Stagecoach Group (Group-wide matters)

[TheGrandWazoo]

Stagecoach today (28 August 2018) announced ambitious £56m plans to deliver Europe's largest single investment in electric buses for Greater Manchester.

https://www.stagecoach.com/media/news-releases/2018/2018-08-28.aspx

Very interesting on two related counts. Firstly, is this a reflection (though perhaps a bit early to really say anything) on the relationship between operators and TfGM etc with the threat of franchising etc. Secondly, reflects rather poorly (again) on First Greater Manchester that continues to survive on thin rations of service trimming and the odd very mid life transfer in to get rid of the oldest fleet.

 

[Robertj21a]

Very interesting on two related counts. Firstly, is this a reflection (though perhaps a bit early to really say anything) on the relationship between operators and TfGM etc with the threat of franchising etc. Secondly, reflects rather poorly (again) on First Greater Manchester that continues to survive on thin rations of service trimming and the odd very mid life transfer in to get rid of the oldest fleet.

Presumably, the key difference is that Stagecoach intends to stay whereas First hoped that theirs would have been sold by now.

 

[Bungle965]

All this is dependant on the government approving their application for the low emission grant, one would hope that it would be approved.
Sam

 

[WatcherZero]

Also the local authority has itself put in a £12m bid for 64 electric buses disproving the Stagecoach argument that only they could provide that investment.

 

[158756]

All this is dependant on the government approving their application for the low emission grant, one would hope that it would be approved.
Sam

They're asking for not far off half the total funding available nationwide. There was a requirement to show how the plans could be scaled down to (I think) £7m. Not sure what routes that would allow conversion of. They're setting themselves up for a fall by making this public with no guarantee of funding.

 

[route101]

Ayrshire . Glasgow to Ayr service no 4 was all E400MMCs today and a 585 was . for the airshow it seems

 

[Robertj21a]

Ayrshire . Glasgow to Ayr service no 4 was all E400MMCs today and a 585 was . for the airshow it seems

And limited train service due to the dangerous building at Ayr station.

 

[route101]

And limited train service due to the dangerous building at Ayr station.

Yep i used the train to Ayr , think its xx00 and xx00 fasts and xx34 , xx04 stoppers , i used a stopper and it was quiet until Kilwinning .

 

[overthewater]

X77 was also increase to every 20mins Today,

 

[carlberry]

They're asking for not far off half the total funding available nationwide. There was a requirement to show how the plans could be scaled down to (I think) £7m. Not sure what routes that would allow conversion of. They're setting themselves up for a fall by making this public with no guarantee of funding.

And if it fails they will be two possible stories out of it:
1. Stagecoach say that the bid failed because they asked for too much.
2. Stagecoach say the bid failed because the government turned it down because they don't like Manchester/Stagecoach/The North etc, dispute how much Stagecoach wanted to do it.
I know which one I'm expecting to hear!

 

[Mwanesh]

Also the local authority has itself put in a £12m bid for 64 electric buses disproving the Stagecoach argument that only they could provide that investment.

Which local authority in this case

 

[158756]

Which local authority in this case

Transport for Greater Manchester in this case - for the busway, which they presumably own, and tendered metroshuttle and school routes. I'd be surprised if Stagecoach got funding for all the buses they want, but it sounds more sensible to have whatever electric buses Manchester gets from this running along Wilmslow Road all day rather than TfGM's bid to have many sat in the depot most of the time.

 

[plcd1]

Mildly astonised to see that Stagecoach Busways are launching 5 weekend night bus services in Newcastle from 21 September. They are only sections of daytime routes in 4 cases. They all seem to operate as "circles" in terms of timetabling. Depatures are from Pilgrim St or Blackett Street - most services are half houly with the N88 every 45 mins until around 0300.

https://www.stagecoachbus.com/promos-and-offers/north-east/night-buses

N1 - Pilgrim St - Heaton - Coach Line (returns via South Gosforth)
N30 - Pilgrim St - Fawdon - Kenton
N39 - Blackett St - Walker - Byker
N40 - Blackett St - West Rd - West Denton
N88 - Blackett St - Newbiggin Hall - Westerhope

Discounted ticket office for about the first 3 weeks and a new Nightrider ticket will be launched to allow travel on these routes.

 

[Megafuss]

Mildly astonised to see that Stagecoach Busways are launching 5 weekend night bus services in Newcastle from 21 September. They are only sections of daytime routes in 4 cases. They all seem to operate as "circles" in terms of timetabling. Depatures are from Pilgrim St or Blackett Street - most services are half houly with the N88 every 45 mins until around 0300.

https://www.stagecoachbus.com/promos-and-offers/north-east/night-buses

N1 - Pilgrim St - Heaton - Coach Line (returns via South Gosforth)
N30 - Pilgrim St - Fawdon - Kenton
N39 - Blackett St - Walker - Byker
N40 - Blackett St - West Rd - West Denton
N88 - Blackett St - Newbiggin Hall - Westerhope

Discounted ticket office for about the first 3 weeks and a new Nightrider ticket will be launched to allow travel on these routes.

Interesting that the Megarider can be used on the service. It's a good time to launch as the city will be getting a load of new students during September.

Stagecoach NE have quietly been doing a lot of interesting things the last two years such as the new X24 between Newcastle and Sunderland (where Go Ahead failed), the reintroduction of Night buses and the Tyne and Wear Megarider.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Interesting that the Megarider can be used on the service. It's a good time to launch as the city will be getting a load of new students during September.

