Stagecoach Group

Stagecoach Group plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange. Founder Brian Souter and his sister Ann Gloag are the largest shareholders with a combined 26% shareholding at April 2019.[27]

Bus division operations are as follows:[28]

Stagecoach Devon Optare Solo in July 2006

• Stagecoach South West – Stagecoach controls operations in Devon through Stagecoach Devon, consisting of (as of May 2003) Stagecoach Devon Limited. The trading name of this operation is Stagecoach in Devon. The headquarters are in Exeter.
• Stagecoach East – Stagecoach controls operations in the East through Stagecoach East. It consists of Cambus Ltd. Trading names are Stagecoach in Bedford, Stagecoach in Cambridge, Stagecoach in Huntingdonshire and Stagecoach in Peterborough. The headquarters are in Cambridge. (As of September 2010 Stagecoach in Northants transferred to a new Midland division.) Stagecoach in the Fens (Huntingdon) now operates the longest Guided busway in the world with the fleet for the busway running on bio fuel.
• Stagecoach East Midlands – Stagecoach controls operations in the East Midlands area through Stagecoach East Midlands. It consists of Lincolnshire Road Car Co Ltd. Trading names include Stagecoach in Bassetlaw, Stagecoach in Mansfield, Stagecoach in South Yorkshire, Stagecoach Grimsby-Cleethorpes, Stagecoach in Hull and Stagecoach in Lincolnshire. The headquarters are in Lincoln.
• Stagecoach East Scotland – Stagecoach controls operations in the east of Scotland, comprising Fife Scottish Omnibuses Ltd, JW Coaches Ltd. Trading names include Stagecoach in Perth, Stagecoach in Fife and Stagecoach Strathtay. It also operated the new Forth Fast hovercraft service from Kirkcaldy to Portobello. The headquarters are in Kirkcaldy as of 2009.
• Stagecoach Highlands – Stagecoach controls operations in the Scottish Highlands comprising Highland Country Buses Ltd. It was formed followed the takeover of The Rapsons Group (Orkney Coaches/Highland Country Buses) in 2008 and trades as Stagecoach in Orkney (Kirkwall depot & outstations), and Stagecoach in Lochaber (Fort William depot), Stagecoach in Skye (Portree depot & outstation), Stagecoach in Inverness (Aviemore, Inverness and Tain depots) and Stagecoach in Caithness (Thurso depot & outstations).
• Stagecoach Bluebird - Stagecoach controls operations in Aberdeenshire, Aberdeen city and Moray comprising Bluebird Buses Ltd. The North Scotland headquarters are in Inverness, with some commercial HQ functions also run from Aberdeen.

East London Alexander ALX400 bodied Dennis Trident 2 in London in May 2011

• Stagecoach London – Stagecoach purchased the East London and Selkent divisions of London Buses when they were privatised in 1994. Both operate tendered services for Transport for London. Deciding to focus on organic growth for its UK bus operations, and citing the inflexibility of the London tendering system, the London bus operations were sold to Macquarie Group on 31 August 2006 for £263.6m. Macquarie continued to use the Stagecoach brand for a limited period under licence, and Stagecoach provided administrative and other support functions for a transitional period of 12 months from the sale. Macquarie rebranded both into their original East London and Selkent identities, albeit updated. In October 2010 Stagecoach reacquired its old London operations from Macquarie Bank for £59.5m with both operations once again rebranded as Stagecoach.[29]
• Stagecoach Manchester – Stagecoach controls operations in Greater Manchester through Stagecoach Manchester, comprising Greater Manchester Buses (South) Ltd. Trading names include Stagecoach in Manchester, Stagecoach in Wigan and Magic Bus. The headquarters are in Stockport.

