Stagecoach West/South West/South Wales - Fleet News & Discussion

[goldisgood]

Note that buried in my lengthy message yesterday was this sentence.
The route will be branded ‘CONNexIONS’ and all five buses will feature a bespoke external and internal livery design plus free Wi-Fi.
Could this be where 5 of the new buses are going?

I'd think that if they were going there then the USB chargers would've been mentioned? They're a pretty large thing to skip when relaunching a service - they are really useful!

 

[goldisgood]

More news on Swindon's new Enviro 400 MMCs for the S6 from the Swindon Bus News & Spotting Movements facebook page - there are some pictures there, just follow the link. https://www.facebook.com/Swindonbus...rZrZ98sXyz_9m7SW1GYwFY7iB0eZyI-NWeURk&fref=nf

The buses are apparantly due to enter service on the 2nd of September alongside the changes. Currently SN18 KUO/P/R/S have been sighted at Gloucester, with O and S branded. The service is indeed running every 15 minutes, but I'm not sure for how much of the day it will be - it may be peak times only Monday to Friday, Monday to Friday or Monday to Saturday. It's really a massive turnaround in around 10 years - an hourly single decker trunk route now running up to every 15 minutes with double deckers! I'm looking forward to hopefully trying them sometime after they enter service.

 

[thameslink2000]

Note that buried in my lengthy message yesterday was this sentence.
The route will be branded ‘CONNexIONS’ and all five buses will feature a bespoke external and internal livery design plus free Wi-Fi.
Could this be where 5 of the new buses are going?

Actually thinking the buses for the 56 could be the 5 current E200MMCs in the fleet recently transferred to Exeter 37440-37444.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

More news on Swindon's new Enviro 400 MMCs for the S6 from the Swindon Bus News & Spotting Movements facebook page - there are some pictures there, just follow the link. https://www.facebook.com/Swindonbus...rZrZ98sXyz_9m7SW1GYwFY7iB0eZyI-NWeURk&fref=nf

The buses are apparantly due to enter service on the 2nd of September alongside the changes. Currently SN18 KUO/P/R/S have been sighted at Gloucester, with O and S branded. The service is indeed running every 15 minutes, but I'm not sure for how much of the day it will be - it may be peak times only Monday to Friday, Monday to Friday or Monday to Saturday. It's really a massive turnaround in around 10 years - an hourly single decker trunk route now running up to every 15 minutes with double deckers! I'm looking forward to hopefully trying them sometime after they enter service.

Very true. What was once an unremarkable service running every hour with PS Volvos has been transformed following the involvement of LAs, the commitment of Stagecoach and the obvious increase in homes at various places like Faringdon and Southmoor. A real success story.

Even when it went half hourly with e300s, I couldn’t have foreseen the growth of the route!

 

[padbus]

Actually thinking the buses for the 56 could be the 5 current E200MMCs in the fleet recently transferred to Exeter 37440-37444.

The fact that they are to have a "bespoke external and internal livery design" suggests new vehicles. Perhaps there is some sponsorship money involved.

 

[Charlie M.]

Apparently changes to route 10 and 66 are coming (Gloucester & Stroud)

Anyone know what?

 

[goldisgood]

The fact that they are to have a "bespoke external and internal livery design" suggests new vehicles. Perhaps there is some sponsorship money involved.

But the fact that they mentioned wi-fi but not USB chargers suggests that it may not be new vehicles - USB chargers are a selling point, and are mentioned by companies at pretty much any possible point.

 

[MarkC]

Does anyone know when devon County retender exercise result (to replace Target) is due at all ?

 

[Wirewiper]

Probably early September to give time for the new operators to register the routes. Target Travel is still operating until 28th October.

 

[overthewater]

S6 Will be every 15min for most of the day.

 

[overthewater]

I have seen the timetable but I cant for the life of me remember where:

 

[JASONTWEBBER]

When will Stagecoach west update the Swindon`s single-deckers the oldest are 04-reg and the newest are between 06 and 07-reg.
the double-deckers are reasonably modern

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

When will Stagecoach west update the Swindon`s single-deckers the oldest are 04-reg and the newest are between 06 and 07-reg.
the double-deckers are reasonably modern

Reasonably modern? With the S6 ones due, the decker fleet will be very modern.

