Stagecoach West Scotland

[Trnsprt4Sctlnd]

How do you know when buses aren’t turning up or even frequent enough?

The odd bus you see is brimmed!!

(Photo of bus, x25 to Glasgow)

 

[Glasgowbusguy]

How do you know when buses aren’t turning up or even frequent enough?

The odd bus you see is brimmed!!

(Photo of bus, x25 to Glasgow)

Tbf the x25 can often be rammed even when it is running well just like the x19

 

[ClydeCoaster]

1645 leaving Largs yesterday were two 585 E300s in a row, one rammed and one empty. I'm pretty sure it wasn't a duplicate and just an indication of reliability at the moment.

 

[Scotrail314209]

1645 leaving Largs yesterday were two 585 E300s in a row, one rammed and one empty. I'm pretty sure it wasn't a duplicate and just an indication of reliability at the moment.

Having had to use the 11 service everyday last week, which really isn’t much better off, the reliability is at a low point.

The 11 is every 15 right now, but cutting that down to 4 buses an hour means the buses lose time while taking on even more people, which i’ve noticed makes it even later as more people show up for the bus after.

We stopped in Irvine the other day and it seemed like the entire population of Irvine was boarding the bus.

 

[Stan Drews]

1645 leaving Largs yesterday were two 585 E300s in a row, one rammed and one empty. I'm pretty sure it wasn't a duplicate and just an indication of reliability at the moment.

I passed one heading towards Largs around an hour later, just south of Fairlie, which appeared to be near enough on time, until I passed another a few minutes later turning out of West Kilbride. So, two again very close together, and one at least 30 minutes down.
I assume the problem area is south of Ardrossan, as the northern most leg is pretty straightforward.

 

[Scotrail314209]

I passed one heading towards Largs around an hour later, just south of Fairlie, which appeared to be near enough on time, until I passed another a few minutes later turning out of West Kilbride. So, two again very close together, and one at least 30 minutes down.
I assume the problem area is south of Ardrossan, as the northern most leg is pretty straightforward.

Prestwick can be a particular killer for reliability, especially if theres roadworks on Ayr road. There was a time when roadworks slap bang in the middle of Prestwick Cross were making everything severely delayed.

 

[Christmas]

The ridiculous way Stagecoach are now operating their X36 between Dalry and Glasgow just gets even worse. Now they are sending drivers up and down from Ardrossan Harbour to Glasgow Central by TRAIN to do crew changes in the city centre. Drivers have to buy train tickets from the cash takings!

It's like Stagecoach is deliberately trying to make the X36 utterly unsustainable.

The sooner McGill's, Coast to Coast or Shuttle Buses step in to provide a proper express service the better.

 

[markymark2000]

The ridiculous way Stagecoach are now operating their X36 between Dalry and Glasgow just gets even worse. Now they are sending drivers up and down from Ardrossan Harbour to Glasgow Central by TRAIN to do crew changes in the city centre. Drivers have to buy train tickets from the cash takings!

It's like Stagecoach is deliberately trying to make the X36 utterly unsustainable.

The sooner McGill's, Coast to Coast or Shuttle Buses step in to provide a proper express service the better.

This wouldn't surprise me with how Stagecoach are operating at the minute. Trying to kill off a number of routes whether that be by removing their services from the public domain so people don't know it exists, putting additional costs onto the route and purposely routing out of areas with passengers, it's very much like Stagecoach is going to become a First or Arriva.

 

[Simon75]

This wouldn't surprise me with how Stagecoach are operating at the minute. Trying to kill off a number of routes whether that be by removing their services from the public domain so people don't know it exists, putting additional costs onto the route and purposely routing out of areas with passengers, it's very much like Stagecoach is going to become a First or Arriva.

Is this due to since COVID or the new owners ?

 

[markymark2000]

Is this due to since COVID or the new owners ?

Bit of both.

When routes got cut back and diverted due to Covid originally, they have kept some of them really poor routes which mean fast journeys are now significantly slower (one area near me has had a busy route changed so now people have to have a 27 minute journey rather than 12 minute journey to town (The reason the route was quieter was because patronage came from the university who of course over the past 2 years has been reduced. Now they are back to full service, Stagecoach change the route so the uni students are discouraged from using it). Sending out shoddy looking buses and expecting people to still want to get on them (basically with route branding stickers ripped off but you could see all where the stickers had been, no care or attention put into the buses to make them look nice). Making some routes really unreliable to the extent one of the biggest earning, flagship routes which got upgraded to deckers for capacity, now rarely has more than 15 people on the bus at any one time.