Stagecoach Merseyside Alexander Dennis Enviro200 in April 2013

• Stagecoach Merseyside & South Lancashire – Stagecoach controls operations in the South Lancs, Merseyside and Liverpool areas through Stagecoach Merseyside & South Lancashire. The legal names of the group is Glenvale Transport but its trading name is Stagecoach in Merseyside. The headquarters are in Liverpool.
• Stagecoach Midlands – Stagecoach Midlands controls operations in Warwickshire and Northamptonshire areas through Stagecoach in Warwickshire & Stagecoach in Northants comprising Midland Red (South) Ltd (all depots). Trading names include Stagecoach in Warwickshire, Stagecoach in Northamptonshire, and Goldine. The headquarters are in Northampton.
• Stagecoach North East – Stagecoach controls operations in the north east of England through Stagecoach North East, comprising Busways Travel Services Ltd and Cleveland Transit Ltd. Trading names include Stagecoach on Teesside, Stagecoach in Hartlepool, Stagecoach in Newcastle, Stagecoach in South Shields and Stagecoach in Sunderland. The headquarters are in Sunderland.
• Stagecoach Cumbria & North Lancashire – Stagecoach controls most operations in the north west of England through Stagecoach Cumbria & North Lancashire, comprising Cumberland Motor Services Ltd and Ribble Motor Services Ltd. Trading names include Stagecoach in Cumbria, Stagecoach in Lancaster and Stagecoach in Lancashire. The headquarters are in Carlisle.
• Stagecoach Oxfordshire – Stagecoach controls operations in Oxfordshire area through Stagecoach in Oxfordshire, comprising Thames Transit Ltd and Midland Red (South) Ltd (Banbury depot). Trading names include Stagecoach in Oxfordshire and Oxford Tube. The headquarters are in Oxford.
• Stagecoach Sheffield – Stagecoach controls bus and tram operations in the Sheffield area of England through Stagecoach Sheffield, comprising Yorkshire Terrier, South Yorkshire Supertram Ltd and Andrews (Sheffield) Ltd. Trading names include Stagecoach in Sheffield and Stagecoach Supertram. The headquarters are in Sheffield.

Stagecoach South Plaxton Pointer 2 bodied Dennis Dart in Woking in May 2008

• Stagecoach South – Stagecoach controls operations in the South of England through Stagecoach South, comprising Southdown Motor Services Ltd, Hampshire Bus Company Ltd and Stagecoach (South) Ltd. Trading names include Stagecoach in Hants & Surrey, Stagecoach in Hampshire, Stagecoach in Portsmouth and Stagecoach in the South Downs. The headquarters are in Chichester.
• Stagecoach South East – Stagecoach's operations in East Kent and East Sussex are managed as Stagecoach South East, comprising the East Kent Road Car Company Ltd (established 1916). Fleetnames used are Stagecoach in East Kent and Stagecoach in East Sussex, used on joint Eastbourne & Hastings publicity but is not carried on vehicles. The headquarters are at the Bus Station in Canterbury.
• Stagecoach South Wales or Stagecoach De Cymru / South Wales – Stagecoach controls operations in Wales through Stagecoach Wales, comprising Red & White Services Ltd, The trading name for these operations is Stagecoach in South Wales and Stagecoach De Cymru. The headquarters are in Cwmbran.
• Stagecoach West – Stagecoach controls operations in the West of England through Stagecoach West, comprising Cheltenham & Gloucester Omnibus Company Ltd. Trading names include Stagecoach in Cheltenham, Stagecoach in Swindon, Stagecoach in Gloucester, Stagecoach in the Cotswolds, Stagecoach in the Wye and Dean. The headquarters are in Gloucester.
• Stagecoach West Scotland – Stagecoach controls operations in the west of Scotland through Stagecoach West Scotland, comprising Western Buses Ltd. Trading names include Stagecoach Western, Stagecoach A1 Service, Stagecoach in Glasgow. The headquarters are in Ayr.
• Stagecoach Yorkshire – Stagecoach controls operations in the Yorkshire area through Stagecoach Yorkshire, comprising Yorkshire Traction Co Ltd. Trading names include Stagecoach in Yorkshire, Stagecoach in Sheffield & Stagecoach in Chesterfield. The headquarters are in Barnsley.

