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Stagecoach West/South West/South Wales - Fleet News & Discussion

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DaveHarries

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I have just been looking on Traveline SW: a revised timetable has been uploaded for Services 76 & 77 (Highworth - Lechlade - Cirencester) wef 04-Aug-2019. No change of operator: just changes to the timetable albeit nothing major AFAICS.

Dave
 
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TheGrandWazoo

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May i ask where is the outstation located in Tiverton
Blundells Road, opposite Tesco filling station. Reckon you could accommodate 20 vehicles in there though not certain what else they’d want in the area - they did have the Tiverton locals when they bought Cooks (I think).

It’s a yard with a fuelling facility and what looks like it was a workshop. Look on Streetview and it has bin lorries in there
 

TheGrandWazoo

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Believe it’s 9 there at the moment.

Thanks - I was going off the O license authorisation as a guide. They do the 1 corridor and the 55/155?

To be fair, I was on the 1312 out of Hatherleigh and I was pleasantly surprised by the passenger numbers with 2 others boarding there and also picking up people at North Tawton and Sampford. Not enough for a decker but healthy for a bus heading to Exeter at that time of day!
 

DaveHarries

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The VOSA Bus Service registrations for today, 16th July 2019, contain a few items from Stagecoach South Wales for registrations all effective 01-Sep-2019 as follows:

Cancelled: 25 (Caerphilly - Cardiff)
Revised: 86 (Cardiff City Centre - Lisvane) (Route & Timetable changes)
Revised: 173 (Clydach Vale - Porth) (Timetable changes)
New Service: 86X (Caerphilly - Cardiff) (New 7-day a week service in place of Service 25)

HTIOI,
Dave
 

RELL6L

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Thanks - I was going off the O license authorisation as a guide. They do the 1 corridor and the 55/155?

To be fair, I was on the 1312 out of Hatherleigh and I was pleasantly surprised by the passenger numbers with 2 others boarding there and also picking up people at North Tawton and Sampford. Not enough for a decker but healthy for a bus heading to Exeter at that time of day!

I agree with your earlier thoughts that Stagecoach have done a good job in Devon, probably assisted by the positive attitude of the county council. And they do have some scenic services with the 5A and 5B up through the wilds to Hatherleigh and Bideford just a couple. Great that they use double deckers, I think there must be some interworking with the 155 but it looks complicated. They also continue to be enterprising, eg extending the 9A to Lyme Regis which I hope has been a success. The Devon Day ticket is great value.

Shame you missed out on seeing Great Torrington properly, close to the town centre there is a terrific view looking out to the south as the land just falls away to a view over Dartmoor.

Instow is odd in that the 21 sticks to the main road so you miss all the sea front yet it is really close. The 5B goes along the front and is much more scenic. Going back the 21 (I think) and the First 1 further back, used to run alternately via the two routes but I guess that got confusing and people got fed up of waiting on one road when the next bus came on the other!

The Barnstaple enquiry office was certainly open last time I went there in summer 2017.

If you choose to visit again to make up for missing Okehampton then a fabulous route is the 118 across Dartmoor from there to Tavistock. And/or one I did earlier this year is the once a day 178 to Chagford, Moretonhampstead and on to Newton Abbott. If you leave Okehampton on the lunchtime one then - after many diversions and deviations around the edges of Dartmoor - you can spend some time in both Chagford and Moretonhampstead before heading back to Exeter on the 359.

I agree with your thoughts on the 157 from Exmouth to Sidmouth, a lovely route. Shame it doesn't go to the middle of Budleigh Salterton. I did the 57 too which is a good route but when I did it one bus each way got held up at the Topsham level crossing every half hour - where the trains on the Exmouth line pass. This meant that half the 57s got delayed and half didn't - with the inevitable result. This might have happened due to some road works but I thought the timetable made this unduly risky. It may have changed. If you can make the Axe Valley 899 between Seaton and Sidmouth that is really incredible for the narrow lanes.
 

Temple Meads

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Devon General liveried E400/Scania WA13 GDX (15893) has been transferred to Exeter and was operating on route 5A to Hatherleigh this morning. 15901 has gone to Torquay in its place.
 

TheGrandWazoo

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I agree with your earlier thoughts that Stagecoach have done a good job in Devon, probably assisted by the positive attitude of the county council. And they do have some scenic services with the 5A and 5B up through the wilds to Hatherleigh and Bideford just a couple. Great that they use double deckers, I think there must be some interworking with the 155 but it looks complicated. They also continue to be enterprising, eg extending the 9A to Lyme Regis which I hope has been a success. The Devon Day ticket is great value.

Shame you missed out on seeing Great Torrington properly, close to the town centre there is a terrific view looking out to the south as the land just falls away to a view over Dartmoor.

Instow is odd in that the 21 sticks to the main road so you miss all the sea front yet it is really close. The 5B goes along the front and is much more scenic. Going back the 21 (I think) and the First 1 further back, used to run alternately via the two routes but I guess that got confusing and people got fed up of waiting on one road when the next bus came on the other!

The Barnstaple enquiry office was certainly open last time I went there in summer 2017.

If you choose to visit again to make up for missing Okehampton then a fabulous route is the 118 across Dartmoor from there to Tavistock. And/or one I did earlier this year is the once a day 178 to Chagford, Moretonhampstead and on to Newton Abbott. If you leave Okehampton on the lunchtime one then - after many diversions and deviations around the edges of Dartmoor - you can spend some time in both Chagford and Moretonhampstead before heading back to Exeter on the 359.

