Stagecoach South & South East

[Trainguy34]

Surprisingly just saw an E400MMC with a 73 plate on the 15 to Dover, nothing about it on bus times. It was YX73 OVL if that's any help.

 

[M803UYA]

It appears that a lot of the Folkestone area problems are being caused by the higher than expected number of staff at Folkestone who opted for redundancy rather than transfer to Dover leaving the depot short of drivers.

The loss of the late 102 is somewhat surprising as some of these operate from the outstation at Old Romney.

Well that's a surprise. Not.

 

[RDP]

Surprisingly just saw an E400MMC with a 73 plate on the 15 to Dover, nothing about it on bus times. It was YX73 OVL if that's any help.

11658. See post 417.

 

[DunsBus]

E400 19662 (SP60DRX), new to Strathtay in 2011, was burnt out last week after catching fire in Hellingly. Rather ironically, it was heading for Heathfield Fire Station at the time.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Well that's a surprise. Not.

I tend to agree with you. It never ceases to amaze me that firms overestimate the number of drivers that will transfer on a depot closure.

 

[izvor]

It appears that a lot of the Folkestone area problems are being caused by the higher than expected number of staff at Folkestone who opted for redundancy rather than transfer to Dover leaving the depot short of drivers.

The loss of the late 102 is somewhat surprising as some of these operate from the outstation at Old Romney.

Well that's a surprise. Not.

Dover driver today said that at least 55 Folkestone drivers had taken redundancy. Some evenings there is no service after 8pm on some routes, 102 particularly badly affected.

 

[OptareOlympus]

The 102 should've been cut to run only between Folkestone and Lydd (as it did as the 12 prior to the 711 era) and been operated from Old Romney outstation. Dover could then have interworked Dover - Folkestone - Canterbury (as it was in the 111/211 days) - and then the 15 back to Dover.

I had heard it was around 60% of drivers who took redundancy and that Stagecoach had given them until the close of service on Folkestone depots last day to choose. The Folkestone controllers were all made redundant and the Dover depot controllers had no idea obviously how many drivers would turn up on day one. As it transpired, not many did!

 

[Simon75]

---

Wonder if they would try to reopen Folkestone?

 

[RDP]

All of the 11652-8 batch of E400MMCs have been delivered to Dover with 11652/4 having joined 11658 in service and the others expected to be in service over the next few days.

 

[izvor]

The 102 should've been cut to run only between Folkestone and Lydd (as it did as the 12 prior to the 711 era) and been operated from Old Romney outstation. Dover could then have interworked Dover - Folkestone - Canterbury (as it was in the 111/211 days) - and then the 15 back to Dover.

And/or link the 102 with the 11/A/B so 1bph Folkestone to Lydd direct and 1bph to Ashford via Greatstone and the Marsh villages. Ashford could then have a few cars on it. Believe this was a plan from earlier days that never made it. Could be an issue linking a Kent County Council supported route (think the 11 is, not sure) with a commercial one (102).

 

[OptareOlympus]

And/or link the 102 with the 11/A/B so 1bph Folkestone to Lydd direct and 1bph to Ashford via Greatstone and the Marsh villages. Ashford could then have a few cars on it. Believe this was a plan from earlier days that never made it. Could be an issue linking a Kent County Council supported route (think the 11 is, not sure) with a commercial one (102).

That was done before around 1999 when the New Romney outstation was still open. Vehicles worked a 12 from Folkestone to New Romney, then switching to a 511-513 for the loop around Lydd and onto Ashford either back via New Romney and St Mary in the Marsh or Brenzett and Appledore.

The major issue was the interworking meant the use of 40 seat Darts on the 12 which was completely unsuitable for capacity given there was only a half hourly headway (with 711) between Folkestone and New Romney in those days.

