Stagecoach in birmingham

[danny]

Other than the X20 have stagecoach ever run other routes into brum city centre, and as they have made a play for national express west midland a few time, is their a reason they never decided to lock horns with national express and go for head to head compitition been as they have shown interest in the area,

[Wumpty]

Other than the X20 have stagecoach ever run other routes into brum city centre, and as they have made a play for national express west midland a few time, is their a reason they never decided to lock horns with national express and go for head to head compitition been as they have shown interest in the area,

Only Megabus services to the best of my knowledge.

[andy]

Other than the X20 have stagecoach ever run other routes into brum city centre, and as they have made a play for national express west midland a few time, is their a reason they never decided to lock horns with national express and go for head to head compitition been as they have shown interest in the area,

Only Megabus services to the best of my knowledge.

The only other service I can remember was the X64 to Corby and Northampton inherited with United Counties, but they finished running that during the 90's.

[Wumpty]

Other than the X20 have stagecoach ever run other routes into brum city centre, and as they have made a play for national express west midland a few time, is their a reason they never decided to lock horns with national express and go for head to head compitition been as they have shown interest in the area,

Only Megabus services to the best of my knowledge.

The only other service I can remember was the X64 to Corby and Northampton inherited with United Counties, but they finished running that during the 90's.

I used to use my Busmaster pass on that to the Airport lol!

[Justin Tyme]

Stagecoach also operated the 669 Kings Heath - Shirley on Centro tender during the late 90s.

The simple reason why Stagecoach has not competed in Birmingham must be that the nearest garages are a long distance away.  It would have to either start from scratch or buy one or more existing operators - and there is a long list of operators big and small who know that NXWM is a formidable competitor.  Buying NXWM would have been the only sensible option, I'm sure.

But don't forget that Stagecoach has done well in Coventry, through "organic" growth of existing services.  Stagecoach buses run every 10 minutes to Holbrooks and Longford, and every 15 minutes to Binley and Kenilworth Road nowadays.  The 48 and 55/56/57 in particular carry alot of local traffic in Coventry.

[D10]

Also there was the short lived X40 service running Birmingham - Banbury - Oxford. This was started in 1991 when the final bit of the M40 motorway was opened. it was run jointly by Oxford Bus Company and Midland Red South (Banbury garage), and the MRS coach was initially painted in Oxford City Link Blue and Yellow.

This became a Stagecoach route in 1993 when MRS became part of the group and at some point Oxford pulled out leaving this entirely as a Stagecoach (MRS) route. I can still remember having the paper timetables showing this after then advertised as a Stagecoach Midland Red route.

The whole route was eventually withdrawn sometime in the mid 1990's as it couldn't compete with the far more frequent train services along the corridor.

[winston]

Buying NXWM would have been the only sensible option, I'm sure.

Stagecoach has tried to buy WMT in the past, but it was instead sold to its employee's for less than Stagecoach had offered. More recently after the East Coast Main Line fiasco Stagecoach had agreed to buy NX's UK bus & rail businesses in a side deal with CVC & NX major Spanish shareholder The Cosmens should their takeover attempt of the entire NX group had been successful, however, CVC pulled out in the finish & that deal collapsed. Stagecoach then made an un-successful approach themselves to takeover the entire NX group

[andy]

Also there was the short lived X40 service running Birmingham - Banbury - Oxford. This was started in 1991 when the final bit of the M40 motorway was opened. it was run jointly by Oxford Bus Company and Midland Red South (Banbury garage), and the MRS coach was initially painted in Oxford City Link Blue and Yellow.

This became a Stagecoach route in 1993 when MRS became part of the group and at some point Oxford pulled out leaving this entirely as a Stagecoach (MRS) route. I can still remember having the paper timetables showing this after then advertised as a Stagecoach Midland Red route.

The whole route was eventually withdrawn sometime in the mid 1990's as it couldn't compete with the far more frequent train services along the corridor.

Yes I remember seeing MRS Dual Purpose Olympians in the Bull Ring on this, I wasn't sure it lasted into Stagecoach times though but it must have gone on longer than I thought. So many different operators used to work into Birmingham right up until the late 90's. much more interesting and diverse than what we have now.

[Liberator9]

Wouldn#t have minded Stagecoach taking over NX, better livery and actually seem to be able to apply it across the fleet.

[andy]

Wouldn#t have minded Stagecoach taking over NX, better livery and actually seem to be able to apply it across the fleet.

You can't come on here talking like that, the rose tinted's will be on your karma as we speak!!

[Gareth]

Had Stagecoach purchased WMT back in 1991, we would have to endure horrid sights such as this on our handsome Fleetlines!

6715 SDA715S
http://www.flickr.com/photos/andysbusphotos/4939264685/

[andy]

Had Stagecoach purchased WMT back in 1991, we would have to endure horrid sights such as this on our handsome Fleetlines!

6715 SDA715S
http://www.flickr.com/photos/andysbusphotos/4939264685/

I actually think that looks alright!

[winston]

Had Stagecoach purchased WMT back in 1991, we would have to endure horrid sights such as this on our handsome Fleetlines!

6715 SDA715S
http://www.flickr.com/photos/andysbusphotos/4939264685/

Not keen on those early Stagecoach stripes, the latest incarnation of Stagecoach stripes is much easier on the eye. I never had much respect for Stagecoach in the early day's due to its aggressive tactics in running businesses they wanted off the road i.e. Darlington & various smaller independents. Plus had they took over WMT in the 90's we would have been landed with a fleet of Merc/Alexander AM Minis, Volvo B6/Dennis Dart/Alexander Dash, Volvo B10M/Alexander PS or Leyland/Volvo Olympians/Alexander

[PM]

Thank God stagecoach didnt buy wmt

[don]

Thank God stagecoach didnt buy wmt

True - however they do run a good bus operation and I've been impressed with their Tridents down in Devon.............BUT they appear as boring as the old THC companies in Tilling Green with all Bristol buses back in the late 50s and early 60s..........uniformity from Lands End to Gloucester to North Wales.........the only difference is their colour scheme is brighter and they tend to only want to specialise in commercially viable routes! However they did rescue Devon General from a 100% 'super bread van' operation - which had about as much customer focus as British Leyland in the early 70s.

There again it could have been First........... :o