' were incredibly durable; 709s, 811s and Varios. I can't see a Sprinter standing up quite so well.
 

Bletchleyite

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It's very intriguing esp as small minis (Transits) were quickly superceded by larger examples. Wonder what they have in mind??

Upthread the suggestion is very quiet one-man-and-his-dog rural routes. Possibly a way to make them more commercially viable in these days of cuts to subsidy. If so definitely a good thing in my book.
 

TheGrandWazoo

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Upthread the suggestion is very quiet one-man-and-his-dog rural routes. Possibly a way to make them more commercially viable in these days of cuts to subsidy. If so definitely a good thing in my book.

That is a suggestion (and may be correct) but will be interesting to see what happens.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
These will be shagged after a year or two, though!

The 'big Mercs' were incredibly durable; 709s, 811s and Varios. I can't see a Sprinter standing up quite so well.

608s were very durable as well and better than the earlier Varios TBH. Remember the Transits were only supposed to have a life of 5 years - some Southern National ones lasted 3 times that!

That said, anyone enjoy the delights of Dodge(y) S56s? Now they were awful
 
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overthewater

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It was 17 passenger seats, so full PCV would be necessary. It was the excellent fuel consumption (compared with Solos) that was the big attraction from an operators point of view.

Ah yes Route 64 in Sunny Fife, of course one of the problems was, it wasn't big enough at certain times? You would think it would be easy to design a modern day 709D with 23 seats and room for a wheelchair.


That said, anyone enjoy the delights of Dodge(y) S56s? Now they were awful

Yes, I kinda of like them. Of course there were called Buzzbuses in Fife, or sprinters in Edinburgh. what is strange is those things also out lived there max life cycle, and money there back easily.

Of course the Scottish operators had the nicer looking Alexander body.

--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Bus in question in Fife last year
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CRwvIJPUsAEyyiH.jpg
 
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TheGrandWazoo

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Ah yes Route 64 in Sunny Fife, of course one of the problems was, it wasn't big enough at certain times? You would think it would be easy to design a modern day 709D with 23 seats and room for a wheelchair.




Yes, I kinda of like them. Of course there were called Buzzbuses in Fife, or sprinters in Edinburgh. what is strange is those things also out lived there max life cycle, and money there back easily.

Of course the Scottish operators had the nicer looking Alexander body.

As did the English operator that I experienced who had a lot of them. Think it was called the AM type? However, the chassis was junk and they were outlasted by older Mercs!
 

Stan Drews

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One particular oddity, that amazed me, was the exhaust outlet immediately ahead of the passenger door, which meant passengers waiting to board were right in the firing line of any emissions!!
 

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The City Sprinter is the sort of thing you would find on very remote SPT tenders. McGill's have got a few of them for their SPT work...
 

507021

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More of the same, then. Good news for passengers, dull news for enthusiasts!

Interesting the list reads "E200 single deckers" followed by "E200 minibuses". Surely that's the same vehicle?! Should the first line read "E300"?

The Enviro200 single deckers are the full size 11.8m variant (replacing the Enviro300), whilst the Enviro200 midibuses are the 10.8m variant. Both variants are numbered in a different series (10.8m 37???, 11.8m 26???).
 

A0wen

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It's very intriguing esp as small minis (Transits) were quickly superceded by larger examples. Wonder what they have in mind??

Are Stagecoach tendering for any demand response type services?

That would be one area I could see such vehicles being used.
 

overthewater

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Are Stagecoach tendering for any demand response type services?

That would be one area I could see such vehicles being used.

I bet there are few good routes around rural areas: Higland, bluebird, Cumbria, Northamptonshire, Somerset, Norfolk which could benefit from theses
 

johnw

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Interesting that no Scania vehicles have been ordered. Have they had a falling out?
 

mbonwick

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Scania are not flavour of the year - they refuse to fit electric cooling fans (instead insisting on belt driven ones) and were making noises about the modification program last year invalidating warranties. Plus Stagecoach were unwilling to keep paying for an external contractor to modify them.

Goes without saying that a demand-responsive fan leads to a noiceable fuel saving over one that's always on.
 
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