How big is stagecoach is Coventry

[bwsau cymru]

Just from recent observations on my journeys in Coventry is "who do people think is the second operator is Coventry" is it stagecoach or de courcey and who is 3rd and 4th?

[Kevin]

"In Coventry" - DeCourcey
Stagecoach are a more "beyond coventry" operator

[Bob]

Were they bigger or smaller in midland red days?

[D10]

Were they bigger or smaller in midland red days?

Would have thought that Midland Red was bigger in Coventry in the old days. As well as the current Stagecoach routes, there was also the 900 (159 then) plus a lot of the rural routes out of Coventry into Warwickshire mainly run under tender now by DeCourcey.

[Sh4318]

Obviously NXC are the biggest, but I think it may be a draw between DeCourcey and Stagecoach, as they both have several routes that operate in Coventry. Maybe Stagecoach just edge it with their X15/X18 and 48

[Valandil]

I definitely think that De Courcey is number 2, especially with their 801, X6, 85, 585, 701, 703, 704, W1a, W1c and park and ride services, and school, university and contract services to boot.

Stagecoach's 48 and Matrix operations do have high PVR's, but spend a lot of the time beyond the city's boundaries and are only really for one corridor in the city.
The X15/X18 also escape the city pretty sharpish, and the 16 is generally a dead route in the Coventry area.
The X17 is popular, but is used by people travelling into or out of Coventry, rather than within.
The U1/U2/U12/U17 are in Coventry for even less time and can probably be completely disregarded.

[Justin Tyme]

Were they bigger or smaller in midland red days?

Would have thought that Midland Red was bigger in Coventry in the old days. As well as the current Stagecoach routes, there was also the 900 (159 then) plus a lot of the rural routes out of Coventry into Warwickshire mainly run under tender now by DeCourcey.

In terms of coverage, Midland Red was 'bigger' as they also ran into Coventry through Walsgrave, Keresley, Tile Hill and Toll Bar End.  In the main however, frequencies on the Stagecoach services now are better than they were in Midland Red days.

[JoNi]

De Courcey run more "local" services that in previous times would have been worked by the "PTE". Stagecoach are now more visible but their staff don't seem to have much of a clue about N-Bus tickets. A X17 driver did not know how to issue it when I tried to buy one last week. "I don't sell them, you buy those from the other lot"! 

[bwsau cymru]

De Courcey run more "local" services that in previous times would have been worked by the "PTE". Stagecoach are now more visible but their staff don't seem to have much of a clue about N-Bus tickets. A X17 driver did not know how to issue it when I tried to buy one last week. "I don't sell them, you buy those from the other lot"! 

That is true. There are a number of operators that accept nbus but dont sell them ie stagecoach first sunny travel

[Kevin]

Would have thought that Midland Red was bigger in Coventry in the old days. As well as the current Stagecoach routes, there was also the 900 (159 then)....

Preparing to be shot down in flames for this, but.... Anyone think Stagecoach could make a decent attempt at competing on the 900? Especially if they did it properly and actually made it express like their cov-leam routes

[Justin Tyme]

Preparing to be shot down in flames for this, but.... Anyone think Stagecoach could make a decent attempt at competing on the 900? Especially if they did it properly and actually made it express like their cov-leam routes

It's a good question, but I doubt it would work.  Coventry - Birmingham is so much quicker (and more frequent) by train that it is worth riding or even walking to Coventry Station, rather than catching the 900 from the city centre.

Also, I don't think there is enough trade on the 900 route to sustain competition.  The fact that the 900 is less Limited Stop than it used to be at both ends - and double runs to Parkhill Estate - indicates that it needs all the passengers it can get.  It is very unlikely that a faster end-to-end service would generate enough additional traffic to make it pay, even for NXWM, let alone a competitor which would be new to most of the route.

In a way a comparison can be drawn with the southern parts of Stagecoach X15 and X18.  They are fast between Coventry and Leamington, but Leamington - Stratford on both routes is less than direct in order to get enough trade.

[Steveminor]

I think there is enough trade on the 900 for Stagecoach to make it successful however probably at the expense of NXWM. AmPm made a good living off the route until the unreliability of the MAN MCVs killed off the regulars who just went back to NX. The amount of passengers from Parkill is negligible & the extra passengers gained with the extra stops between Wheatsheaf & Birmingham just lost more end to end passengers to the train.
My idea run the route as it does now but miss Allesley(not that many passengers really
) & miss out Parkhill. From Wheatsheaf run it as limited stop as it used to be. This should put an end to end time of about an hour (with off peak traffic) maybe slightly less. Still slower than the train but of course the bus can compete on price.
Buses can compete with trains just look at the Derby Nottingham corridor buses every 5 mins now.