To make the issue worse, during late 1999 and 2000 when the 711 was interworked with the 710 (Camber to Hove), the 712 (Eastbourne to Hove) and the 400 (Hastings to Canterbury), the number of vehicles for the combined PVR way exceeded the number of deckers available, and anything from the contributing depots (Ashford, Dover, Silverhill, Eastbourne, Seaford - and I believe there was even a Lewes car in the mix too) could and would end up in the 711 pool, including Darts that started one day in Ashford on the 400 ending up on the 711 a few days later after working into Eastbourne that night, being put out on a 710/712 working that ended at Seaford the next day before perhaps being used on a Seaford 712/711 duty the following day that ended in Dover. It was constant chaos with buses sometimes being lost in the pool for up to two weeks at a time. Also add to that, that a Dover depot 711 car worked a full four hour circuit on the Kent Compass 100 at about 0515 before going into the 711 pool at about 1030. For enthusiasts though it was great, everything and anything could and would appear on the 711 - Volvo and Leyland Olympians, Volvo D10s, Volvo B10Ms, Darts, Eastbourne Depot's MCW Metrobuses (recently transferred from Thanet) and yes, even Titans! Dover at the time also had no Volvo Olympian 711 spares. They had an allocation of 4 for a PVR of 4, so when short, they would be forced into putting out either a B10M or a L reg 'EK' Leyland Olympian as the other two Volvo Olympians at Dover were long wheelbase Euro 2s with smaller fuel tanks that couldn't last the day on 711/712 diagrams - some of which covered over 300 miles a day without returning to a depot.

 

[izvor]

Interesting, thanks. Sounds a bit of a farce...

Hopefully it could be simpler now with just Ashford depot added to the circuit, but I don't know what their staffing situation is.

 

[LUYMun]

Quite late to post such news, but Stagecoach South had been awarded as the Operator of the Year during the National Transport Awards 2023: https://www.stagecoachbus.com/news/south/2023/october/long-service

Employees celebrate a combined 989 years of continued service​

16 Oct 2023
Stagecoach South bus employees from across Hampshire, Surrey and West Sussex have been recognised for their loyal service and commitment to passenger transport at a special ceremony.
[...]
Stagecoach South were recently awarded the prestigious ‘Bus Operator of the Year Award’ during the National Transport Awards 2023.
Speaking on the success Marc said "This remarkable achievement would not have been possible without the contribution of each one of our team, for their hard work, collaborative efforts, and unwavering dedication to our customers".

Edit:
The website from the awards ceremony:

The Winners – National Transport Awards 2024

14. Bus Operator of the Year – endorsed by Transport Focus

• Stagecoach South

 

[lxfe_mxtterz]

Quite late to post such news, but Stagecoach South had been awarded as the Operator of the Year during the National Transport Awards 2023: https://www.stagecoachbus.com/news/south/2023/october/long-service


Edit:
The website from the awards ceremony:

The Winners – National Transport Awards 2024

What colours were the judges' guide dogs?

I'm genuinely shocked. In the Guildford area at least, I've found Stagecoach's performance to be in a steady decline, particularly since Arriva closed down and they took on their routes.

Their service over the last year or so has been absolutely atrocious and the hourly (and very busy) 715 between Guildford and Kingston, which I used to use quite regularly, has bore the brunt of constant cancellations, vehicle breakdowns, no-shows and just generally poor service.

All just very surprising when you've got very smart and professional operators such as White Bus operating in the same area.

 

[RDP]

PK0000098/419 EAST KENT ROAD CAR COMPANY LIMITED, THE BUS STATION, ST. GEORGES LANE, CANTERBURY, CT1 2SY From: Ashford Town To: Wye Via: Sainsburys Name or No.: 14 Service type: Normal Stopping Effective date: 13 November 2023 Other details: New Service Monday to Friday

Looks like Wye, which lost its bus service in August, is to regain a limited service according to the above extract from Notices and Proceedings

 

[Typhoon]

PK0000098/419 EAST KENT ROAD CAR COMPANY LIMITED, THE BUS STATION, ST. GEORGES LANE, CANTERBURY, CT1 2SY From: Ashford Town To: Wye Via: Sainsburys Name or No.: 14 Service type: Normal Stopping Effective date: 13 November 2023 Other details: New Service Monday to Friday

Looks like Wye, which lost its bus service in August, is to regain a limited service according to the above extract from N&P.

https://www.kentonline.co.uk/ashford/news/bus-routes-to-be-reinstated-following-outcry-294439/

A village left without buses after timetable changes will see its service reinstated following a huge outcry.

Residents in Wye were shocked and angry when they discovered the Stagecoach routes connecting them to Canterbury and Ashford were scrapped over the summer.

But now the bus company has revealed a revised route will be brought back for the community and link another area in Ashford which had also lost its service.

The new off-peak Monday to Friday route will be the number 14 and run between Ashford town centre and Wye, calling at Little Burton.

It is due to begin running on Monday, November 13.

Wye residents had previously criticised the scrapping of services after the 1, 1A and 1X routes no longer stopped in the village from August 13.

But at the time, Stagecoach said the cuts had to be made as the route had become commercially “unviable”.

Also to serve Little(-But-Getting-Bigger) Burton.

Just have to hope they have the spare driver given previous posts in this thread.