Removing routes from the public domain or massively messing up the routes in their online systems is one that I have found more recently with the upcoming changes, timetables just got withdrawn from the online systems with no one able to work out what runs where.


Since the new owners, they do seem a lot more lazy. Using only ticket machine data to plan bus networks rather than listening to local feedback or using their noggin to see what will and won't work. Everything goes via the central customer service who were great to start with, now you don't really get replies. Auto generated timetables are rife right now with no variation in journey time from 5am-peak time-midday etc. Wouldn't surprise me if they have increased the margin that they want from each route. Historically it seemed Stagecoach wanted less money for a route but now, with these load of cuts, I'd say they are wanting more for their money now, tightening their belts and demanding more off routes while putting in no effort to get passenger numbers up.

 

[Scotrail88]

Do we know what routes the new EVs are going on at Western?
Heard Ayr getting charge points but more supposed to be going to Killie

 

[Christmas]

Another reason for the collapse of the X36 and X34 is of course the fares. They are more expensive than ScotRail from places like Irvine, Dalry and Glengarnock to Glasgow and often take twice as long. Unmitigated disaster.

 

[PaulMc7]

The thing I've never really understood is why the West Scotland Dayrider is £12.60 when the East Scotland Dayrider is only £9.50. There's an issue Stagecoach need to sort out.

 

[computerSaysNo]

I was looking through the vehicles currently being used on the 101/102 and came across this MAN-chassis E300; when looking through the image history I see it used to be promoting "Bio bus: 100% Bio Fuel". Was this something that MAN exclusively offered on their chassis/engines? What differences would there be/have been in comparison to a non-bio engine?
Lastly this vehicle now appears to be in standard Stagecoach livery so does this mean it's been converted to plain diesel?

 

[Sprinter156]

I was looking through the vehicles currently being used on the 101/102 and came across this MAN-chassis E300; when looking through the image history I see it used to be promoting "Bio bus: 100% Bio Fuel". Was this something that MAN exclusively offered on their chassis/engines? What differences would there be/have been in comparison to a non-bio engine?
Lastly this vehicle now appears to be in standard Stagecoach livery so does this mean it's been converted to plain diesel?

I can't explain the first points but i do know the engines are now Cummins Euro 6. Only 3 buses remain with West Scotland.

 

[route101]

The thing I've never really understood is why the West Scotland Dayrider is £12.60 when the East Scotland Dayrider is only £9.50. There's an issue Stagecoach need to sort out.

The East of Scotland Dayrider used to be a similar price and was reduced. I have used to the West of Scotland to do a circuit via Ayr and Dumfries, then return on the X74 back up to Glasgow.

 

[PaulMc7]

The East of Scotland Dayrider used to be a similar price and was reduced. I have used to the West of Scotland to do a circuit via Ayr and Dumfries, then return on the X74 back up to Glasgow.

I can remember doing Glasgow to Leven with the X26 before Covid and it was far more expensive than it is now. The only issue is you can't do that journey early in the day now sadly. That sounds like a really good journey to be fair. I've not been to Dumfries for a long time. It's usually Ayr, Largs or Troon if I'm in Ayrshire.

 

[mbonwick]

I was looking through the vehicles currently being used on the 101/102 and came across this MAN-chassis E300; when looking through the image history I see it used to be promoting "Bio bus: 100% Bio Fuel". Was this something that MAN exclusively offered on their chassis/engines? What differences would there be/have been in comparison to a non-bio engine?
Lastly this vehicle now appears to be in standard Stagecoach livery so does this mean it's been converted to plain diesel?

There were no mechanical differences between the bio-MANs and standard vehicles. When the biofuel contract came to an end they were reverted to the standard B10 bio/diesel blend of the rest of the fleet.

 

[NorthOxonian]

I can remember doing Glasgow to Leven with the X26 before Covid and it was far more expensive than it is now. The only issue is you can't do that journey early in the day now sadly. That sounds like a really good journey to be fair. I've not been to Dumfries for a long time. It's usually Ayr, Largs or Troon if I'm in Ayrshire.

The 246 route between Cumnock and Dumfries is absolutely stunning - especially west of Sanquhar, while the X74 isn't bad either. The only issue is that the 246 isn't particularly frequent - but the journey can be planned around it and it's still typically every couple of hours.

