The downfall of Stagecoach: Why did everything go so wrong and has it improved?

 

“Do you know where the bus is?” She asks me as she rubs her hands together for warmth, and looks at me with hope that I can give her an answer. I look down at my phone and click on the Stagecoach app where I can see it’s just around the corner. “It’s almost here,” I respond, “I’m planning to write an article about the buses in Gloucestershire actually.” The bus that we’ve been waiting 20 minutes for then turns up. “Do it, get the word out there!” She says, as she rushes onto the bus, excited to get in the warm.

Over the past few years, people in Gloucestershire have voiced their concerns about Stagecoach buses often being late, or cancelled, and overall being an inadequate service that isn’t getting them places on time. “Our estimates are that on average 25% of trips are not being operated at all, and a significant proportion of the remaining trips are delayed,” The Gloucestershire County Council (GCC) said. This was reported in The Council’s BSIP (Bus Service Improvement Plan) which is published every year, where they talk about problems faced within the bus sector and what’s going to be done to improve these problems. GCC, who fund Stagecoach with £10 million a year, outlined in this document that they’re unhappy with Stagecoach, saying they have “reported Stagecoach to the Traffic Commissioner because of its poor performance in delivering bus services in Gloucestershire.” 

Morgan Newman, 20 has a medical condition and is unable to drive, so therefore has to either get the bus or walk, but due to his health, walking everywhere isn’t practical. He told me that he faces problems with the buses reguarly, and often leaves early to get to places ontime. “Sometimes the buses haven’t turned up and I’ve have had to walk over an hour home. They have also been cancelled at the last minute causing me to be late for doctors’ appointments,” he said. He’s also had problems with the Stagecoach app. “For example, the C bus said that it is on time on the app and it just didn’t appear and then I had to wait an extra 30 minutes for the next bus as it was late and was late to my appointment,” he said.

Morgan's photo of a long que waiting for a No. 10 bus during the Summer 2022. They sat on the floor in sweltering heat, and had to wait almost an hour for the bus to arrive.

In November 2022, Stagecoach cut 300,000 bus trips in Gloucestershire and made several changes to routes. Many rural routes were cut in areas such as The Forest of Dean and urban routes were seemingly favoured. In the BSIP, it says “GCC made it clear to Stagecoach that it did not support these withdrawals due to the negative effect on rural areas, however, despite our best efforts the changes have happened.”

In the same year, The Council secured £20 million to transform Cheltenham’s Park and Ride into a Transport Hub which would see the original site being upgraded and improved. However, the 93 bus which would originally go from Cheltenham Park and Ride to the town centre, was one of the services cut, and the 94 bus which would often stop at the Park and Ride site, no longer does. The council have since started using different services to maintain these routes such as Bennetts, who now maintain the old 93 route. In the BSIP, The Council reported that they’re “investing £2.6 million pounds in bus priority measures.”

I asked The Council in a Freedom of Information Request, “Has your council imposed any fines on Stagecoach?” They replied by saying,

“Yes. In 2022 the council received 232 reports of non-operation by Stagecoach West on GCC contracted services. We have a very clear process to address non-operation of contracted services, each report is investigated and if found to be accurate appropriate action is taken against the operator. A fine for each instance is part of this action taken against an operator.”

 It's clear that GCC aren’t happy for several reasons with Stagecoach for multiple reasons. I’ve set out to explore the problems within Stagecoach, and find out more about what went wrong, and whether the problems are as bad as people think. One big reason why there were cuts to services was because of the pandemic. 

 Increases in local bus passenger journeys across England compared to the year before during The Covid-19 Pandemic.

This is a graph I’ve created using data from Gov.uk. It shows that passenger numbers overall in the UK were affected tremendously by the pandemic. From Jan-March 2022, compared to the same period in 2021, there was a 106% increase in passenger numbers. This period in 2022 was just after the Government announced there would be no more lockdowns, compared to the year before where restrictions were still in place and anxiety around the virus high. For each bar on the graph, comparing it to the year before, there is a huge increase. In the BSIP, it says that “While bus patronage in Gloucestershire has seen a recovery since the dramatic fall as a result of the Covid 19 restrictions, passenger levels in November 2022 are still only between 70-80% when compared to 2019.” They reported that this has created a “significant funding gap.” The graph below shows the dramatic fall in passenger numbers around the UK when lockdown hit. 

