Forum | Merseyside Dennis Dart Website
Stagecoach MCSL - Chester & Wirral Depots - Printable Version

+- Forum | Merseyside Dennis Dart Website (http://dartslf.com/forum)
+-- Forum: Buses (/forumdisplay.php?fid=1)
+--- Forum: Local Bus Scene: North West and Wales (/forumdisplay.php?fid=2)
+--- Thread: Stagecoach MCSL - Chester & Wirral Depots (/showthread.php?tid=1427)

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384 385 386 387 388 389 390 391 392 393 394 395 396 397 398 399 400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 411 412 413 414 415 416 417 418 419 420 421 422 423 424 425 426 427 428 429 430 431 432 433 434 435 436 437 438 439 440 441 442 443 444 445 446 447 448 449 450 451 452 453 454 455 456 457 458 459 460 461 462 463 464 465 466 467 468 469 470 471 472 473 474 475 476 477 478 479 480 481 482 483 484 485 486 487 488 489 490 491 492 493 494 495 496 497 498 499 500 501 502 503 504 505 506 507 508 509 510 511 512 513 514 515 516 517 518 519 520 521 522 523 524 525 526 527 528 529 530 531 532 533 534 535 536 537 538 539 540 541 542 543 544 545 546 547 548 549 550 551 552 553 554 555 556 557 558 559 560 561 562 563 564 565 566 567 568 569 570 571 572 573 574 575 576 577 578 579 580 581 582 583 584 585 586 587 588 589 590 591 592 593 594 595 596 597 598 599 600 601 602 603 604 605 606 607 608 609 610 611 612 613 614 615 616 617 618 619 620 621 622 623 624 625 626 627 628 629 630 631 632 633 634 635 636 637 638 639 640 641 642 643 644 645 646 647 648 649 650 651 652 653 654 655 656 657 658 659 660 661 662 663 664 665 666 667 668 669 670 671 672 673 674 675 676 677 678 679 680 681 682 683 684 685 686 687 688 689 690 691 692 693 694 695 696 697 698 699 700 701 702 703 704 705 706 707 708 709 710 711 712 713 714 715 716 717 718 719 720 721 722 723 724 725 726 727 728 729 730 731 732 733 734 735 736 737 738 739 740 741 742 743 744 745 746 747 748 749 750 751 752 753 754 755 756 757 758 759 760 761 762 763 764 765 766 767 768 769 770 771 772 773 774 775 776 777 778 779 780 781 782 783 784 785 786 787 788 789 790 791 792 793 794 795 796 797 798 799 800 801 802 803 804 805 806 807 808 809 810 811 812 813 814 815 816 817 818 819 820 821 822 823 824 825 826 827 828 829 830 831 832 833 834 835 836 837 838 839 840 841 842 843 844 845 846 847 848 849 850 851 852 853 854 855 856 857 858 859 860 861 862 863 864 865 866 867 868 869 870 871 872 873 874 875 876 877 878 879 880


RE: Stagecoach Chester & Wirral - WhiteVanMan - 30/08/2014 19:04

(29/08/2014 06:12)Shaun821 Wrote:  29880 and 29882 have returned to Chester in their new Stagecoach livery.

Are there any photo's of these in Stagecoach livery ?


RE: Stagecoach Chester & Wirral - MPTE1955 - 30/08/2014 19:07

I don't see the point in them starting a route and then saying it won't make a profit, there really would be no reason for them to do. SC are clearly not run by fools, so this statement is a dubious one.


RE: Stagecoach Chester & Wirral - chester285 - 30/08/2014 19:12

(30/08/2014 18:44)Shaun821 Wrote:  Rock Ferry is part of 'Merseyside and South Lancashire' whereas Chester is in Cheshire. Stagecoach, for some unknown reason, dont want to touch North Wales, hence them shutting Wrexham last month. Chester is actually Stagecoach in Cheshire, now whether they are going to expand into Cheshire and eventually break Chester away from Merseyside and South Lancashire and open new depots around Cheshire, I dont know, but I can see it happening after the next 2 years. They have introduced this new X8 route and openly said they know its not going to make profit so I really couldnt tell you what they are palnning in Gillmoss, at the moment nothing seems to be making sense.

I thought the reason why Wrexham was closed was the 12 year school contract which first agreed with the council came to an end, and for that reason only, as regards to Stagecoach openly knowing the X8 will not make profit, why even waste money on service that's not going to be profitable, granted that its not going to pull a profit in straight away, but then with a quicker service to Liverpool, I would of thought it would be more appealing to the passenger that doesn't want to go by train and go via a,b,c,d etc as they would on the 1 and 2.