Oxford Tube Van Hool T9 Astromega on the M40 in August 2009

Apart from the ordinary bus operations and no-frills services, the UK bus division has the following brands that extend across operating divisions.

• Stagecoach Express – an express coach service that operates mainly between towns and cities where Stagecoach operate. It tends not to compete with National Express like Megabus, and in some cases tickets are available through the National Express website.[30]
• Oxford Tube – an express coach service offering high frequency 24-hour services to London, operated by Stagecoach Oxfordshire.[31]
• Citi – some urban networks have received Citi branding, such as Cambridge, Exeter & Peterborough; although much of this brand has now been withdrawn.[32]
• Stagecoach Gold – a luxury bus service brand designed to attract middle class travellers to public transport, generally on the most important and high-profile routes within an area served by Stagecoach (e.g. Sheffield to Chesterfield). Gold buses typically feature a special blue and gold colour scheme, leather seats, and on-board Wi-Fi access. Both single-decker and double-decker gold buses are used.[33]
• Stagecoach SimpliBus operates in the East Midlands.[34]

Sheffield Supertram in May 2011

Sheffield Supertram – Stagecoach has operated the Sheffield Supertram under a concession from the South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive since 1997.[35] Its average daily ridership is 33,700, equalling more than 12 million per year, well above expectations. There are currently three lines, and future plans include schemes to Rotherham, Dore, Fulwood and Maltby. However, following consultations, a reduced scheme with extensions to Rotherham and Broomhill is being considered.[36]

• East Midlands Trains – Stagecoach commenced operating this new franchise in November 2007 that took over all of Midland Mainline's and some of Central Trains services.[37] It ceased operating in August 2019 when the franchise was taken over by East Midlands Railway.[38]

In July 2007 Stagecoach took over the operation of Manchester Metrolink on a 10-year fixed-term management contract, beating competition from Keolis, Serco and Transdev, to make it the biggest tram operator in the UK.[39] This system was the first modern tram system in the United Kingdom, opening just before the Sheffield system in 1992. Nearly 18 million people ride on the system a year. Stagecoach sold the Metrolink business to RATP Group in August 2011.[40]

• South West Trains – Stagecoach ran this franchise from February 1996 to August 2017. It retained the franchise for three years from February 2004 and for a further 10 years from February 2007.[41] The franchise passed to South Western Railway on 20 August 2017[42]
• Island Line Trains – The rail system on the Isle of Wight, was also operated by Stagecoach from October 1996 to August 2017. In February 2007 it was merged into the South Western franchise.[43]

In 1992, shortly before the privatisation of British Rail, Stagecoach Rail briefly operated a modest InterCity operation between Aberdeen and London. Two British Railways Mark 2 passenger carriages were re-branded in Stagecoach colours and attached to a scheduled British Rail InterCity sleeper service.[44]

Virgin CrossCountry Class 220 Voyager at Bristol Temple Meads in June 2005

Virgin Rail Group operated the CrossCountry franchise as Virgin CrossCountry from January 1997[45] until November 2007 when it passed to Arriva.[46]

Virgin Trains East Coast, in which Stagecoach held a 90% shareholding, operated the InterCity East Coast franchise from March 2015 to June 2018.[21][22]

Virgin Trains East Coast class 43 at King's Cross in September 2015

• Virgin Trains West Coast – the group has held a 49% stake in Virgin Rail Group since October 1998. Virgin Rail Group operated the InterCity West Coast franchise from March 1997 until December 2019.[47][48][49]

In 1999 Stagecoach purchased the school bus operations of Sunbus in the Cairns, Ipswich and Sunshine Coast regions of Queensland. These were sold in 2002 to:[50]

• Cairns: Love's Bus Service
• Ipswich: Pulitano Group
• Sunshine Coast: Buslink Queensland

Citybus MAN NL262 in Hong Kong in Stagecoach livery

In 1994 Stagecoach created a bus-operating subsidiary in Hong Kong which operated residential bus services. It ceased operation in April 1996.[51]