 

[duncombec]

https://www.kentonline.co.uk/ashford/news/bus-routes-to-be-reinstated-following-outcry-294439/

Also to serve Little(-But-Getting-Bigger) Burton.

Just have to hope they have the spare driver given previous posts in this thread.

It will run hourly between the school peaks. Service 10 is re-diverted to serve Lympne village from the same date.

 

[Hophead]

What colours were the judges' guide dogs?

I'm genuinely shocked. In the Guildford area at least, I've found Stagecoach's performance to be in a steady decline, particularly since Arriva closed down and they took on their routes.

Their service over the last year or so has been absolutely atrocious and the hourly (and very busy) 715 between Guildford and Kingston, which I used to use quite regularly, has bore the brunt of constant cancellations, vehicle breakdowns, no-shows and just generally poor service.

All just very surprising when you've got very smart and professional operators such as White Bus operating in the same area.

There is a Transport Times article which gives the reason and you can clearly see the industry-leading innovations which have drawn such admiration:

Improvements for passengers have included low-floor access for wheelchair and buggy users, next stop announcements, smartcard and contactless ticketing, real-time bus information and an app to improve access to its services and products. Extra services with higher frequency have been delivered such as the Portsmouth to Chichester service.

Low-floor buses - imagine that? And an app - it's the future I tell you. Personally, I've yet to encounter not just next-stop announcements but even simple next-stop displays on any Stagecoach South vehicle, but I guess they must exist somewhere.

I can only imagine this was one of those awards where you pay to enter and there weren't too many takers.

Link to Transport Times:
https://www.transporttimes.co.uk/ne...sary-of-the-UK-National-Transport-Awards-692/

 

[Flange Squeal]

Personally, I've yet to encounter not just next-stop announcements but even simple next-stop displays on any Stagecoach South vehicle, but I guess they must exist somewhere.

The YX65 PY_ Enviro 200s and YX67 VC_ Enviro 400s at Winchester have them, and most of the time I've travelled on them they have been working. I recently travelled on two examples of Aldershot based YX63 GY_ Enviros (albeit from a batch that has been spread around a bit, so unsure if those from the same batch at other depots have them too or if they are Aldershot fitments) which also had working screens and announcements. I seem to recall the older GX08 HB_ MAN-engined Enviro 200s also had them, at least latterly if not from new. Maybe Aldershot and Winchester have had some sort of funding, although there are a fair number of Aldershot vehicles that don't. These are of the small one line orange LED style. That said, sometimes they show the stops but not announce anything, and sometimes they display some text but it doesn't change or just shows a generic time/date.
You then have the batch of Enviro 200s in the SL64 HW_/HX_ range that were new to Aldershot for the Aldershot to Guildford service, but were later transferred to Guildford for University of Surrey and local work. These are newer than some of the aforementioned examples with working displays/announcements, but don't have that system. Instead they have a TV-style screen which for all I know may be able to display detailed next stop information, but all they seem to show in my experience is third party advertising and - as recent as two months ago - showing service/fares change information dated March 2022.

So in the north east Hampshire/Surrey area at least, it's a bit of a mixed bag around here.

Talking of the Hampshire/Surrey area, the Hants and Surrey Bus Blog have posted a couple of bits on their service changes page in addition to the University of Surrey route 9 withdrawal that I think has already been discussed here...

Monday 30th October​

10: Farnborough – Fleet – Church Crookham
Operated by: Stagecoach
Following the amendments to this route from 3rd September (as detailed in this blog post), Pondtail lost its morning link to Calthorpe Park School (the 610 continued to provide a return bus in the afternoon though). From the above date, on school days the 0725 Farnborough to Calthorpe Park School journey will now depart ten minutes earlier and after the Avondale Road bus stop will turn left into Kings Road instead of continuing through Fleet town centre. After serving Kings Road and Aldershot Road in Pondtail (arr 0748), the bus will change number from 10 to 410 – with through passengers able to stay on the bus – and operate as an extension of the current 0817 Fleet (Oatsheaf) to Farnborough route 410 short duplicate journey. Departing Pondtail at 0749, the bus will perform a loop around Church Crookham via The Verne and through Crookham Village to Calthorpe Park School, from where it will continue on to Farnborough to serve the Sixth Form and Technology colleges.

