Stagecoach East Scotland

[route101]

I used the 787 today from Edinburgh Airport. Good load got on at the airport for Halbeath and St Andrews. The return service from St Andrews also picked up good load, although some thought it went to Edinburgh City Centre. Only gripe is the inside of the coaches are a bit grubby.

 

[overthewater]

It seems there is a change to the No74 in and around Dundee city centre on 7th July: https://bustimes.org/registrations/PM0000004/1105

 

[FlybeDash8Q400]

It seems there is a change to the No74 in and around Dundee city centre on 7th July: https://bustimes.org/registrations/PM0000004/1105

Is this not the fix around the university that stopped the planned route when it first started?

 

[Strathtay 260]

It seems there is a change to the No74 in and around Dundee city centre on 7th July: https://bustimes.org/registrations/PM0000004/1105

What is the change?

 

[overthewater]

It just say a Revised route and timetable within Dundee city centre.

 

[zero]

Day return, £6.30 single, and since returns aren't a thing anymore. A trip to Dundee to catch the train for an overnight stay in Glasgow ended up costing more than the train! Crazy crazy prices.

It's not a 'day return', it's North East Fife zone dayrider (valid into Dundee and as far down as Leven and Glenrothes).

You clearly must be a stagecoach stooge! A return was always cheaper than a day rider that’s why they got rid of a return! And to say it used to be better value well bloody hell I’ll have what your on, it’s almost double in cost!!! You can expand the region as far as you want, if someone simply wants to go from St Andrews to Dundee regardless of where else their ticket may else go to it’s an absolute rip off

Returns were done away with during covid to reduce the amount of possible contact between passengers and the driver. The fact that they were cheaper is a byproduct. Returns do exist on some services; On any express service where the destination ends in or origin starts in Edinburgh,

There are some real anomalies out there, I was looking at Cupar - Glenrothes last night.

2x Single = £15.50
1x Dayrider = £9.00
1x Nightrider = £3.70

Looking up fares on the Stagecoach website for St Andrews to Edinburgh on the X58/X59.

It says a single is £14 but a day return is only £8.10?

East Scotland Dayrider is £12.20.

Why does a single that costs more than a dayrider even exist?

 

[Spsf3232]

Looking up fares on the Stagecoach website for St Andrews to Edinburgh on the X58/X59.

It says a single is £14 but a day return is only £8.10?

East Scotland Dayrider is £12.20.

Why does a single that costs more than a dayrider even exist?

Single fares are set up to be more expensive due to the concession cards scheme reimbursement. With it being set so low it's forcing operators to hike up full fares to cover and hits normal people who buy single tickets.

 

[Ohnolookwho]

Looking up fares on the Stagecoach website for St Andrews to Edinburgh on the X58/X59.

It says a single is £14 but a day return is only £8.10?

East Scotland Dayrider is £12.20.

Why does a single that costs more than a dayrider even exist?

Purely to get reimbursement for free bus travel Like I said in the post you quoted from me. Its based off of the On-Bus Single Fare that the reimbursement % is calculated upon.

Ember have a better method, their On-Bus Single is quite ridiculously expensive, but because 99% of their Fare paying passengers buy a Mobile Ticket, they offer the true ticket price online. They only just changed this recently as they were making a substantial loss in revenue compared to Citylink who just hiked the prices up to cover the loss.

 

[NorthOxonian]

Looking up fares on the Stagecoach website for St Andrews to Edinburgh on the X58/X59.

It says a single is £14 but a day return is only £8.10?

East Scotland Dayrider is £12.20.

Why does a single that costs more than a dayrider even exist?

£14 does seem to be a somewhat standard single for these longer routes - it's also given as the fare for:

Aberdeen - Dundee
Dundee - Edinburgh
St Andrews - Glasgow
Edinburgh Airport - Auchtermuchty/St Andrews
Kirkcaldy - Dundee
Stirling - Dunfermline (this doesn't even leave the West Fife region, whose day ticket is £9)
Cupar - Dunfermline (a journey which could be done on a £3.70 evening rider after 6pm...)