I’d have expected the 2004 Darts may have gone but the expansion in Bristol might dictate their retention for a bit.

 

[mbonwick]

You'd have to assume that inroads will be made very soon - 17 E300s are currently being transferred down from Merseyside.

 

[gka472l]

You'd have to assume that inroads will be made very soon - 17 E300s are currently being transferred down from Merseyside.

27703, 27708 & 27710 said to be the first three to arrive at Gloucester according to Steven Knight media...….

 

[LordCreed]

Swindon changes are on the website:

Changes to your buses from Sunday 2nd September 2018:
We're making changes to your services from Sunday 2nd September. Full timetables will shortly be available on the website, as well as on the Stagecoach Bus App journey planner.


Service 4 - Swindon - Tadpole Garden Village
Tadpole Garden Village will now be served by our Service 9, with an increased frequency of 20 minutes on Monday to Saturday. We'll also be running a brand new hourly Sunday service.

Service 7 - Swindon - South Marston - Highworth
We've added new early morning and evening journeys to this service. We've also changed the afternoon timetable to accommodate the earlier Highworth Warneforld School finishing time.

Service 9 - Swindon - Tadpole Garden Village - Wichelstowe - Wroughton
We've extended this route to cover Tadpole Garden Village, as well as Wichelstowe and Wroughton. This service will be up to every 20 minutes on Monday to Saturdays and hourly on Sundays.

Service 10 - Freshbrook - Toothill - Upper Stratton - Kingsdown
We've improved the frequency on Sundays and will now be running every 20 minutes during the day.

Service 51, 51A & 52 - Cheltenham - Cirencester - Cricklade - Swindon
We've made minor changes to improve punctuality on most journeys. On Sundays, buses will run up to 30 minutes earlier. Buses will now depart from Cheltenham on the Prom, Stand 1.

Service 54 - Royal Wootton Bassett - Link Centre - Swindon
Due to low passenger numbers, we will be reducing this service to run every 90 minutes on Monday to Saturday daytime. Extra buses will run on our Service 55 before 9am for customers travelling between Royal Wootton Bassett and Swindon. The Sunday service will be withdrawn, however, customers can still travel to Royal Wootton Bassett on our Service 55 and the Link Centre on Service 10.

Service 55 - Swindon - Royal Wootton Bassett
We've added new journeys so that buses will run every 10 to 15 minutes at peak times and every 20 minutes through the day, Monday to Friday. Certain morning journeys will run via Lydiard Fields Business Park.

Service 80 - Swindon - Marlborough - Ludgershall
We've made changes to this service to improve punctuality. A new journey will run each afternoon from Wellington Academy to Marlborough and Swindon.

Service 81 - Swindon - Thorney Park
We are still awaiting a decision on this service from Swindon Borough Council.

Service 107 - Tadpole Garden Village - South Marston Park
We're excited to bring you a brand new peak service connecting North Swindon and South Marston Park. Buses will run on Monday to Friday to meet shift patterns at South Marston Park.


We're bringing 12 brand new Stagecoach Gold buses to our Swindon to Oxford service...
We've renamed our former 66 service to S6 and invested over £3 million in 12 brand new Stagecoach Gold buses for the route, so you'll be able to travel in luxury between Swindon and Oxford.

We'll be running up to every 15 minutes at peak times, Monday to Friday.

On board your brand new Stagecoach Gold bus, you'll now find USB charging ports and a cleaner, greener engine. As well as this, you'll still find free customer Wi-Fi and leather seats. Find out more by clicking the button below.

Find out more about your Stagecoach Gold bus

Our local route, the 54 has been decimated (loss of the busy Sunday service) and reduced to every 90 minutes from every 30 Monday - Saturday.

 

[childwallblues]

27703, 27708 & 27710 said to be the first three to arrive at Gloucester according to Steven Knight media...….

Thesea are being replaced in Liverpool by MMCs 11101-17.

