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?