Bizarrely there is even a case where split ticketing now exists on their buses. The fare between Dunfermline and Alloa is £7.80, between Alloa and Stirling it's £5.60 - so that's a total of £13.40 vs a single fare of £14. It's even worse for journeys between Dunfermline and the small town of Tullibody between Alloa and Stirling - £12.90 vs £11.60 (£7.80+£2.80) or more than £1 difference!

This is all somewhat academic as I suspect very few single fares are sold, though it may catch a few tourists travelling between the Airport and St Andrews. But it does seem quite perverse given the reimbursement system.

For instance, a journey such as Cupar to Stirling as a day trip is eminently reasonable. Indeed, not only do the X24 and X22 connect well at Dunfermline, but the day ticket (£12.20) undercuts the rail fare even with a railcard. I am sure people will have genuinely done this journey (it's not a weird edge case like Aberdeen to Edinburgh for hours and hours on local buses which I have admittedly done but wouldn't be a typical travel pattern).

If someone uses a concessionary pass to travel on this journey, then the system assumes that they would have paid £56 - far more than what anyone would consider reasonable for that journey and obviously nearly five times what said passholder would have paid if they were a 22-59 year old adult. Looking at how the reimbursement works it would appear Stagecoach would be reimbursed somewhere between £26.82 and £40.54. This thread probably isn't the right place to delve too much into the weeds of the system, but it really is a bit of a mess...

 

[route101]

Edinburgh Airport to St Andrews is £20 single according to the paper timetable for 747/787. It also states the East of Scotland Dayrider price.

 

[NorthOxonian]

Edinburgh Airport to St Andrews is £20 single according to the paper timetable for 747/787. It also states the East of Scotland Dayrider price.

Oh, so it is - I had assumed the Auchtermuchty fare would be the same as the others but it is £20 from St Andrews/Guardbridge or £16 from Cupar. But it does appear that the Dayrider is valid and there's also a period return at £21.40 - barely more than a single to St Andrews. You can even make a connection with the former (for instance X56 Perth to Kinross then Airport or X54 Dundee to Cupar then Airport) - with the proviso it has to only involve express routes, so no 99 from Dundee to St Andrews or 65 from Perth to Cupar.

 

[route101]

Oh, so it is - I had assumed the Auchtermuchty fare would be the same as the others but it is £20 from St Andrews/Guardbridge or £16 from Cupar. But it does appear that the Dayrider is valid and there's also a period return at £21.40 - barely more than a single to St Andrews. You can even make a connection with the former (for instance X56 Perth to Kinross then Airport or X54 Dundee to Cupar then Airport) - with the proviso it has to only involve express routes, so no 99 from Dundee to St Andrews or 65 from Perth to Cupar.

I am surprised they advertise the Dayrider for the airport services.

 

[Volvodart]

Rennies Cowdenbeath depot is to close in July.

Cowdenbeath bus depot to close next month with 'over 60' jobs at risk

A bus depot in Cowdenbeath is set to close for good next month, with the jobs of “more than 60” people at risk.

www.dunfermlinepress.com

A bus depot in Cowdenbeath is set to close for good next month, with the jobs of “more than 60” people at risk.


The Rennies depot is controlled by Stagecoach and located in the town’s Broad Street.

An employee told the Times that staff were called for a meeting earlier today, where they were hit with the bad news.

They commented: “We knew something was up, because one of the managing directors came to see us.

“They told us that in July the place would close down entirely, and that everybody would either be made redundant or maybe offered jobs at other depos.

 

[FlybeDash8Q400]

Rennies Cowdenbeath depot is to close in July.

Cowdenbeath bus depot to close next month with 'over 60' jobs at risk

A bus depot in Cowdenbeath is set to close for good next month, with the jobs of “more than 60” people at risk.

www.dunfermlinepress.com

I always thought this was a useful part of the business for Stagecoach. I take it this is the end of Rennies? A lot of school work is run from there so will be interesting to see what happens with it when the new contracts are awarded. Would imagine Stagecoach intend to retain at least some of it, albeit from other depots.

