Stagecoach Group (Group-wide matters)

[carlberry]

Routeone magazine are announcing this as "£4m Investment' in new Gold Routes, 24 vehicles etc, this is borderline fake news, don't know whether the Stagecoach press release was deliberately confusing and Routeone didn't read properly, otherwise this is confusing 'Spin' - apparently claiming £4m of new investment, when in actual fact they have simply moved some existing Gold vehicles from one route to another - the £4m was used to buy the vehicles in a previous year.

I suspect Routeone, in common with most media nowadays, have very few real journalists but lots of people who can rewrite copy from PR experts that are trained to spin things like this.

 

[iantherev]

Investment is doing some rather heavy lifting there. Still, vehicles were all on their correct routes and branded where not spare vehicles on Monday.

 

[Tetchytyke]

Routeone magazine are announcing this as "£4m Investment' in new Gold Routes, 24 vehicles etc, this is borderline fake news, don't know whether the Stagecoach press release was deliberately confusing

Standard Stagecoach practice to keep announcing the same "investment" over and over again and heavily imply that it's cumulative.

 

[Mwanesh]

Thats the journalists fault . We all like to bash operators.You ask when the buses were delivered.

 

[Mwanesh]

New Chesterfield Levantes IIIs have been delivered.The B9 ones are heading to Scotland East thats the rumour 54404-11 all in the yard ready for service.

 

[overthewater]

Thats no rumour... All 8 b9 are going to Fife.

 

[Mitchell Hurd]

Hello everyone. Go on the Stagecoach Group website and you'll see the orders announced !

Although they're not Scanias, I'm glad to see 21 new Gold E400 MMC's due to replace the 2009/2010 fleet at Witney (my local Stagecoach operator is Stagecoach in Oxfordshire).

No mention of the Oxford Tube though!

 

[ValleyLines142]

Cymru 26099 on the 12 (usually a Solo!)

 

[carlberry]

Hello everyone. Go on the Stagecoach Group website and you'll see the orders announced !

Although they're not Scanias, I'm glad to see 21 new Gold E400 MMC's due to replace the 2009/2010 fleet at Witney (my local Stagecoach operator is Stagecoach in Oxfordshire).

No mention of the Oxford Tube though!

The details are on the 'stagecoach-plan-£80m-investment-in-new-buses' threed.

 

[Rod Harrison]

Hello everyone. Go on the Stagecoach Group website and you'll see the orders announced !

Although they're not Scanias, I'm glad to see 21 new Gold E400 MMC's due to replace the 2009/2010 fleet at Witney (my local Stagecoach operator is Stagecoach in Oxfordshire).

No mention of the Oxford Tube though!

Having looked at Stagecoach press release it didn’t mention gold anywhere unlike previous years. It seems that new vehicles are now ‘gold’ standard anyway and could the brand be being phased out as vehicles reach the end of their service?

 

[Mitchell Hurd]

Having looked at Stagecoach press release it didn’t mention gold anywhere unlike previous years. It seems that new vehicles are now ‘gold’ standard anyway and could the brand be being phased out as vehicles reach the end of their service?

Yes, silly me. That's one trouble with me - I don't always read things properly.

If I'm honest, I can see passengers complaining to Stagecoach coming in about non-Gold buses replacing Gold, despite the leather seats and USB sockets. But then again, at least the extra money can be spent on maintenance etc.

 

[LOL The Irony]

The Gold standard includes coach seats.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Having looked at Stagecoach press release it didn’t mention gold anywhere unlike previous years. It seems that new vehicles are now ‘gold’ standard anyway and could the brand be being phased out as vehicles reach the end of their service?

It may perhaps be the logical conclusion. What was once considered to be premium (wifi, USB chargers, etc) is now regarded as standard anyway and ending the Gold identity allows vehicles to be redeployed more easily/swapped between routes etc.

 

[James H]

Details of the new M2 Stagecoach Express from North Greenwich to Canterbury have been published

https://www.stagecoachbus.com/promos-and-offers/south-east/m2-stagecoach-express-service

Our brand new Stagecoach Express service runs from the historic city of Canterbury, through the bustling Chatham Waterfront, before reaching the bright lights of London, finishing at North Greenwich Station. Buy tickets onboard or, to guarantee a seat, pre-book now on megabus.com. See more about tickets in the 'How much does it cost' section below.

Tickets on sale on megabus.com 7.50 each way.

