Stagecoach/Provincial > Reviews > Stagecoach, Promoters Of Car Ownership

Author's product rating:   

Quality of Rooms	Average
Customer service	very bad
Frequency of bus / buses	Very poor
Value for money	Poor
Reliability	Very poor

Advantages:	Useful as a last resort if you cannot afford a taxi
Disadvantages:	Buses often late, Some drivers need to calm down, Expensive

Recommend to potential buyers:

no

Full review

For my first Ciao op you would think that I would discuss something more engaging wouldn't you? However, this company has been responsible for ferrying my good self to School / 6th form College for several years. As such there is a sense of need on my part to pass judgement on a company that has proved mildly useful.

'Mildly useful'? Surely a service that has helped me in my pursuit of educational enlightenment, is worth more than such faint praise?

Yet, this is the crux of my problem with this company. It has caused more problems than it has solved to the residents of Gloucester in some way or another.

A year ago, the school bus I used was withdrawn due to what was cited as "A lack of revenue generation" (Despite the bus being more packed than a Weetabix Minibix advert). For the first time ever I would have to use the regular buses. Once I did, it occured to me why car ownership is so wide-spread. The services Stagecoach provide are awful:

-Timetabling-
If Stagecoach made dictionaries I'm certain this word wouldn't appear in them. The amount of times I've nearly missed school examinations or returned home 2 hours later than normal are too many to count. In a city like Gloucester this shouldn't be a problem but Stagecoach buses still manage to be late. Maybe this is a problem because of the.......

-Drivers-
Ok, some of the drivers appear to be quite nice people. The odd driver or two can be useful for a quick chat as well (Just so you concentrate on a voice besides the ones belonging to the 3 mouthy 15 year old girls at the back of the bus). The rest, often feel free to sit around smoking when the bus is already 10 minutes late. They also scowl a lot and ignore you when standing at bus-stops on a rainy day (Invariably).

-Prices-
These seem to be quite high, but I'll give Stagecoach the benefit of the doubt on this one. Petrol prices and imposed mandatory wage increases for drivers do not help keep prices low.
Ironically, it is cheaper to take a 94 service bus to Cheltenham from Gloucester city centre but more expensive the other way round. Maybe they're trying to tell us something.........

There are plenty more experiences I can draw upon to justify this opinion but I'm not here to take vitriol to new heights. To sum this up I'd like to make a simple suggestion for travelling around Gloucester and other cities 'served' by Stagecoach:

Use a bike or learn how to drive