RE: Stagecoach Chester & Wirral - MPTE1955 - 30/08/2014 19:15

I think this statement that SC have supposed to have said needs to be proved, otherwise surely anybody from SC that looks at the forum wouldn't be happy and this could give the forum a bad name if it is untrue.


RE: Stagecoach Chester & Wirral - polarbear - 30/08/2014 19:50

Stagecoach will have done it's homework when re-diagraming services 1 & 2 to operate from RF and also with the imminent introduction of the new X8. They are in the business to make money, not lose it & as has been said by others (on this forum and elsewhere), they have a pretty good track record of turning around loss making operations into profitable ones.

RF won't make huge amounts of money because it's located in Merseyside & therefore Stagecoach don't have full commercial control of all available tickets (for example, Saveaways, Trio & Solo passes). True, they will get a cut of the revenue from these, but it's nowhere near as lucrative as selling more megariders as they can do outside of Merseyside.

I see the X8 as Stagecoach identifying a gap in the Chester - Liverpool market. The notices being placed on the buses highlight the opportunities for faster travel for longer distance customers, a link between Chester railway station & the Town Hall (something that was withdrawn in Chester City days) and a future link from rail operators (hence the calls at Chester & Ellesmere Port railway stations). It may take a while to gather momentum, but I think they've got the nucleus of a potential money-spinner here.

The X8 is also needed to relieve services 1 & 2 between Port Sunlight & Bromborough as services 41 & 42 are being diverted via Croft Retail park. This will make services 1 & 2 busier from Birkenhead & at peak times, they can be full & standing now.

As for future expansion, I suspect Stagecoach will look toward Cheshire rather than North Wales simply because a tussle with GHA would be much easier (and with less likelihood of any serious fightback) than one with Arriva. Arriva have invested heavily in the North Wales coast routes in the last few years & I can't really see Stagecoach wanting to compete on that front.


RE: Stagecoach Chester & Wirral - SNL 824 - 30/08/2014 19:59

How about a real limited stop "Coastlner" straight along the coast road to Rhyl, as a follow up to the X8?


RE: Stagecoach Chester & Wirral - Garsty - 30/08/2014 20:39

Personally I cannot see any real expansion into North Wales or Cheshire, there just isn't the population density to make it worthwhile. The big groups focus on longer routes outside of urban areas, just look at Arriva in North Wales, almost all investment going into that type of route (Sapphire, Coastliner etc), with local routes acting as the 'bread and butter' for the depots and with Arriva having invested in all those routes already there is very little Stagecoach could offer to compete with.


RE: Stagecoach Chester & Wirral - polarbear - 31/08/2014 09:05

(30/08/2014 19:59)SNL 824 Wrote:  How about a real limited stop "Coastlner" straight along the coast road to Rhyl, as a follow up to the X8?

I'd love to see an express bus service up the North Wales coast (personally, I would run such a service to Llandudno). You can bet that Arriva won't do one as it would abstract lots of money from it's parallel rail operation & again. I can't see Stagecoach becoming embroiled in a battle on that front.

Personally, I see Stagecoach consolidating what it already has for a while now. In the space of just over 18 months, they've done the following;
  • Rejuvenated the Chester local services (a work in progress)
  • Bagged the Chester - Neston - Heswall - West Kirby corridor
  • Introduced a semi-fast Chester-Liverpool service opening up potential new markets
  • Grown the market on services 1 & 2 (judging by the loadings)

As for the next move, I think some of GHA's routes may be on the menu (such as the 36 and 82 routes), though as has been said elsewhere, I can't see Stagecoach paying lots of money to buy GHA in it's entirety.


RE: Stagecoach Chester & Wirral - mtl97 - 31/08/2014 12:28

what are loadings like on the 6 in ellesmere port, i think stagecoach may in time increase their operations in ellesmere port, first only pulled out of local routes in this area when the lease was up on meadow lane yard, i knew a port based driver at the time & he said the port outstation was making a lot of money & ellesmere port routes were withdrawn as their was no room for them at chester depot, gha are making money in ellesmere port as all their routes are commercial except the db2 so it would not surprise me if they tried to take over more routes in this area.


RE: Stagecoach Chester & Wirral - wirralbus - 31/08/2014 13:59

Stagecoach would need to pick and choose in Ellesmere port , because probably Rock Ferry would need to operate any more services there as chester must really be fit to burst these days.