 

[robk23oxf]

Details of the new M2 Stagecoach Express from North Greenwich to Canterbury have been published

https://www.stagecoachbus.com/promos-and-offers/south-east/m2-stagecoach-express-service




Tickets on sale on megabus.com 7.50 each way.

It will be interesting to see how this works out. I know with the improved train services between London and Oxford provided by GWR and Chiltern, the Oxford Tube and X90 have been losing passengers who are prepared to pay a premium for a shorter journey time. Doesn't this M2 compete the high speed service?

 

[Lynford1976]

It will be interesting to see how this works out. I know with the improved train services between London and Oxford provided by GWR and Chiltern, the Oxford Tube and X90 have been losing passengers who are prepared to pay a premium for a shorter journey time. Doesn't this M2 compete the high speed service?

It's clearly aimed at the student market, with the fares much cheaper than what you'll pay on the Southeastern High Speed.

It could be also a dig at NatEx-owned Kings Ferry, who won Stagecoach's NatEx routes a few years back. The University of Kent has a campus at Chatham as well as Canterbury; Kings Ferry also run a shuttle service between the two.

Interestingly, the vehicles that Stagecoach will be using on the new M2 route will be the same ones as they used when they ran the NatEx routes!

 

[Typhoon]

Details of the new M2 Stagecoach Express from North Greenwich to Canterbury have been published. Tickets on sale on megabus.com 7.50 each way.

Early journeys ex Canterbury £11.

Doesn't this M2 compete the high speed service?

Only up to a point. Ends at North Greenwich - handy for finance district (Canary Wharf, Canada Water), Univ of Greenwich, not far from London City Airport, need underground for central London. HS1 - nearest to finance is Stratford then St Pancras (bit out of the way), bog-standard South Eastern to Victoria (like NEx) ie central London. I've been on HS1 from Canterbury - pretty packed and goes via Ashford but only about an hour, return fare £72. Its a gamble. Interesting time to start (start of school holidays).

 

[extendedpaul]

I live a short walk away from the Rainham Mark stop and this will be great for events at the O2 and for getting from Kent into Central London via the Jubilee Line at a reasonable cost on weekdays, theoretically before 8 am

The scheduled journey times are, in my opinion, very optimistic and I can foresee reliability issues but really hope this route proves successful.

 

[overthewater]

So https://eastwestrail.co.uk is coming along, however How will it effect X5? will stagecoach cut back?

 

[carlberry]

So https://eastwestrail.co.uk is coming along, however How will it effect X5? will stagecoach cut back?

I'm sure Stagecoach will cut back if it gets effected. However there's much more that will effect Stagecoach before then!

 

[overthewater]

Such as?

 

[LancasterRed]

Lancaster University Student's Union confirmed to be protesting against Stagecoach on the 12th.

This was inevitable - overcrowded buses, poor evening services, and numerous other issues affecting local students. The main reason being that the price paid per term per student for a bus pass does not represent the service that Stagecoach deliver, and after two failed talks between union officials and Stagecoach this was ultimately inevitable.

It won't affect services though. The protest will be respectful and not disruptive.

 

[overthewater]

Does Stagecoach even have the drivers to improve the service? Better still maybe some old tridents could be shipped in?

 

[LancasterRed]

Does Stagecoach even have the drivers to improve the service? Better still maybe some old tridents could be shipped in?

The main priority for the Union is just to get the prices down for now. UCLAN/Chester/York are all considerably cheaper, as Rotala/Arriva/First respectively. However, the Union are also keen to get some actual competition. I don't see this happening any time soon but it's inevitable that Kirkby Lonsdale Coaches will eventually get the Sugar/Sainsburys shuttles. Both are handled shambolically by Stagecoach at the moment.

 

[Whistler40145]

I have read that Stagecoach Merseyside & South Lancashire are to take over the 280 Preston to Skipton service from 17th June following the withdrawal by Rotala Preston Bus.

Will the service be reduced in frequency or as current?

Which vehicles are the most likely to be used?

 

[LancasterRed]

Stagecoach MCSL continue to pick up Preston Bus' slack. The 280 hasn't had any issues since takeover, and now from Monday they're taking over the Park and Ride between Jacson Street and Walton-Le-Dale, an often full service.

I can't believe Preston Bus would lose it for profit reasons (it's financed by LCC, can't say I know how this works, and may be similar to the 280) so I'm inclined to think LCC don't trust Preston Bus any more. Which makes sense, they're useless.