 

[overthewater]

I always thought this was a useful part of the business for Stagecoach. I take it this is the end of Rennies? A lot of school work is run from there so will be interesting to see what happens with it when the new contracts are awarded. Would imagine Stagecoach intend to retain at least some of it, albeit from other depots.

Most of the contract that depot operates were only done 2 years ago and I believe there will not be new ones for a while. So are they handing back stuff?

"There will be no impact to services as a result of the proposed closure."

Sounds like the depot closing and thier moving all the routes to other depots which don't have much room. FYI Central fife school buses were only just done last August so there not changing anytime soon either.

 

[RomeoCharlie71]

What is the change?

One of the local councillors has put the revised routing on his Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/dundeewest...PQX4LAfsuVzmHTppZYchp5bFuygj2khVAr5oGxPy3Tp4l

Inappropriate bus use of Hyndford Street – a further update #dundeewestend

Residents will recall our most recent post about Stagecoach buses using Hyndford Street back on 4th May and the good news that the bus company had agreed to move buses away from this highly residential street where buses did not even stop.
We have now received a further update from the Commercial Director of Stagecoach East Scotland to confirm the date from which buses will stop using Hyndford Street and the new route, as follows:
"The paperwork for registration was submitted last Friday and this would be with a start date of 7th July to meet necessary timescales.
The route submitted comes out of Hyndford Street as discussed and instead turns via Bellfield Street.
We've also made a wider change to the route to return via Hawkhill rather than via Perth Road /Nethergate and we're using the additional time now available on this service to cover another request we've had in the city centre - a bus departing the bus station and dropping off at the rail station.
The new route and timings therefore retain the service as it was in the eastern section but with suitable timing adjustments to provide more onward connections, the maps may help to illustrate the route east to west."

 

[FlybeDash8Q400]

One of the local councillors has put the revised routing on his Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/dundeewest...PQX4LAfsuVzmHTppZYchp5bFuygj2khVAr5oGxPy3Tp4l

I’m trying to understand how the routes ended up using Hyndford Street in the first place? Looking at the currently registered route, it seems to be a one way loop around the West End. Is that slip too narrow for a bus? The new route would certainly suggest that the University is losing out, but obviously retains the 73.

 

[RomeoCharlie71]

I’m trying to understand how the routes ended up using Hyndford Street in the first place? Looking at the currently registered route, it seems to be a one way loop around the West End. Is that slip too narrow for a bus? The new route would certainly suggest that the University is losing out, but obviously retains the 73.

The slip road from the Hawkhill onto Perth Road is too steep for the E400MMCs - they bottom out

 

[Strathtay 260]

I can't figure this out.. It looks to stop at Slessor Gardens where Ember stops!

 

[marks87]

Could it be a timing thing? Adding that dogleg down to the waterfront might be to compensate for not going as far as Hyndford Street, meaning the timings east of the City Centre can stay the same.

Although the same would be achieved by waiting at Primark for an extra couple of minutes.

 

[RomeoCharlie71]

I can't figure this out.. It looks to stop at Slessor Gardens where Ember stops!

It does!

Could it be a timing thing? Adding that dogleg down to the waterfront might be to compensate for not going as far as Hyndford Street, meaning the timings east of the City Centre can stay the same.

Although the same would be achieved by waiting at Primark for an extra couple of minutes.

Looks like the timing point will be the Railway Station judging by the "filled-in" circle as opposed to the hollow circle at regular stops on the map.

If you look at the current timetable, a bus gets 16 minutes from Whitehall Street, to the West End and back to Primark (where it sits for another 5 mins!). The dog leg down to the Waterfront, up to Hunter Street, the loop around Whitehall Theatre and back to Primark will likely take that amount of time (Google Maps suggests 13 mins), and as you say, will allow the timings east of the city centre to remain the same.

You really don't want to clog up stops on Whitehall Street or the High Street for endless amounts of time; there's already issues with the 72 and 74A/C scheduled at Whitehall St/Primark at the same time.