Monday Not Variety (mini blog)

Stagecoach v GoAhead : Contrast & Compare

From the start of the autumn term, Stagecoach have won the contract to provide buses for the big newish 6th Form College in Bodmin. 

This brief investigation may be of interest to bus historians. Those as elderly as fbb will possibly remember the days when Brian Souter was hoovering bus companies up  like fag ends on a back street bar floor!

One unpublished policy of Stagecoach, back then, was to withdraw from complex school journeys and concentrate of the core timetable. The thinking was that the travelling public wanted consistent timetables not "spoiled" by obscure journeys on certain days and at certain times.

It was a very sensible think, appreciated by non scholastic passengers.

Now here we have Stagecoach taking on a whole raft of "college" services.

What do the drivers do between their mass 0900 arrival in Bodmin and their 1630 Le Mans start at the end of the academic day? When GoAhead had the contract, buses (or drivers) could be deployed on other services in the area between college runs.

So do the Stagecoach lads and lasses simply sit in a caff for the middle part of the day? Everything else at Bodmin is GoAhead.

You do wonder whether Stagecoach has bought one of these.

[For those unfamiliar with The Scottish Argot, a "poke" is a bag!]

Both old and new contractors have produced excellent route maps as here from GoAhead ...

... and here from Stagecoach.

GoAhead provided a printed book ...

...with full timetables.

But fbb is never happy with the backwards times for the home journey. It is too easy for a toil worn collegian to make a mistake. On the other hand, you would suppose that all said collegian had to do was get on the right bus at the College and wait until he/she espied their home stop!

Stagecoach, however, does it right with timetable design!

Or you could go to the College web site where the presentation is very different. 

Look, the route numbers have gained a prefix!

Do we really need a "CW" for CallyWith? Perhaps it is something to do with "the computer" and buying term tickets?

Aha, there is an App with an Appropriately Apposite Appendage of an Appellation to Appreiciate. (i.e. a silly name implying a different means of transport from a bus!).

Ride Tandem?

Then look at this "timetable" extract on the College web site

It is good to know that Callywith does not have "bus stops" but, instead, has "pick up points". You do wonder whether the collegians will appreciate the unusual difference between normality and their Callywith boarding location.

Incidently, fbb has not yet discovered any sign of printed timetables from the newcomer.

But he is still concerned about the Stagecoach business plan.

When GoAhead held the contract, the company was able to make use of its ordinary "stage carriage" services to feed into the college routes. Here is the old GoAhead map for the Plymouth area ...

... showing connections with "normal" routes 11 and 12. 

Here is Stagecoach, lumbered with the extra expense of running all the way to Plymouth!

The same applies to the North Cornwall coast. Here, on an older GoAhead map ...

... we have a 10 and an 11A. Poor Stagecoach has no opportunity to ride on the back of its normal services because it doesn't have any.

So, again, Stagecoach needs extra resources to cover the College requirements.

Let's hope that the bosses quoted adequately to make a bob or two.

And Callywith - how about using a Stagecoach bus to headline your Stagecoach services?

Above, it's a GoAhead bus - obviously!

The concluding part of the Demountable Delight blog will follow tomorrow.

 To Be Continued 

 The rest of the planned blog is delayed by the weariness of an old blogger who has been running (with his Mrs) edition 1 of the fbb's fellowship meetings. Edition 2 for a different clientele happens today (Monday) 

 Next Demountable blog : Tuesday 9th Sept