Reported this morning on the Stagecoach website.

http://www.stagecoachgroup.com/scg/m...06/2006-06-23/

--
gordon

wrote:
Reported this morning on the Stagecoach website.

http://www.stagecoachgroup.com/scg/m...06/2006-06-23/

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/5108854.stm

Interesting - Stagecoach is pulling out of London where buses are
regulated by TfL and investing in the north of England where
"regulation" does not appear in the transport vocabulary. Roll on the
reregulation of the eight core cities.

In article . com,
(Bob) wrote:

wrote:
Reported this morning on the Stagecoach website.

http://www.stagecoachgroup.com/scg/m...06/2006-06-23/

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/5108854.stm

Interesting - Stagecoach is pulling out of London where buses are
regulated by TfL and investing in the north of England where
"regulation" does not appear in the transport vocabulary. Roll on the
reregulation of the eight core cities.

What about the rest of us?! Cambridge has an effective Stagecoach
monopoly.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

In message ,
Colin Rosenstiel writes
In article . com,
(Bob) wrote:

wrote:
Reported this morning on the Stagecoach website.

http://www.stagecoachgroup.com/scg/m...06/2006-06-23/

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/5108854.stm

Interesting - Stagecoach is pulling out of London where buses are
regulated by TfL and investing in the north of England where
"regulation" does not appear in the transport vocabulary. Roll on the
reregulation of the eight core cities.

What about the rest of us?! Cambridge has an effective Stagecoach
monopoly.
As far as I can tell, it also has modern vehicles running a
comprehensive and frequent City route network, except evenings and
Sundays which seem much more limited. (But I could be wrong, you're on
the spot, of course and may tell a different story.)

Would having a selections of separate bus companies somehow make
Cambridge's bus provision better? Or would they all have third-hand
Darts or even Nationals running around on unpredictable routes changing
every few weeks and with no destinations shown or timetables available?


--
Ian Jelf, MITG
Birmingham, UK

Registered Blue Badge Tourist Guide for London and the Heart of England
http://www.bluebadge.demon.co.uk

Ian Jelf wrote:
In message ,
Colin Rosenstiel writes
In article . com,
(Bob) wrote:

wrote:
Reported this morning on the Stagecoach website.

http://www.stagecoachgroup.com/scg/m...06/2006-06-23/

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/5108854.stm

Interesting - Stagecoach is pulling out of London where buses are
regulated by TfL and investing in the north of England where
"regulation" does not appear in the transport vocabulary. Roll on the
reregulation of the eight core cities.

What about the rest of us?! Cambridge has an effective Stagecoach
monopoly.
As far as I can tell, it also has modern vehicles running a
comprehensive and frequent City route network, except evenings and
Sundays which seem much more limited. (But I could be wrong, you're on
the spot, of course and may tell a different story.)

Would having a selections of separate bus companies somehow make
Cambridge's bus provision better? Or would they all have third-hand
Darts or even Nationals running around on unpredictable routes changing
every few weeks and with no destinations shown or timetables available?


--
Ian Jelf, MITG
Birmingham, UK

Registered Blue Badge Tourist Guide for London and the Heart of England
http://www.bluebadge.demon.co.uk

I agree with Ian: from my (limited) experience, Cambridge has some
quite good services, like the "007" (albeit with some pretty
ramshackle 3rd-hand buses) from station to city centre, and the Park &
Ride buses are very frequent and with friendly drivers too! Funnily
enough, now that I think about it, I don't think that these 2 services
are Stagecoach anyway!

I agree about week-ends & evenings - the Park & Ride ought to be
extended into the evenings and on Sundays.

Marc.

In article ,
(Ian Jelf) wrote:

What about the rest of us?! Cambridge has an effective Stagecoach
monopoly.
As far as I can tell, it also has modern vehicles running a
comprehensive and frequent City route network, except evenings and
Sundays which seem much more limited. (But I could be wrong, you're
on the spot, of course and may tell a different story.)