Another reason why cuts took place was driver shortages. In 2021 and 2022 we saw Stagecoach West drivers striking for several reasons, one of the main reasons being wanting an increase in pay which was backed by Unite the Union. A 2021 survey produced by Unite the Union and conducted by over 500 UK activists working in the bus sector, revealed that many drivers around the UK were leaving because of low pay, poor conditions, and long hours. It found there were bus driver shortages at 99% of bus garages in the UK. 79% of respondents said that vacancies had increased since the pandemic began in March 2020 with 46% of respondents saying their garage had lost 20 – 40 drivers. The respondents were asked to provide reasons why they thought drivers were leaving the industry.

Top reasons why people who took the Unite the Union survey think drivers are leaving the bus industry in percent. (Graph made with data from www.unitetheunion.org)

Emily, 20, is someone else who just like Morgan, has had to rely on the buses. In 2022, before going to university, she used to work in Cheltenham Town Centre. People who work in town often don’t drive there because the high parking prices and lack of free parking, so the bus was Emily’s main form of transport to and from work. When she first started work, she was late almost every day and was given a warning, so started to get the bus earlier. “I used to find getting the bus after 5:00pm very unreliable so would get my mum to pick me up because I waited up to an hour before once for one after work.” She reported that once she was getting the bus to work and the driver drove into the bus stop and broke the wing mirror off. She had to wait another 40 minutes for a replacement bus, when the bus she was getting was meant to come every 15 minutes.

 

The rising cost of living is another reason for postponed routes and problems within Stagecoach. In the BSIP, it says, “In April 2022 we secured an 8% inflationary increase to all eligible contracts to help operators with the rising cost of fuel and drivers.” They also added, “at the same time, the cost of providing each service is also increasing due to inflation in the cost of delivering bus services, with driver salaries and the cost of fuel being the biggest inflationary pressures.” With cost of living being a big problem, The Council have outlined in the BSIP that they believe they have done all they can to help with the arising problems.

The Council have used a grant from The Department for Transport’s ‘Rural Mobility Fund’ to launch a new transport service called The Robin which runs in The North Cotswolds and the South Forest of Dean. These are more rural areas, and the services provide access to places of education, health providers, local services and more. This is something else outlined in the BSIP that they believe will make an improvement to buses in Gloucestershire.

 Another route cut by Stagecoach West was the E bus, which goes between Cheltenham and Bishop’s Cleeve. The E bus would go a similar route to the D bus, which is still in operation. Some people believe that this change means that the D buses now come on time more often. I spoke to a lady who regularly takes the bus who said, “now the D buses are coming on time, for the first time in a long time.” Although The Council aren’t happy with the cuts, some people and Stagecoach themselves, are claiming that their services have improved since making the cuts, as more attention can be made to the remaining routes.

In a right of reply to The Council, Cllr Philip Robinson, Cabinet Member responsible for buses at Gloucestershire County Council, said:

“We are angry that once again residents are being left isolated because of Stagecoach’s cuts. In recent months we have taken all steps available to us to implore Stagecoach to stop prioritising their commercial routes at the expense of rural communities, this included reporting them to the Traffic Commissioner.

“Unfortunately, at this time, we cannot fund replacement services without withdrawing resources from other areas of the county. The cost of an additional bus service starts at about £250k per annum. We are also managing the impact of inflation, so we have already had to find significant additional money just to maintain current service levels.

“We strongly oppose any reduction of the network but do not have the authority to prevent Stagecoach making these changes. We will continue the work to try and stop them cutting off rural communities.”

 

In a right of reply, Rachel Geliamassi, Managing Director at Stagecoach West said,

 

“As experienced by many other operators and UK industries in 2022, the continuing impact of the pandemic on sickness levels, as well as the economy-wide skills challenge blighted the day-to-day running of our business.

 

“In November, after completing an extensive network review we made changes to our services in the region to ensure we can deliver services consistently, day in day out, for our customers.

 

“Since these changes were introduced, journeys operated in Gloucestershire have improved significantly. In the first month of this year 99% of all scheduled journeys in Gloucestershire operated and we are no longer seeing widespread disruption or cancellations because of driver shortage.”

 It appears that many people and organisations have been looking for someone to blame for the problems regarding Stagecoach West buses. There’re many unavoidable external factors such as the Pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis, but have Stagecoach and The Council done enough? It’s difficult to point the finger, and is it possible to point the blame?