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Stagecoach Group (Group-wide matters)

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CM

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That may be the case but from what i understand they're much more reliable than the life expired B12s and 4-7 years younger.

Never thought I'd hear the words "B12" and "life-expired" in the same sentence, how time flies...
 

Jordan Adam

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Never thought I'd hear the words "B12" and "life-expired" in the same sentence, how time flies...

Mad isn't it... But if you saw the state of some of the Panthers up here you'd quickly understand! Then again you have to take in to account that coaches on service work generally do have shorter life spans, 53321 for example got withdrawn at only 8 years old and has sat cannibalised at the back of Elgin depot for well over a year.
 

Volvodart

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53321 was out of service a lot before it officially went into storage so I do not know how much use was made of it. It would certainly be the least used of the Stagecoach Profiles excluding the combusted ones.
 

Jordan Adam

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53321 was out of service a lot before it officially went into storage so I do not know how much use was made of it. It would certainly be the least used of the Stagecoach Profiles excluding the combusted ones.

Incidentally 53321 was an insurance replacement to one of the fire damaged examples from the 55 plate batch too!
 

Y961 XBU

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Gillmoss Based 10550 wont be out for a while, Some Idiots have set fire to it while it was on the 10A St Helens - Liverpool.
 

Jordan Adam

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It seems things still haven't improved at Stagecoach Highlands as they're currently outsourcing maintenance to Stagecoach East Scotland and Newcastle! All the while 6 of Newcastles new E400MMCs are on loan to Inverness with 11298 being spotted in service today.
 

NewcastleOne

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It seems things still haven't improved at Stagecoach Highlands as they're currently outsourcing maintenance to Stagecoach East Scotland and Newcastle! All the while 6 of Newcastles new E400MMCs are on loan to Inverness with 11298 being spotted in service today.
27590 Meanwhile is being fixed and MOT’d 11299,11300,11502,11503 also said to be going up. North Scotland is planned to get Newcastle 57 Regs 19212-19217. Unknown how long they will be up in Scotland but are planned to be returned. According to another forums member.
 

smtglasgow

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Is there a reason why things have got so bad, vehicle-wise, at Highland? Looked up their 18/19 results earlier and they’ve posted a £2.6m loss - that's bad for a Stagecoach opco. Have they been trimming their engineering budgets too much in response? It’s a harsh operating environment, but no excuse for ending up so short of serviceable vehicles.
 

TheGrandWazoo

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Is there a reason why things have got so bad, vehicle-wise, at Highland? Looked up their 18/19 results earlier and they’ve posted a £2.6m loss - that's bad for a Stagecoach opco. Have they been trimming their engineering budgets too much in response? It’s a harsh operating environment, but no excuse for ending up so short of serviceable vehicles.

Revenue wasn’t down so not pointing to excessive lost mileage but costs were sharply up.
 

Jordan Adam

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27590 Meanwhile is being fixed and MOT’d 11299,11300,11502,11503 also said to be going up. North Scotland is planned to get Newcastle 57 Regs 19212-19217. Unknown how long they will be up in Scotland but are planned to be returned. According to another forums member.

Stagecoach North Scotland no longer exists, it got split up back to the old Bluebird and Highland operating areas last October with separate management teams etc and as such have no connection whatsoever. It's Highland who are having the issues currently, hence why all the vehicles that have been south are from there.

19212-217 are due to be permanently moving to Stagecoach Bluebird (Aberdeenshire) and are currently being repainted (in Beachball) ahead of transfer, they have no connection with the issues ongoing at Highland just now. Bluebird have also had long standing reliability issues, however the situation has massively improved under the reformed management team and they've taken measures to solve it.

Is there a reason why things have got so bad, vehicle-wise, at Highland? Looked up their 18/19 results earlier and they’ve posted a £2.6m loss - that's bad for a Stagecoach opco. Have they been trimming their engineering budgets too much in response? It’s a harsh operating environment, but no excuse for ending up so short of serviceable vehicles.
Revenue wasn’t down so not pointing to excessive lost mileage but costs were sharply up.