Would having a selections of separate bus companies somehow make
Cambridge's bus provision better? Or would they all have third-hand
Darts or even Nationals running around on unpredictable routes
changing every few weeks and with no destinations shown or
timetables available?

A fair point evidenced by the ancient vehicles the few competing
operators do use (mainly on rural routes into the City). However,
Stagecoach has some all too similar vehicles on subsidised rural routes
The worst of all seem to be the Ensignbus group vehicles on their
station shuttle and tour buses.

The whole of central Cambridge is an Air Quality Management Zone. There
is talk of refusing transponders allowing access through the rising
bollards to buses not meeting environmental standards.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

In article .com,
() wrote:

I agree with Ian: from my (limited) experience, Cambridge has some
quite good services, like the "007" (albeit with some pretty
ramshackle 3rd-hand buses) from station to city centre, and the Park &
Ride buses are very frequent and with friendly drivers too! Funnily
enough, now that I think about it, I don't think that these 2 services
are Stagecoach anyway!

The 007 service is a lot less frequent than Stagecoach's various
services between the station and the city centre. And Stagecoach has
some almost new double-deckers on the Citi 1 route.

I agree about week-ends & evenings - the Park & Ride ought to be
extended into the evenings and on Sundays.

There is a Sunday Park and Ride service, but only on the Madingley
Road-Newmarket Road (red) route. We couldn't get a regular evening
service to wash its face, though there is one on all routes as I write,
for Midsummer Fair.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

Colin Rosenstiel wrote:
In article .com,
() wrote:

I agree with Ian: from my (limited) experience, Cambridge has some
quite good services, like the "007" (albeit with some pretty
ramshackle 3rd-hand buses) from station to city centre, and the Park &
Ride buses are very frequent and with friendly drivers too! Funnily
enough, now that I think about it, I don't think that these 2 services
are Stagecoach anyway!

The 007 service is a lot less frequent than Stagecoach's various
services between the station and the city centre. And Stagecoach has
some almost new double-deckers on the Citi 1 route.

Does Citi 1 run between the station and Crown Court (opposite the
Grafton Centre)?

And, if so, that just exemplifies the problem with different companies
running similar services - if I buy a return ticket for the 007, I
presumably could not then use it on the Citi 1 for the return journey,
if that bus came first.

I agree about week-ends & evenings - the Park & Ride ought to be
extended into the evenings and on Sundays.

There is a Sunday Park and Ride service, but only on the Madingley
Road-Newmarket Road (red) route. We couldn't get a regular evening
service to wash its face, though there is one on all routes as I write,
for Midsummer Fair.

I have only ever used the Babraham Road service because that's nearest
to the village of that name where I often stay for long week-ends. I
didn't realise that the red route ran 7 days. Funnily enough, I've
never seen one of those buses on a Sunday!

Apparently, there is a service that goes right to the end of Babraham
High Street until late evening, but I've never risked getting stuck in
Cambridge late at night, which is why I would always drive (and park
somewhere like Queens' Road or West Road) if I'm there for an evening.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

Bob wrote:
wrote:
Reported this morning on the Stagecoach website.

http://www.stagecoachgroup.com/scg/m...06/2006-06-23/

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/5108854.stm

Interesting - Stagecoach is pulling out of London where buses are
regulated by TfL and investing in the north of England where
"regulation" does not appear in the transport vocabulary. Roll on the
reregulation of the eight core cities.

I'm surprised at the profit they made in London... "Stagecoach London
is estimated to account for approximately £224.6m of the unaudited
revenue and £23.6m of the unaudited operating profit of Stagecoach's
UK Bus division" - that's almost 10% of turnover.

wrote:

And, if so, that just exemplifies the problem with different companies
running similar services - if I buy a return ticket for the 007, I
presumably could not then use it on the Citi 1 for the return journey,
if that bus came first.

That's not a problem with different companies running the same service,
it's the problem with the UK's stupid competition laws that won't allow
companies to get together over ticketing and timetables, despite the
fact that it would result in a better service overall (albeit at a
slightly higher price, no doubt).

Neil