Salisbury 'activ8' bus

[fairysdad]

Hi all,

Driving around today, I found myself in the Salisbury area. At one point, I let a bus out of a side road, a Stagecoach bus numbered 'activ8'. Didn't really think anything of it, except it's terrible pun used for marketing purposes.

Except that later on, I (well, both me and the bus) passed another 'activ8' bus, but this one a Salisbury Red bus. Which, to be honest, confused me somewhat. When I passed the first bus at some traffic lights (it was turning left with individual signals for each movement), I checked and saw that it was definitely a Stagecoach bus (though I couldn't see the 'legals') as I know that a while ago there were some Stagecoach liveried buses rolling around where the Stagecoach name was taken off and replaced with 'First' - or vice versa - and wondered if this was the case.

A - albeit, quick - search has only led me to the Salisbury Reds website for information on the 'activ8' route, so I'm wondering why there was this Stagecoach bus running this particular route. Anything to do with bank holiday stuff (but, if that was the case, why did I also see a Salisbury Reds bus), or is this an unusual situation where two companies run the same branded route number?

And, even if it's not the latter, are there any (other) bus routes around which are run simultaneously by different companies (not just the actual journey the vehicles take, but the same route numbers)?

 

[radamfi]

or is this an unusual situation where two companies run the same branded route number?

Yes, it's a joint service.

 

[iantherev]

Service 30 between Cardiff and Newport is a longstanding joint operation between Cardiff Bus and Newport Transport.

 

[carlberry]

Hi all,

Driving around today, I found myself in the Salisbury area. At one point, I let a bus out of a side road, a Stagecoach bus numbered 'activ8'. Didn't really think anything of it, except it's terrible pun used for marketing purposes.

Except that later on, I (well, both me and the bus) passed another 'activ8' bus, but this one a Salisbury Red bus. Which, to be honest, confused me somewhat. When I passed the first bus at some traffic lights (it was turning left with individual signals for each movement), I checked and saw that it was definitely a Stagecoach bus (though I couldn't see the 'legals') as I know that a while ago there were some Stagecoach liveried buses rolling around where the Stagecoach name was taken off and replaced with 'First' - or vice versa - and wondered if this was the case.

A - albeit, quick - search has only led me to the Salisbury Reds website for information on the 'activ8' route, so I'm wondering why there was this Stagecoach bus running this particular route. Anything to do with bank holiday stuff (but, if that was the case, why did I also see a Salisbury Reds bus), or is this an unusual situation where two companies run the same branded route number?

And, even if it's not the latter, are there any (other) bus routes around which are run simultaneously by different companies (not just the actual journey the vehicles take, but the same route numbers)?

The Salisbury reds timetable includes headings for each journey showing which operator runs which journey. Some Trent Barton routes are, or have been, branded and run joint with other operators. Historically it happend a lot, the MMC dosent like it nowadays. They'd be much happier with two buses withing 5 minutes of each other, nothing for the next hour and no joint publicity as that's so much better for passengers!

 

[NorthernSpirit]

Pronto is another route which is jointly operated between Stagecoach and TrentBarton. Up and until the 16th April '08 service 61A Peakbus (Huddersfield to Buxton) was jointly operated by Stagecoach and Speedwell.

 

[higthomas]

If you come to Oxford most if the main routes here are operated jointly. Its done here because there were too many buses! What and odd idea. :P

 

[ag51ruk]

Pronto is another route which is jointly operated between Stagecoach and TrentBarton. Up and until the 16th April '08 service 61A Peakbus (Huddersfield to Buxton) was jointly operated by Stagecoach and Speedwell.

And the X38 jointly operated by Trent Barton and Arriva

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

If you come to Oxford most if the main routes here are operated jointly. Its done here because there were too many buses! What and odd idea. :P

It was done by the City Council because of the concern over emissions, hence the LEZ and various other conditions associated with it.

There are few joint services (another is the 685 Carlisle to Newcastle) because of a number of factors:

Competition Authorities - they're concerned it can be a carve up and that the resources of two companies can then be used to keep a third party out
Route Length - often joint routes existed because of their length. With the requirement to avoid EU drivers rules and congestion making longer routes less reliable, they've often been split with respective companies keeping "their half"
Autonomy - the fact that you may have one business who are keen to develop a route vs. another business who have other priorities or differing views on how to do it - therefore, they decide to do their own thing

The 8 is a real survivor of joint operation. Most of the other examples (e.g. Oxford, Sheffield, certain routes around Bristol) are from local authorities and PTEs acting as a broker - it thus avoids the accusation of bus companies running a cartel!

 

[fgwrich]

There used to be another jointly operated service in the Stagecoach South region - The Link running between Basingstoke and Newbury, However this ended when Reading Buses pulled most of it's Newbury buses operations and the service has since been operated solely by Stagecoach. This unfortunately leaving it down to Stagecoach to price - a pretty whopping 7.50 When I last did it 2 years ago. Considering you can get a rover covering most of Devon for less, it's a fairly steeply priced route!

 

[randyrippley]

Stagecoach ran joint services with Lancaster City Transport for a few years, but then blackmailed the City Council with a "shut it down or we'll bankrupt you" ultimatum. The Council caved in, but the MMC threw a wobbly and banned Stagecoach locally from any fare increases for three years.
I think a lot of the authorities animosity to joint services results from this event
There's a review (PDF file) at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/271992/2423.pdf