410: Farnborough Colleges – Fleet – Crondall
Operated by: Stagecoach
The current 0740 Crondall to Farnborough Colleges (arr 0843) and return 1625 Farnborough Sixth Form to Crondall (arr 1707) journeys continue unchanged. The current morning short duplicate journey (0817 Fleet Oatsheaf to Farnborough Colleges) journey will be extended to start from Pondtail at 0749 then run through Church Crookham and Crookham Village to serve Calthorpe Park School, before continuing to Fleet and onwards as now. This journey had been cut back from Church Crookham (The Wyvern) to Fleet (The Oatsheaf) as part of changes routes 10 and 410 last month, with this extension back into Church Crookham offering increased capacity but also restoring a morning link between Pondtail and Calthorpe Park School (the 610 has maintained an afternoon return journey throughout).

Sunday 12th November​

15: North Town – Aldershot – Heron Wood – Tices Meadow
Operated by: Stagecoach
In the direction North Town > Aldershot > Heron Wood > Tices Meadow, buses will divert between the Football Stadium (Stop T) and Library (Stop G) to perform a U-shape diversion along Windsor Way, Arthur Street and Station Road “to improve bus/rail connectivity at Aldershot”. There are no existing stops on the current route between the stadium and library so no stops will lose a service as a result of this, however there are currently also not any stops along the diversion route (other than an empty closed bus station…) so one presumes a new stop is to be installed for this. Buses in the opposite direction towards North Town serve the Arthur Street (Stop H) bus stop around five minutes walk from the railway station, where as the current nearest stops for Heron Wood/Tices Meadow bound buses at the stadium/library are nearer ten minutes walk from the station. More information on timetable changes to follow when made available.

 

[KX03HZY]

https://twitter.com/KK77470/status/1725488464764797017?t=eNyxEqRnudyXIaefd7gloQ&s=19

Notice in this tweet from the Stagecoach South East commercial director that they are bidding for 28 electric double deckers for Eastbourne in the ZEBRA2 scheme. Looks like this is the basis of the ESCC (East Sussex) EOI mentioned on route-one....

 

[ls2270]

There is a Transport Times article which gives the reason and you can clearly see the industry-leading innovations which have drawn such admiration:

Improvements for passengers have included low-floor access for wheelchair and buggy users, next stop announcements, smartcard and contactless ticketing, real-time bus information and an app to improve access to its services and products. Extra services with higher frequency have been delivered such as the Portsmouth to Chichester service.

Low-floor buses - imagine that? And an app - it's the future I tell you. Personally, I've yet to encounter not just next-stop announcements but even simple next-stop displays on any Stagecoach South vehicle, but I guess they must exist somewhere.

I can only imagine this was one of those awards where you pay to enter and there weren't too many takers.

Link to Transport Times:
https://www.transporttimes.co.uk/ne...sary-of-the-UK-National-Transport-Awards-692/

The Enviro 200 MMCs at Basingstoke and Portsmouth all have internal next stop displays and announcements.

 

[M803UYA]

There is a Transport Times article which gives the reason and you can clearly see the industry-leading innovations which have drawn such admiration:

Improvements for passengers have included low-floor access for wheelchair and buggy users, next stop announcements, smartcard and contactless ticketing, real-time bus information and an app to improve access to its services and products. Extra services with higher frequency have been delivered such as the Portsmouth to Chichester service.

Low-floor buses - imagine that? And an app - it's the future I tell you. Personally, I've yet to encounter not just next-stop announcements but even simple next-stop displays on any Stagecoach South vehicle, but I guess they must exist somewhere.

I can only imagine this was one of those awards where you pay to enter and there weren't too many takers.

Link to Transport Times:
https://www.transporttimes.co.uk/ne...sary-of-the-UK-National-Transport-Awards-692/

Are the UK Bus industry still using legions of Mercedes 709s and Varios still then?! Maybe introducing an app will be a substitute for new vehicle investment. Whatever next? Clear destination displays on the front to tell people where you're going....?

 

[alex397]

The Enviro 200 MMCs at Basingstoke and Portsmouth all have internal next stop displays and announcements.

Out of interest, are the next stop displays and announcements reliable? Do they cut out in areas of bad signal, and do they only work on certain routes?

In Stagecoach South East land, there are only displays and announcements on Enviro200MMCs on the Thanet Loop and the Enviro200/400 MMCs on the Canterbury Park & Ride. It tends to be hit and miss whether they work or not, either through what I presume is bad signal, and the drivers not switching it on.
The new Enviro400MMCs based at Dover (originally ordered for the now closed Folkestone for the 16) will also have next stop announcements but I have yet to see this working, and the vehicles work lots of different routes.