In 1999 Stagecoach planned to become the largest bus company in China through joint ventures, equity stakes and partnerships, and confirmed the £181m acquisition of Hong Kong's Citybus. Stagecoach acquired control of Citybus Group, which provided franchised bus services on Hong Kong Island and to and from Hong Kong International Airport as well as non-franchised services throughout Hong Kong, in March 1999 and then completed the privatisation of Citybus on 17 July 1999.[52]

In June 2003 the operation was sold to Chow Tai Fook Enterprises, the parent company of the major rival operator New World First Bus.[53][54]

In November 1991 Stagecoach Holdings Limited (as it was named then), bought United Transport's shareholding in Kenya Bus Services Limited. During its tenure, Stagecoach rapidly expanded the fleet, introducing the Express Services and the modern double decker buses back on Kenyan roads. In October 1998 a consortium of investors led by Karanja Kabage as chairman acquired Kenya Bus Services Limited from Stagecoach Holdings which owned 95% of the business.[55]

Stagecoach New Zealand Hawke bodied Volvo B58 trolleybus in Wellington

Stagecoach New Zealand was a wholly owned part of the Stagecoach Group, which provided bus services in Auckland, Wellington and the Hutt Valley and nine ferry routes in Auckland. It was the largest bus company in New Zealand when sold. Stagecoach NZ started operations when the firm acquired Wellington City Transport, including the Hutt Valley suburban bus operations of the New Zealand Railways Road Services, branded CityLine, in the 1990s. Following this initial acquisition Stagecoach also purchased Eastbourne Buses, The Yellow Bus Company in Auckland and a controlling interest in Fullers Auckland. In November 2005, the business was sold to Infratil and rebranded as NZ Bus.[56]

Stagecoach carried out bus operations in the northeastern and midwestern United States and in eastern Canada. Businesses were focused on commuter services, and included tour and charter, sightseeing, local, and school bus operations:

• Coach USA – operating primarily in the northeastern United States providing subsidised transit services (primarily in Greater New York), sightseeing, and charter services, and in the midwestern United States with primarily charter and sightseeing services. Yellow school bus services are also provided by Coach USA in the state of Wisconsin.[57]
• Megabus – discount express bus services radiating from Chicago and New York City. Like Megabus in the United Kingdom, most stops are made at street locations.[58]
• Coach Canada – serving primarily Ontario and Quebec, where it operates interurban and chartered bus services, contract bus services in Durham, yellow school bus service in Durham Region and Peterborough County in Ontario, and sightseeing services in Montreal.[59]

In December 2018 Stagecoach announced it had agreed to sell all of its North American operations to Variant Equity Advisors with the deal concluded in April 2019.[25][60][61][62]

Stagecoach Portugal had its origins in the reprivatisation of Portuguese bus and coach operation, which had been nationalised after the 1974 Revolution. In 1990, the nationalised Rodoviária Nacional was split into ten components. In the capital, Lisbon, Rodoviária de Lisboa was the chief operator outside the city itself, where Carris provided city bus and tram services. The name of Rodoviária de Lisboa survived as part of the Barraqueiro bus company, but another part, serving the area to the west of Lisbon, became Stagecoach Portugal in 1995. A further portion still operates as Vimeca – Viação Mecânica de Carnaxide. In June 2001 Stagecoach announced the sale of their Portuguese operations to ScottURB for £14 million.[63]

In October 1996, during Stagecoach's International buying spree, it made its most important international acquisition at the time, buying Swebus AB, the bus-company arm of the Swedish State Railways (SJ), for 1.2 billion kronor ($164 million), which also included operations in Denmark, Finland and Norway.[64] The operations in Norway included only city and regional traffic in three minor cities around lake Mjøsa, but several unsuccessful bids on operators in the Oslo area led to Stagecoach selling out to Norgesbuss in April 1997. The Danish operations never proved profitable, and were sold to Combus in autumn of 1997. The operations in Finland were more successful, and were in April 1998 renamed Stagecoach Finland. In spring of 1997, Swebus Express was started as an intercity coach service between several cities in southern parts of Sweden, sporting the Stagecoach livery of the time. Stagecoach in 1998 announced that it had bid for several rail franchises in Sweden. On 27 October 1999, Stagecoach revealed that it was going to sell Swebus to Concordia Bus for £100m, to refocus its bus operation on the United States and Asia.[65]