 

[DaveHarries]

The Stagecoach West (Bristol / Swindon / South Gloucestershire) website, in its information about the service changes effective 02nd September, informs us that Service 62 (Bristol - Berkeley - Dursley - Gloucester) will no longer run between Dursley and Gloucester. from 02nd September. New timetable on Traveline confirms this.

Therefore, while you will still be able to get to Bristol from Gloucester you will have to change at Dursley with a wait of an hour. However I would have thought that cutting Dursley to Gloucester to be one bus every 2 hours is an unfortunate move for users travelling between the two.

Dave

 

[overthewater]

How Odd the S6 timetable is now different to what I saw. Maybe someone changed their minds? happened many times before. Sorry for that.

 

[carlberry]

UKBuses report that some of the ex Merseyside E300s are at Patchway ahead of next week's changes (http://www.ukbuses.co.uk/fleet/stagecoachwest.pdf).

Also two ex Norfolk Green Solos have arrived at Gloucester who don't operate Solos at present so these may be on the way as well. I suspect Stagecoach will want to get the ex Wessex stuff repainted ASAP

Some of the new Gold deckers are running between Oxford and Swindon promoting the S6 on the 66! I cant remember what the S stood for (South Midland possibly!) however there's now three different Stagecoach companies involved in the network (Midland Red South, Thames Transit and Cheltenham and Gloucester.

 

[goldisgood]

UKBuses report that some of the ex Merseyside E300s are at Patchway ahead of next week's changes (http://www.ukbuses.co.uk/fleet/stagecoachwest.pdf).

Also two ex Norfolk Green Solos have arrived at Gloucester who don't operate Solos at present so these may be on the way as well. I suspect Stagecoach will want to get the ex Wessex stuff repainted ASAP

Some of the new Gold deckers are running between Oxford and Swindon promoting the S6 on the 66! I cant remember what the S stood for (South Midland possibly!) however there's now three different Stagecoach companies involved in the network (Midland Red South, Thames Transit and Cheltenham and Gloucester.

I don't think that the S stands for anything in particular - it's just a renumbering exercise for Oxford interurban services which have gradually been upgraded to Gold.

 

[Lynford1976]

I don't think that the S stands for anything in particular - it's just a renumbering exercise for Oxford interurban services which have gradually been upgraded to Gold.

The 'S' used to stand for 'Select', which is what Stagecoach Oxfordshire used to brand these services as before they were turned gold.

 

[padbus]

Does Stagecoach South West now accept payments by contactless debit card? New ticket machines were installed a few weeks ago but no announcement has been made about contactless cards.

 

[TheWalrus]

Does Stagecoach South West now accept payments by contactless debit card? New ticket machines were installed a few weeks ago but no announcement has been made about contactless cards.

I can confirm for you this is the case and has been for around 4/5 weeks now.

 

[MarkC]

They certainly do in Plymouth along with Google Pay and Apple

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

S6 lettered new e400mmc 10982 on the 66 today

 

[goldisgood]

S6 lettered new e400mmc 10982 on the 66 today

This and 10988 have been seen a few times over the last week or so. Swindon are pretty bad at putting buses off their branded route (although does this really count? The 66 is the S6 in a few days time!)

 

[goldisgood]

The 5 buses with the branding for CONNexIONS are e200s 37029-33, which have been fitted with wi-fi alongside 37028. They feature a dedicated livery which I really like - it's bright and noticeable, but not too obtrusive.

Images from Steven Knight Media, courtesy of Adrian Roberts.

 

[DaveHarries]

The 5 buses with the branding for CONNexIONS are e200s 37029-33, which have been fitted with wi-fi alongside 37028. They feature a dedicated livery which I really like - it's bright and noticeable, but not too obtrusive.

Nice: I quite like that. Thanks for sharing.

Dave

 

[goldisgood]

Another of the new buses spotted on the 66 today - I didn't get the number, but I noticed the destination was simply "66 Oxford", with no via points, which isn't normal. Have they been changed in the last week, or is it something to do with the new buses? This was spotted just after Besselsleigh.