I agree with your thoughts on the 157 from Exmouth to Sidmouth, a lovely route. Shame it doesn't go to the middle of Budleigh Salterton. I did the 57 too which is a good route but when I did it one bus each way got held up at the Topsham level crossing every half hour - where the trains on the Exmouth line pass. This meant that half the 57s got delayed and half didn't - with the inevitable result. This might have happened due to some road works but I thought the timetable made this unduly risky. It may have changed. If you can make the Axe Valley 899 between Seaton and Sidmouth that is really incredible for the narrow lanes.

Thanks for those suggestions. I did wonder about staying on into Okehampton and then across to Tavistock but was concerned about how late I’d be getting back to Exeter. And yes, we were delayed at Topsham!

Stagecoach did enter Somerset initially with the Chard area and then with the Cooks purchase. Whether it was too much with that and the North Devon expansion or a less supportive council or if losing Taunton P&R was too much of a blow... don’t know. It would certainly be interesting to see how things might’ve turned out.
 

embers25

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The 217 from Bude to Hartland via the GCHQ site uses incredibly narrow roads with several reversals and is quite the ride and thoroughly recommended. Possibly the most fun stagecoach bus. It's a solo due to the road widths, although last time I had a Dart due to a breakdown and that was extremely tight and got stuck several times.
 

RELL6L

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The 217 from Bude to Hartland via the GCHQ site uses incredibly narrow roads with several reversals and is quite the ride and thoroughly recommended. Possibly the most fun stagecoach bus. It's a solo due to the road widths, although last time I had a Dart due to a breakdown and that was extremely tight and got stuck several times.
Must try the 217 then. I've done the 219 - good but more of a main road route. Connects at Hartland with the 319 so it must be possible to make a decent circuit.
 

embers25

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Must try the 217 then. I've done the 219 - good but more of a main road route. Connects at Hartland with the 319 so it must be possible to make a decent circuit.
I did 5B from Exeter-Bideford, 21 to Westward Ho! and back, 319 Bideford-Hartland, 217 Hartland-Stratton, 6 back to Exeter. The only issue is that the 319/217 connection is certainly not 100%, despite it being an advertised connection, as it depends on the driver as to whether it waits. In 4 times using it, the connecting bus has waited twice, missed it once and had to have my driver stop it as it was leaving the other time. Bear in mind both buses are often quite late due to traffic delays. The 217 has numerous spots where it would get stuck if anything came the other way. It's Branscombe-esq in many places.
 

Mwanesh

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The Severn Express will be operated by Stagecoach West from 1st September. It has become unviable to operate from Bristol end. They moved out of Chepstow due to high fuel overnight fuel thefts. The X5 in Weston will also be taken on by Stagecoach.
 

Anthony ross

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I wonder what buses stagecoach will use on these services when they take them on from the Bristol depot
 

carlberry

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I wonder what buses stagecoach will use on these services when they take them on from the Bristol depot
Has somebody confirmed that they're being run from Bristol? Cwmbran or the Forest outstation are both viable options for the Chepstow service.
 

Mwanesh

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Stagecoach West operate out of SGB depot in Patchway so less dead mileage. Bristol is the only West depot in range.
 

carlberry

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Stagecoach West operate out of SGB depot in Patchway so less dead mileage. Bristol is the only West depot in range.
The forest outstation (Coleford) is the same mileage to Chepstow, Cwmbran (which would require adding it to the C&G licence) is closer to the morning starts at Magor and would offer the ability to extend them to Newport
 

CharlesR

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A mix of Stagecoach Gold MAN Enviro 300s and Stagecoach Gold Scania Enviro 400s will be used to operate the service. Some MANs have already arrived at Bristol to do vinyl work. The interior is dated and a driver who often works along side the livery and
vinyl team believes that they might be getting an interior job.
 

LukeCymru

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2 Apr 2019
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A mix of Stagecoach Gold MAN Enviro 300s and Stagecoach Gold Scania Enviro 400s will be used to operate the service. Some MANs have already arrived at Bristol to do vinyl work. The interior is dated and a driver who often works along side the livery and
vinyl team believes that they might be getting an interior job.

So there'll be a mixture on both X5 and X7 or single deckers on one and double on the other?
 

Westonian

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The biggest questi on for me is the college X5 that goes to Nailsea and the 7XP that calls via Gloucester Road.
The X5 Nailsea is an interesting one, it used to have a separate number (X4). The morning journey from Nailsea is worked by a bus that spends the rest of the day on X5 but the afternoon journey from the College is worked by a bus that comes off town service 7 around 1700. So will that service survive in its present form or stay with First (which would need an extra PVR morning only) or be withdrawn altogether. If Stagecoach do take this over, it will incur a lot of dead mileage. Also surprised that X5 will be all single deck as the College journey from Portishead is busy as is the return and First allocate a decker to this, added to which, Weston college is opening a new campus at Loxton Road in September.
 

DaveHarries

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The X5 Nailsea is an interesting one, it used to have a separate number (X4). The morning journey from Nailsea is worked by a bus that spends the rest of the day on X5 but the afternoon journey from the College is worked by a bus that comes off town service 7 around 1700. So will that service survive in its present form or stay with First (which would need an extra PVR morning only) or be withdrawn altogether. If Stagecoach do take this over, it will incur a lot of dead mileage. Also surprised that X5 will be all single deck as the College journey from Portishead is busy as is the return and First allocate a decker to this, added to which, Weston college is opening a new campus at Loxton Road in September.
I should think that First will keep the Nailsea - Weston College run. As for route numbers perhaps the Nailsea trip would be better renumbered as X5A to avoid confusion?

Dave
 
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