 

[winston270twm]

Stagecoach MCSL continue to pick up Preston Bus' slack. The 280 hasn't had any issues since takeover, and now from Monday they're taking over the Park and Ride between Jacson Street and Walton-Le-Dale, an often full service.

I can't believe Preston Bus would lose it for profit reasons (it's financed by LCC, can't say I know how this works, and may be similar to the 280) so I'm inclined to think LCC don't trust Preston Bus any more. Which makes sense, they're useless.

The 280 was run by Preston Bus commercially after Transdev withdrew it, they didn't have any funding to help make the 280 profitable / cover it's cost.

As for P&R 'an often a full service' makes no difference on loadings if it's a contracted route, operator gets a sets price regardless of loadings.

As for LCC not trusting Preston Bus, have you considered that Stagecoach could simply have just won it on price and were cheaper ? As they were keener to win the routes!?!

 

[Tetchytyke]

so I'm inclined to think LCC don't trust Preston Bus any more

If it was a competitive tender for the P&R contract then Stagecoach may have given a better (cheaper) bid.

 

[mbonwick]

It was a competitive bidding process, but the Stagecoach bid was submitted as an "at least we tried" effort - they were very surprised to win it. That probably says something about the state Rotala are in, I can't believe it was won on quality alone over price.

 

[Mitchell Hurd]

Hello there. Having travelled on Stagecoach buses not long ago basically, the words 'attention to detail' spring to mind (I watch too much old lads army on YouTube !).

Take 2 vehicle types - the Euro 5 Scania E400 and the Euro 6 ADL (Cummins powered) E400 MMC.

Does the MMC cost not that much more than the Euro 5 if that make sense?

I don't know what it is about Stagecoach but the only big complaint in the last say 5 years is an S1 driver not stopping at what I thought was the correct bus stop in Witney (that's already been sorted).
Something positive came out of it for me, not surprisingly!

As regards visting places for the first or second time...

Once (September 30th 2017) I used a Stagecoach Supertram and a short Stagecoach in Sheffield bus trip

In April 2018, I caught a 14-plate E200 from Plymouth, Royal Parade, only to the Railway Station in the afternoon.

In June 2018, I caught the 13:05 service 22 from Dawlish Warren to Dawlish Town Centre.

In September 2018, I caught a Stagecoach Gold MAN E300 from Gloucester City Centre by (or opposite) Tesco Express to Gloucester Quays around 12:10 and a 61-reg Scania E400 back about an hour or 75 minutes later.

All those journeys had fantastic and friendly drivers.

The 22 was a WA62-reg Scania E400.

Part of me expects Stagecoach vehicles of like 4 or 5 years old to not sound like they're looked after very well (I live in Oxfordshire) but I've been proved wrong.

The Scania did not sound 5 to 6 years old. I remember when the careful driver accelerated on the hairpin sort of bend just out of Dawlish Warren and the ZF gearbox on the Scania must have been sorting itself so it can give the bus a bit of a proplell up the bit steep incline.

Stagecoach Oxford said that the Scania's have a low gear ratio which makes them climb hills effortlessly (I emailed them regarding the S8 and S9 and sent them a photo of the gold MAN and the Scania E400 I caught from Dawlish which I occasionally do. This is how I learnt about the gear ratios in the Scanias.

Thinking about it now, this is a clever way of getting the best out of a exceptionally reliable 230hp bus - considering that several Volvo Olympians had 245hp Volvo engines!

Regarding the 62-plate Scania (I think it was 15868 which was in Stagecoach livery without route branding). I was very impressed with the exterior and interior presentation.

The other thing I admire about Stagecoach is if they're taking over from another operator like First (which they did in Plymouth) or another bus company, it's normally a case of old vehicles for quite a short while until they are replaced by new or much newer buses.

Going back to 2012, about 8 month's after Stagecoach Midlands took over the Bicester to Northampton route 8 (which sadly doesn't exist I think) from Walters who provided pretty much rubbish vehicles, they started it with MAN's 22920 and 22921.

Then they ran a new 12-plate Scania E300 on that route which was extremely suitable for dual carriageway work and was actually THE best vehicle on that route. I was a little disappointed when in around 2014 63-plate 3-speed Voith E200's took over which those E200's aren't that good at 50mph.

Talking of which, why were Euro 5 Stagecoach E200's fitted with 3 gears and limited to around 50mph?