Stagecoach NE have quietly been doing a lot of interesting things the last two years such as the new X24 between Newcastle and Sunderland (where Go Ahead failed), the reintroduction of Night buses and the Tyne and Wear Megarider.

The student point is well made - both the N1 and N40 will be useful for the student market - though not certain about the others and their target market. Still, it's a positive move to fight against the taxi trade and does mirror some of the developments with Go North East with their N21/N56 that have been going for a few years now.

 

[Mike Howard]

Hi All Can anyone provide me with a full fleet list for Stagecoach please?
I am having difficulty in up-dating my lists and the lists I have seen cannot be printed.
Any help would be very much appreciated.
Cheers Mike

 

[Blackpudding]

Hi All Can anyone provide me with a full fleet list for Stagecoach please?
I am having difficulty in up-dating my lists and the lists I have seen cannot be printed.
Any help would be very much appreciated.
Cheers Mike

Hi Mike. I don't do Stagecoach myself but many people swear by this:

www.mbonwick.byethost7.com/SCNW/Fleetcards/?dir=.%2F18

 

[Jordan Adam]

Hi Mike. I don't do Stagecoach myself but many people swear by this:

www.mbonwick.byethost7.com/SCNW/Fleetcards/?dir=.%2F18

I second that!

The SD Website fleetlist is good for if you just want to convert a fleet number to a registration plate and vise-versa. But it's riddled with loads (and i mean loads) of errors and in inaccuracies, so it's not the best.

http://sdwebsite.co.uk/fleet/sdstagecoachfleetlist.php

 

[Volvodart]

Hi All Can anyone provide me with a full fleet list for Stagecoach please?
I am having difficulty in up-dating my lists and the lists I have seen cannot be printed.
Any help would be very much appreciated.
Cheers Mike

This may help:-

https://www.stevenknightmedia.com/publication-updates.html#

 

[mbonwick]

Hi Mike. I don't do Stagecoach myself but many people swear by this:

www.mbonwick.byethost7.com/SCNW/Fleetcards/?dir=.%2F18

And on cue, though somewhat late (due to manic working hours...got to pay the bills I guess) Period 4 cards are uploaded.

 

[GaryMcEwan]

18506 and 18508 are now also in Perth even though the fleetcard says that they are at Aberhill.

 

[mbonwick]

Be aware of the dates on the fleetcard, they're early August...

 

[enrag2000]

18506 and 18508 are now also in Perth even though the fleetcard says that they are at Aberhill.

Many fleet movements have occurred during the current period (which ends this weekend) following the start of the new school year which wll be reflected in the Period 5 fleetcards.

(Thanks to MB for his work on maintaining the Fleetcard website.)

 

[Mitchell Hurd]

Hello everyone. I'm new to the buses and coaches side of the forum.

I've used buses for around 22/23 years. I'm 99.9% sure the first bus I went on was a Thames Transit Ford Transit. The Wantage routes run by Stagecoach Oxford I've used all that time. So I've seen it all as regards the past and present vehicles on this route.

The MAN / ALX300's - S and T-reg ones were the most unreliable. Only 2 Volvo B10M's I went on had faults - 1. A Tappins Coach Plaxton Paramount from by the Ladygrove pub in Didcot to St. Gregory's school in Oxford, December 2004, where the doors weren't working. Resulted in a change of coach onto a VanHool Alizee. 2. Mum and I caught, after school around 15:45 from Autotype back to Abingdon where I think the engine was reported, in East Hanney, a little warm basically (Northern Counties Paladin Voith gearbox one). Got us back home though!

Now I was told (last Oxfordshire bus enthusiasts meeting on the 18/09/18) the reason why Scania's aren't in the 2018/2019 order - they're unreliable and frequently going in for repairs. That's odd because there's not one Scania I've been on that's broken down (even an S4 Gold Scania E300 in the few times I've caught one of these)!

 

[ACBest]

Although I don’t know what the current reason is for not purchasing Scanias, the situation a few years back when they stopped was because of a number of fires that had occurred in the hydraulically powered cooling fans, and Scanias subsequent refusal to fit an electric cooling fan. Scanias later backed down on this, and they re-appeared on the order sheet the following year... but have since disappeared again, and you observe.

 

[robk23oxf]

Part of the reason is that Scania service centres are absolutely useless and Scania refuse to sell the software to Stagecoach that would allow more maintenance to be done in house. Vehicles go away to be 'fixed' and come back with the same faults.

 

[Surreyman]

Part of the reason is that Scania service centres are absolutely useless and Scania refuse to sell the software to Stagecoach that would allow more maintenance to be done in house. Vehicles go away to be 'fixed' and come back with the same faults.

Given the current state of the 'New Bus' market and the general dearth of recent new orders by all the major groups, I would imagine price might play a big part in all this, I believe ADL now have a very aggressive and competitive approach to sales and market share, I note that they have recently won Bodywork orders from Lothian and recent orders in London at Wrights expense.

 

[goldisgood]

I've read on another forum that there's been an extension to the order, with 20 buses for Cumbria and North Lancashire for Lancaster route 1 (18) and Carlisle route 685 (2). These are due in the 'coming weeks' and are currently being built.

 

[laststop@96]

i think oxford tube buses are due replacements next year will it be more vahools or will they go for plaxton panoramas to cut costs also i think the volvo would be more reliable in the long run.

 

[Mwanesh]

i think oxford tube buses are due replacements next year will it be more vahools or will they go for plaxton panoramas to cut costs also i think the volvo would be more reliable in the long run.

Plaxton Panoramas thats the rumour .It depends also on what local management want and support.Volvo can be unreliable at times