 

[ls2270]

Out of interest, are the next stop displays and announcements reliable? Do they cut out in areas of bad signal, and do they only work on certain routes?

In Stagecoach South East land, there are only displays and announcements on Enviro200MMCs on the Thanet Loop and the Enviro200/400 MMCs on the Canterbury Park & Ride. It tends to be hit and miss whether they work or not, either through what I presume is bad signal, and the drivers not switching it on.
The new Enviro400MMCs based at Dover (originally ordered for the now closed Folkestone for the 16) will also have next stop announcements but I have yet to see this working, and the vehicles work lots of different routes.

The ones in Basingstoke work correctly about 95 percent of the time I would say as someone who uses them every day.

 

[Surreyman]

https://twitter.com/KK77470/status/1725488464764797017?t=eNyxEqRnudyXIaefd7gloQ&s=19

Notice in this tweet from the Stagecoach South East commercial director that they are bidding for 28 electric double deckers for Eastbourne in the ZEBRA2 scheme. Looks like this is the basis of the ESCC (East Sussex) EOI mentioned on route-one....

One element to this bid is the fact that a large modern bus depot exists with ample space to install charging equipment.

 

[RDP]

The new Enviro400MMCs based at Dover (originally ordered for the now closed Folkestone for the 16) will also have next stop announcements but I have yet to see this working, and the vehicles work lots of different routes.

Even more so now the Folkestone town routes interwork with the 16 and 17.

 

[Blindtraveler]

They will all have them eventually as next stop information is mandated from 2026. I wonder how those enviros are coping with the workload including various bits of fast running for which previous batches have definitely not coped so well at other depots elsewhere in the UK

 

[LUYMun]

Stagecoach expects to have a vehicle (judging by design an E400) rewrapped for the National Apprenticeship Week in mid January in the Portsmouth area.

Mediafleet to give the Apprenticeship Bus a new look - Shaping Portsmouth

We are pleased to announce that Mediafleet has joined us to support the Apprenticeship Bus programme by giving the bus a full wrap with Shaping Portsmouth and National Apprenticeship Week branding. The bus, which is touring Portsmouth's senior schools from the 6th to 8th February, will be...

shapingportsmouth.co.uk

We are pleased to announce that Mediafleet has joined us to support the Apprenticeship Bus programme by giving the bus a full wrap with Shaping Portsmouth and National Apprenticeship Week branding.
The bus, which is touring Portsmouth’s senior schools from the 6th to 8th February, will be provided again by Stagecoach who have supported us since the programme launched in 2018.

The bus will be wrapped in mid-January and will be used on routes around the city in the run-up to National Apprenticeship Week. The bus will then visit 11 schools across three days, taking 64 apprentices from local organisations to meet Year 10 and 11 students and promote the range of apprentices available to them in the city. The bus will remain wrapped until it is due to be repainted by Stagecoach at the end of February.

Simon Ingram, Programme Lead for the Apprenticeship Bus and Managing Director at Mountjoy, said “We are extremely grateful to Mediafleet’s Barnaby Smith, and James Parry for supporting the Apprenticeship Bus 2024 Programme this year. I must also thank Stagecoach for their continued support of this programme year after year providing the Bus and allowing us to apply this wrap. The bus wrap looks absolutely fabulous, thank you so much to both sponsors of this great initiative.”

 

[MasterSpenny]

Routes 27, D1 and D2 will be operated by Stagecoach South from the 2nd of January 2024.

ServiceUpdatesArticle

www.stagecoachbus.com

New services for Stagecoach in Havant & Waterlooville, from 2nd January 2024.20 Dec 2023 to 31 Jan 2024​

The following services will be added to the Stagecoach bus network across Havant and Waterlooville from 2nd January 2024, and run under contract to Hampshire County Council.

27 Rowlands Castle - Havant - Denvilles - Emsworth
D1 Waterlooville - Denmead - Hambledon
D2 Waterlooville - Denmead

Havant, Portsmouth & Waterlooville Network Map from 2nd January 2024.

 

[MasterSpenny]

Stagecoach South are introducing a new livery to the electric buses in Guildford and Surry, as below. This bus repainted shown is 74004.

https://x.com/stagecoachsouth/status/1750925687748202590?s=46&t=NwCcaynuPR-k7xjMa0OtGQ

We're delighted to introduce a new look for our #electricbuses serving #Guildford #Surrey

Photo by Stephen Clayton.

#bus #electric #publictransport #busphotography #electricbus #transport #ev #ebus #buses #busphotograph #electricvehicle #electricbuses #zeroemission #evcharging