Stagecoach/Provincial > Reviews > Stagecoach - demise of double deckers - updated

Author's product rating:   

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

Advantages:	Enabling you to move about without a car
Disadvantages:	too many to write about on one line

Recommend to potential buyers:

no

Full review

Stagecoach bus services - buses being the shortened version of the word omnibus - seem to have lost the plot. Years ago we associated stagecoaches with westerns and romantic melodrama. Personally I wish it had stayed that way!

Stagecoach originally bought out our local bus company some nine years ago, which I think was called Bayline. I think this was how Stagecoach originally started, buying small and maybe failing local bus companies. After taking over a number of bus companies they have now moved into owning a Rail franchise. The rail franchise is criticised as much as the bus services they provide.

Stagecoach buses come in a variety of colours and shapes, single deckers, double deckers and the mini "shopper" versions. If you ever wondered where the old double deckers go when they vanish from the city areas, wonder no more - they end up in small towns like mine! Yes, we have the 30 year old antiquities to deal with, and that includes the braking systems, which squeak alarmingly and hurt your ears in the process. A few years ago our town was proud to welcome child-friendly nice new buses, with facilities for the disabled, via a drop down ramp, but lo and behold, our poor little town, served only by the mighty Stagecoach, and with no chance of appeal, decided that we should only be able to use the people friendly buses if we wanted to travel around the larger towns.

I have lost count of the number of times I have been on a bus that has "conked out" or where the windscreen wipers have fallen off, necessitating another bus being sent to collect us. It got so bad that at one point a petition was set up, asking for a proper service to be provided.

In the last few years our timetable has gone from a bus sevice every few minutes to a bus every 15, on a good day. Services stop at 11.00pm into the main area of the town, and at six on the town circular routes. Further, there is no service at all on Sundays. God forbid you want to go out or visit relatives in hospital after the hours of six and at weekends, should you live on the peremiter of our humble region.

I feel immensly sorry for the poor staff, who regularly suffer abuse from passengers. They are, generally, less well paid, than their colleagues in the larger towns and cities. Attempts to improve their conditions, by striking, result in widescale redundances, bus services being cut, and the passenger fares being hiked up again. A 10 mile journey costs about £3.30, making it prohibitedly expensive for a small family to have a day out. Of course you can by family tickets, but these are not
cheap either. Most of the drivers do their best and try to remain cheerful in the face of adversity, abuse and occasionally exciteable passengers.

Double decker buses have steps to negotiate as you go through the double doors, and these can be very tricky for the elderly and disabled. They are often
dirty and I have known many to take on water as well as passengers!! On days when the downstairs of the bus may be likened to a cattle truck, you can often see older or disabled people trying to stay upright whilst hanging on to the hand rails, as the seating quota is inadequate for the number of people allowed on the bus overall.

I truly believe that large companies like this have no regard for their staff or passengers, and are only interested in how much profit they can make.

There should be an ombudsman (if you will pardon the pun), who should be ensuring a safe and comfortable
transport system for the general public. Long live Dick Turpin, his spirit remains alive and well!!