The takeovers have changed the landscape in Manchester , by moving into areas that they where not previously in , dont forget when GMPTA where forced to split Gm Buses up it went something like North and South , at the time i thought Stagecoach getting the south side got the better deal as the those looked more profitable than the north side which First got eventually.
(13/05/2014 08:05)R971XVM Wrote: [ -> ]See attached...
Thanks - i like it,much better than some of Firstbus branding plus it doesnt covers any windows!
(13/05/2014 10:17)WhiteVanMan Wrote: [ -> ]That's the very point, that I was making a couple weeks ago.
Unfortunately, A number of people thought I was wrong for bring it up, and accuse me of being anti stagecoach, which I am not. There appear to be a number of people who thinks its OK for stagecoach to buy-out or take-over other companies, but as soon as First, took-over Finglands, they are claiming foul play, and that it should not be allowed.
to be fair,Stagecoach has got a better reputation than First so of course people are going to react better to a Stagecoach takeover than a Firstbus takeover.
(10/05/2014 23:27)Polo Mint Wrote: [ -> ]It is beyond me why Stagecoach were allowed to buy Bullocks and Maynes when they competed in the same territory. Now with the 217/218 being axed Stagecoach don't operate any ex-Mayne routes and smaller communities have lost their link to Manchester, if the services had being bought by First for example they may have provided a little more competition into Manchester. Purchasing Bullocks also allowed Stagecoach to be even larger in the Stockport area.
Struggling to understand what your grievance is there. Whether bus enthusiasts like it or not, it is often better for the passenger for most services to be in the hands of one operator as they can benefit from daily, weekly and longer duration tickets across a wider network.
It's not like Stagecoach have form for jacking the fares up to the levels seen in some parts of the south of the country - they have just been recognised as the cheapest of the big groups, and by some margin.
If Bullocks and Mayne had been bought by first what would have happened? Half a job done as is the First way, with a lack of attention to detail and high fares. Not much good if you're a passenger.
(13/05/2014 10:24)mbonwick Wrote: [ -> ]Nobody accused First of foul play, all they said was that the Finglands takeover was likely in response to Stagecoac's aquisition of Bluebird.
You are right, and it's also probably the case that First saw an unmissable opportunity to get hold of a 'ready made' rump of work in south Manchester for what, in the scheme of things, was loose change. EYMS wanted to sell, First wanted to buy. Simple.
(13/05/2014 12:19)126th street Wrote: [ -> ]Struggling to understand what your grievance is there. Whether bus enthusiasts like it or not, it is often better for the passenger for most services to be in the hands of one operator as they can benefit from daily, weekly and longer duration tickets across a wider network.
It's not like Stagecoach have form for jacking the fares up to the levels seen in some parts of the south of the country - they have just been recognised as the cheapest of the big groups, and by some margin.
If Bullocks and Mayne had been bought by first what would have happened? Half a job done as is the First way, with a lack of attention to detail and high fares. Not much good if you're a passenger.
Not just as an enthusiast but as a daily user of Stagecoach Manchester services I don't have a problem with them infact I would rather use them than First.
However just to clarify on the Mayne's issue. I lived on a busy east Manchester corridor which was served my both Maynes and Stagecoach. Now I had followed Maynes for many years sunce being a young child and understood their wish to leave the bus market, not through pressure from Stagecoach or any other operator but mainly over fears the Metrolink would have on thier business.
It would be wrong to say that fares and services improved once Stagecoach took over, some would say the increase was very noticeable at the time and thier was a big overhaul in the former Maynes services that at the time didn't appeal to everyone.
Now I was told at the time of the takeover that the takeover of Maynes was a two horse race between Stagecoach and Transdev. Now yes to a degree it's speculation and we'll never know, but would passengers in east Manchester be better off now if thier was another larger operator like transdev operating in the area?? I personally think so.
The one thing I don't like about Stagecoach is thier competitive pricing. I use services generally around Ashton and pay what I call premium prices to travel. Yet in Middleton and along Wilmslow Road, where there's competition, fares and indeed daily and weekly tickets are a lot less than what I'm paying. Proof in my book that competition is vital to keep prices low.
If you look back to the 90's. On most of the major corridors there was compition and passengers had the choice between 2/3/4 or sometimes even 5 operators. Yes it looked like chaos but us passengers got a good deal. The 192 is a perfect example. Years ago there were many operators battling it out on that corridor, today just Stagecoach. There's no choice for passengers anymore. If they want to travel between A and B by bus nine times out of ten their forced to use one operator. Admittedly standards are a lot higher than they were but are anything but perfect!
22405 was running the 343 on Saturday the week before it was run by an E20D from Ashton and last Wednesday I saw 17242 on King Street in Oldham Town Centre so may have to Middleton.
19130 noted on 169 today, presumably operating from Hyde Rd with full Manchester fleetnames and legals. Where has it come from?
People go on about Stagecoach having a monopoly and high fares. Let's ask this question; if Stagecoach had been put off the road by an independent, and they then had the monopoly, and then they put their fares up, would folk complain then? If the attitude towards Moffat and Williamson is still anything to go by, the answer is no.
Not including Wigan depot in this, but given that the legal name is GM Buses South, what's the most northerly point that Stagecoach Manchester reaches, and likewise, most southerly point.