 

[PaulMc7]

The 246 route between Cumnock and Dumfries is absolutely stunning - especially west of Sanquhar, while the X74 isn't bad either. The only issue is that the 246 isn't particularly frequent - but the journey can be planned around it and it's still typically every couple of hours.

Thank you for the suggestion.

 

[route101]

I can remember doing Glasgow to Leven with the X26 before Covid and it was far more expensive than it is now. The only issue is you can't do that journey early in the day now sadly. That sounds like a really good journey to be fair. I've not been to Dumfries for a long time. It's usually Ayr, Largs or Troon if I'm in Ayrshire.

Thank you for the suggestion.

I done that route last year. Shame it does not run to Ayr now. I have done quite a few Stagecoach dayriders now. Though now i am in search of new routes that I haven't travelled on before!

 

[JD2168]

I can't explain the first points but i do know the engines are now Cummins Euro 6. Only 3 buses remain with West Scotland.

24183-24188 of this batch are now at Stagecoach Yorkshire based at Rawmarsh depot. Quite a few are in local livery but all still have a two part green roof from bio bus days.

 

[WestieBus]

https://www.vehicle-operator-licens...-registered-local-bus-services/details/52641/ Wondering if this was a real service at one point. Haven't seen pictures of any vehicles on this service, only saw the service here

 

[KrisEK]

https://www.vehicle-operator-licens...-registered-local-bus-services/details/52641/ Wondering if this was a real service at one point. Haven't seen pictures of any vehicles on this service, only saw the service here

I remember SPT used to sell day trip tickets to a few locations, one of which was Benmore Botanic Gardens up that way. I wonder if this might have been a service connected to that.

 

[WestieBus]

I remember SPT used to sell day trip tickets to a few locations, one of which was Benmore Botanic Gardens up that way. I wonder if this might have been a service connected to that.

PM0000008/163 There is route 98 that went from Dunoon to Benmore, route 487 goes on a slightly different branch to Glen Massan, although it would have to pass the back of Benmore and maybe even had a stop there, where the Golden Gates are

 

[GusB]

When posting links to external sites, please remember to copy the relevant text details from that site and quote them in your posts, using quote tags. Screenshots are not appropriate. Thanks

 

[adrock1976]

I saw a Stagecoach single decker training bus that went along the loop road outside my flat earlier on today.

Does anyone know if the garage at Cumbernauld has got some new drivers in?

Also very briefly, I am unsure if they are going to be taking over the Dunns Coaches routes in February or not. Their licence, if I have interpreted the VOSA website correctly (for town/postcode type in Airdrie), expires the last day of January. Although I have only seen this posted on a community page (I have attempted to do some digging around but cannot find anything else), it seems that Dunns will cease trading - and good riddance too if that is true.

 

[Unstoppable]

I saw a Stagecoach single decker training bus that went along the loop road outside my flat earlier on today.

Does anyone know if the garage at Cumbernauld has got some new drivers in?

Also very briefly, I am unsure if they are going to be taking over the Dunns Coaches routes in February or not. Their licence, if I have interpreted the VOSA website correctly (for town/postcode type in Airdrie), expires the last day of January. Although I have only seen this posted on a community page (I have attempted to do some digging around but cannot find anything else), it seems that Dunns will cease trading - and good riddance too if that is true.

Many, many new drivers have started at Cumbernauld in recent months

 

[Scotrail88]

I saw a Stagecoach single decker training bus that went along the loop road outside my flat earlier on today.

Does anyone know if the garage at Cumbernauld has got some new drivers in?

Also very briefly, I am unsure if they are going to be taking over the Dunns Coaches routes in February or not. Their licence, if I have interpreted the VOSA website correctly (for town/postcode type in Airdrie), expires the last day of January. Although I have only seen this posted on a community page (I have attempted to do some digging around but cannot find anything else), it seems that Dunns will cease trading - and good riddance too if that is true.

Do you have a link to the community page for reference?

 

[Stan Drews]

I saw a Stagecoach single decker training bus that went along the loop road outside my flat earlier on today.

Does anyone know if the garage at Cumbernauld has got some new drivers in?

Also very briefly, I am unsure if they are going to be taking over the Dunns Coaches routes in February or not. Their licence, if I have interpreted the VOSA website correctly (for town/postcode type in Airdrie), expires the last day of January. Although I have only seen this posted on a community page (I have attempted to do some digging around but cannot find anything else), it seems that Dunns will cease trading - and good riddance too if that is true.

All Operators Licences have an expiry date, so that in itself does not indicate an operator closing down.