Highland have always been a poor opco and i can quite confidently say they have some of the worst (if not the worst) standards within Stagecoach. They maybe wouldn't have so much issues if they didn't break everything! Inverness have had two vehicles fires recently (18346 & 28602) along with 18068 being deroofed by a railway bridge just round the corner from the depot, along with that take a quick walk to the depot and you'll quickly see it's full of cannibalised / defective buses. You may think it was just a case of bad luck but it's not, there's been multiple times in the past 5 years where multiple vehicles have caught fire in close succession. Bluebird and Highland combined had at least 20 vehicles fire in the last decade, most of them being Highland vehicles. The shoddy standards is nothing new and has been the case ever since the Highland opcop was formed nearly 10 years ago, actually the poor standards even existed during the Rapsons days! The current MD has also recently left. They've been let off far too lightly by the TC over the years, despite being brought up a number of times, you don't need to dig deep to see just how shoddy of a opco it is. Did i mention that they can't paint vehicles in swoops correctly either, and they have this amazing ability to take two identical vehicles and then paint them entirely different. Just compare the liveries on 37075/37076, 21208/21209 or 47748/47749. The only good thing i can say about them is that the changes they're away to implement to services in Inverness are quite good, however based on the past they'll probably revert back to the old network and timetables in 2 months time!

Yes the Highlands are a tough operating environment however there's been no improvement in standards over the last decade+ and it doesn't seem that things will improve any time soon. That said at least wheels have finally stopped falling off their buses! It is quite telling that Bluebird is preforming much better since the split and 2020 looks to be a really good year for them with plans to drastically revamp and improve the network in the next few months.
 
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Mitchell Hurd

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Hello everyone. As it's a Stagecoach subject I'm mentioning, I thought I'd ask is Stagecoach London service 238 from Stratford run by 18-reg E400 MMC's?

I googled 'stagecoach london 238', clicked images and saw one with an 18-plate on.

I ask as sometimes fleets can be reallocated so don't want to get my hopes up too much. Also I fancy a bus trip in London on the 14/03/20 - in this case from Stratford to Barking.
 

TheGrandWazoo

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Hello everyone. As it's a Stagecoach subject I'm mentioning, I thought I'd ask is Stagecoach London service 238 from Stratford run by 18-reg E400 MMC's?

I googled 'stagecoach london 238', clicked images and saw one with an 18-plate on.

I ask as sometimes fleets can be reallocated so don't want to get my hopes up too much. Also I fancy a bus trip in London on the 14/03/20 - in this case from Stratford to Barking.

https://bus-routes-in-london.fandom.com/wiki/London_Buses_route_238
 

Volvodart

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OXFORD TUBE ANNOUNCES £13 MILLION INVESTMENT IN NEW FLEET

https://www.stagecoach.com/media/news-releases/2020/2020-03-04.aspx

04 Mar 2020

Europe’s most frequent coach service – Oxford Tube - set to get even better with 34 new coaches this summer
The largest single order of coaches in the history of Stagecoach
Introducing the latest technology designed to enhance the customer experience
First Solar panels to be fitted to coaches in Oxford


Oxford Tube has announced plans to replace and expand its fleet with brand new coaches this summer. The £13 million investment, the biggest ever for Oxford, will introduce 34 brand new coaches and is the first major upgrade for the Oxford Tube service since 26 new vehicles were introduced in July 2014.

Customers of the premium coach service are set to benefit from the latest in passenger comfort with on board features including wireless and USB charging, reading lights and extendable tables complete with mobile device and cup holders throughout. This, in addition to extra leg room and reclining seats, ensures that the service can continue to offer the best customer experience.

New on board information screens will be fitted and used to keep customers up to date with changes to their journey and estimated times of arrival. Customers will also benefit from the enhanced complimentary WiFi service available throughout.

