Stagecoach/Provincial

I rely on public transport to get me about most of the time. Sometimes I am lucky enough to get a lift with my housemate Frank but most of the time it is either Shank’s Pony or the No 50 bus kindly provided by Mr. Souter of stagecoach. So are Stagecoach Manchester any good or am I left champing at the bit as I wait for hours on hours for a non-existent bus as it has been cancelled.

Who Are Stagecoach?

Stagecoach is a multinational company founded by Ann Gloag and Brian Souter in Perth Scotland. Their main way of building up their multinational empire was to buy bus companies, deliver ridiculously cheap fares that would drive off all competition. This happened in my own hometown of Dumfries. Once there was Western Scottish PLC that my dad drove for but it was acquired by Stagecoach and firms such as Dicksonss buses folded and my daddy got a new boss as well as a new uniform and a new coloured bus. This also happened in Africa, New Zealand and the USA. They also branched out into rail travel. As quoted this review will be about Stagecoach Manchester. If it was about Stagecoach in the south west of Scotland it would be a lot more biased as I do not want my inheritance or emergency crisis money cut off thank you very much!!

Stagecoach Manchester

Stagecoach Manchester covers a wide variety of routes in the south and east of Manchester. Stagecoach also owns Magic Bus and Finglands. The difference between Magic Bus and Stagecoach buses are that Magic Bus is much cheaper, looks very different and the buses are older. Apparently they are second hand buses from Kenya if my dad is to believed ( and he is pretty clued up on bus matters!_

How To Identify a Stagecoach Bus.

They come in three sizes, mini bus, single decker and double decker. They are usually white with red and orange stripes. Some of the buses are actually quiet new and are quite nice to travel in whilst others are a bit older, a bit more rickety and a bit scruffier.

My route.

I take the no 60 that gores from Manchester city centre through the student areas of Victoria park and Fallowfield to the but scabby area of Burnage and finishes in the posher area of East Didsbury. Apart from the Arrive bus to Macclesfield, which is once every half-hour, this is the only bus serving this particular route. I think this is because it is sandwiched between the much more frequent and much more popular Stockpot road and Wilmslow Road routes (Fact Wilmslow Road is the busiest bus route in Europe)

Frequency

The frequency of the buses is not bad but it is not good either. The buses during the daytime are about once every ten minutes. Apparently there has recently been extra buses added that start at Victoria Park to cope with the students on Anson Road so we do not have to suffer them ( I’m a post graduate student so am different from scruffy little undergraduates!. The buses always seem to come two at once and there are always massive queues at the Cross street terminus of people waiting for the No 50.,

At night the buses are less frequent and sometimes you can wait a while for them to arrive. There are supposed to be night buses on a Friday and Saturday night up until 3am but the last few times I have given up waiting and either got a number 42 down Wilmslow Road and cut across to our road or walked the 2 or 3 miles home.

The Price.

The price is the main winge. I have to pay £1.25 into town. This is quite expensive especially since some of the bus companies are charging half the price on the Wimslow Road route that is the same distance. The best way to get round this is to get a Mega rider. For £7.80 a week you get unlimited travel. If you are not in every day a day ticket costing £2.60 for StageCoach buses or £3.30 if you require other bus companies.

The buses.
As said it depends on the bus. Some are quite nice but some of the older ones are a bit manky. There are always Metros lying on the floor after everyone has read them. Some of the buses definitely need a good clean.

The drivers.

Again these vary. Some of them are grumpy old men who drive past you when you are obviously waiting at the p bus stop or will not let you off at your chosen bus stop some of them are nice polite helpful, even cheerful bus drivers. I can assure you my dad is the latter!

To sum up. The service stagecoach provides on the No 50 bus route is not bad but it is not good either. The night bus situation needs to be resolved and if they are charging £1.25 a journey I expect a nice clean bus and a friendly driver.