Magic Bus Alexander ALX400 bodied Dennis Trident 2 in Manchester in March 2013

Magic Bus was the first no-frills brand of Stagecoach. It was first used in red lettering on ex London Regional Transport AEC Routemasters, otherwise painted in Stagecoach stripes, in competition in Glasgow. Later, an allover blue with yellow lettering was adopted, on older service buses with simple fares and no travel passes, usually operated on routes with strong competition from other operators, most notably on the Manchester Piccadilly to East Didsbury Wilmslow Road bus corridor route in Manchester, but also in Newcastle upon Tyne and East Scotland (as Magic Mini). In 2008 Stagecoach Merseyside introduced a Magic Bus service competing with themselves and Arriva North West on the busy route 14 corridor, Magic Bus 14C runs every 7/8 minutes between City Centre and Broadway. By 2012, only the Manchester Magic Bus remained, these being upgraded from Volvo Olympians and Dennis Dragons to Alexander ALX400 and East Lancs bodied Dennis Trident 2s.[66]

Megabus Van Hool Astromega in September 2012

Megabus is a low cost, "no-frills" intercity bus service launched in the United Kingdom by Stagecoach in 2003, on 10 April 2006 in the United States, and in 2009 within Canada. Its main rival in the UK is National Express, who have had to lower their prices to compete with Megabus. In the US, Megabus/Eastern Shuttle's main rival is BoltBus, which is 50% owned by Stagecoach rival FirstGroup. In the UK, the Megabus network covers most of the island of Great Britain, although some routes offer only one journey per day. Originally operated using high capacity but older coach seated buses, most services are now operated with new modern single or double deck coaches. In the United States, services radiate from Chicago and New York City, but the networks are not connected. In both the UK and the US, to cut costs, most services use on-street bus stops rather than pay for access to coach stations (except in cases where pre-existing routes were converted to Megabus lines). A notable exception to this is the use of London Victoria Coach Station.[67]

On 14 November 2005, the Megabus concept was extended to certain rail services, with the introduction of Megatrain between London and Southampton, and London and Portsmouth, using a dedicated carriage on selected South West Trains services. It was later extended to some Virgin Trains services (since withdrawn) and to selected East Midlands Trains services. In 2009, the Megabusplus concept was introduced, under which certain trips are begun on a train and are then completed on a bus. Unlike the original Megatrain concept, this service is available seven days a week.[68]

Following the deregulation of bus services in the United Kingdom, Stagecoach bought a number of the newly emerged small bus companies and ran free or low fare buses to put local rivals out of business.[73] In Darlington, Stagecoach subsidiary Busways offered bounties to recruit drivers away from the existing bus service and offered free buses to deter the rival preferred bidder from taking over the existing bus service. This was "predatory, deplorable and against the public interest" according to findings from the Monopolies & Mergers Commission.[74][75]

In 2000 Stagecoach Manchester was found to have been employing bus inspectors to usher passengers away from competitor's services.[76] In 2005 alleged aggressive behaviour by Stagecoach drivers, seeking to compete with Scotbus, resulted in an arson fire at a Stagecoach East Scotland garage.[77]

In 2006/07 Stagecoach Manchester and UK North engaged in a bus war on route 192 and on the Wilmslow Road bus corridor that caused traffic chaos in Manchester.[78][79] In November 2009 the Competition Commission ordered Stagecoach to sell Preston Bus after it had adversely affected competition in the area. Preston Bus was sold in January 2011.[80][81][82]

The Stagecoach Group has also indirectly attracted criticism through controversial statements and actions made by its chairman and co-founder, Brian Souter, regarding certain public statements and his funding of a campaign to block the repeal of the Section 28 law. In 2000, OutRage! spokesman Peter Tatchell, called for a boycott of the bus and rail group.[83]