In addition, the new coaches have been designed to improve the service for those with additional accessibility needs with a more seamless boarding process for wheelchair users.

Fitted with Euro 6 engines which limit exhaust emissions, the new vehicles demonstrate Oxford Tube’s ongoing commitment to sustainable travel providing an intercity service connecting to many onward destinations and, in a further move to reduce emissions, 5 of the 34 coaches will be fitted with solar panels to deliver greater fuel efficiency.

The 34 Plaxton Panorama coaches are currently being built in the UK at Alexander Dennis and are due to be introduced into service in the Summer of 2020 and will continue to carry the iconic red branding, operating 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year.

Chris Coleman, Managing Director at Stagecoach in Oxfordshire said: " We are extremely excited to be able to share this news with our customers and our staff. Our teams have been working behind the scenes to ensure that every opportunity to enhance the customer experience has been taken. Technology has moved forward so quickly and with the improvements being made to on board messaging and WiFi I am sure that both regular and new customers will be happy that we have taken on board their feedback for the new coaches.

“The new solar panels are an innovative way to look to other sources of energy to power the on board features and part of our overall strategy to offer more sustainable travel options for our customers.

“This year is proving to be an exciting one for the Oxford Tube. We recently introduced our express link via Baker Street and now we’re investing in a new state of the art fleet.

“The new coaches will offer customers the latest in comfort and design features will make the journey even more comfortable, enjoyable and convenient for those travelling with us.”

-ends-

For more information please contact Stagecoach in Oxfordshire’s PR team, Tracey Warmington or Emma Twemlow on [email protected] or 07590 410387/07590 808 129
 

Mitchell Hurd

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route101

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Took Megabus M11 few weeks ago 2245 from Glasgow to london .Now runs non stop apart from driver change . Noted it goes via the M42 and M40 now
 

JonathanH

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Took Megabus M11 few weeks ago 2245 from Glasgow to london .Now runs non stop apart from driver change . Noted it goes via the M42 and M40 now

Yes, the 2345 slow from London (I travelled to Preston) went via the M4 / M25 / M40 / M42 last night. Fewer Megabus coaches are now using the Finchley Road / Hendon Way route out of London because of the low emission requirements - those which go to the M1 seem to frequently use the Edgware Road route to Staples Corner which is slightly slower out of London so not surprised they go M40 now (and of course a driver change near Rugby is no longer part of the plan).
 

route101

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Yes, the 2345 slow from London (I travelled to Preston) went via the M4 / M25 / M40 / M42 last night. Fewer Megabus coaches are now using the Finchley Road / Hendon Way route out of London because of the low emission requirements - those which go to the M1 seem to frequently use the Edgware Road route to Staples Corner which is slightly slower out of London so not surprised they go M40 now (and of course a driver change near Rugby is no longer part of the plan).

Been a while since went on coach to London. How busy was your bus?
 

Mwanesh

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The Glasgow M11 are all operated by Cumbernauld now. They come down to London then back up to Preston. Handover to the other crew who overnight in Preston. Megabus has a flat in Preston were the crew stay over. On the off chance that it runs late they normally get London to run it and meet the southbound along the way. 2
 

LancasterRed

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Not sure if it's an app issue or an onboard technical issue but one of the 5s in Lancaster has become very lost this morning
 

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route101

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The Glasgow M11 are all operated by Cumbernauld now. They come down to London then back up to Preston. Handover to the other crew who overnight in Preston. Megabus has a flat in Preston were the crew stay over. On the off chance that it runs late they normally get London to run it and meet the southbound along the way. 2

We stopped at a services in Cheshire. Bus was packed , is it packed every night?
 

route101

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That would be Kuttsford. Usaly is. Its also where the dup driver change over.

Yeah ,Knutsford, must of been as it was not long after Warrington. Do megabus ever off breaks to passengers?
Not seen a megabus dupe in a while on M11 .
 

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