Stagecoach in Chesterfield

[Sorastro]

Over the past couple of weeks I've had a bit of a run in with Stagecoach. I won't bore you with the details, suffice to say we were unable to attend a venue in Chesterfield one evening due to a {vital} bus not turning up, nothing unusual in that I hear you cry, but it caused us to be out of pocket.

The reason for this post is to put feelers out to see if the vast majority of bus users in and around Chesterfield think it's worth approaching the council to see if it would be feasible to bring the buses back in house so to speak, go back to it being run by the old corporation or it's "modern" equivalent. Now I used buses a lot when younger for school and shopping with my mum, but as the years rolled by I passed my test and had cars to run about in and my mates had cars I could use so reliance on buses went on the back burner for many years so I don't know what state the corporation was in prior to and Stagecoach taking over. 
Maybe I'm looking through rose tinted specs at this but I always remember the buses were fairly prompt back then. I distinctly remember Christmas shopping with my mum in town {circa 63'} and the town was packed and the queue for the 54 to Clay Cross was so long it was four deep and snaked out of the Vicar lane bus depot and backed up way past where the Friary grill was, me and mum were near the front of the queue as a bus inspector walked out of the office saw the queue and said something like "Give me a couple of minutes" and went into the office and got on the phone, five minutes later three double deckers appeared, two 54's and a Wingfield green and in less than ten minutes everyone was on their way home, I can't see Stagecoach ever having that much commitment.

If there's anyone out there that can put me right on the state of the corporation in the 70's 80's and 90's as I didn't use buses then, and if the prognosis is good I intend to write to the D.T. and the council and see if we can't get a decent bus service back in Chesterfield, as I say from what I've seen {and read} about Stagecoach they shouldn't take a lot of bettering.   

All I can say it certainly couldn't be any worse than the service we receive now from Stagecoach.

[Alsatian]

Also, when was the last time anyone saw the word 'Duplicate' on a bus destination board?

[Old Cruser]

Over the past couple of weeks I've had a bit of a run in with Stagecoach. I won't bore you with the details, suffice to say we were unable to attend a venue in Chesterfield one evening due to a {vital} bus not turning up, nothing unusual in that I hear you cry, but it caused us to be out of pocket.

The reason for this post is to put feelers out to see if the vast majority of bus users in and around Chesterfield think it's worth approaching the council to see if it would be feasible to bring the buses back in house so to speak, go back to it being run by the old corporation or it's "modern" equivalent. Now I used buses a lot when younger for school and shopping with my mum, but as the years rolled by I passed my test and had cars to run about in and my mates had cars I could use so reliance on buses went on the back burner for many years so I don't know what state the corporation was in prior to and Stagecoach taking over. 
Maybe I'm looking through rose tinted specs at this but I always remember the buses were fairly prompt back then. I distinctly remember Christmas shopping with my mum in town {circa 63'} and the town was packed and the queue for the 54 to Clay Cross was so long it was four deep and snaked out of the Vicar lane bus depot and backed up way past where the Friary grill was, me and mum were near the front of the queue as a bus inspector walked out of the office saw the queue and said something like "Give me a couple of minutes" and went into the office and got on the phone, five minutes later three double deckers appeared, two 54's and a Wingfield green and in less than ten minutes everyone was on their way home, I can't see Stagecoach ever having that much commitment.

If there's anyone out there that can put me right on the state of the corporation in the 70's 80's and 90's as I didn't use buses then, and if the prognosis is good I intend to write to the D.T. and the council and see if we can't get a decent bus service back in Chesterfield, as I say from what I've seen {and read} about Stagecoach they shouldn't take a lot of bettering.   

All I can say it certainly couldn't be any worse than the service we receive now from Stagecoach.

It's always worth a try but the cut backs in money may mean it's a no go. I'm amazed at the number of double deckers I have seen with hardly any passengers on - or no one!
I was saying to hubby only last week that I wondered if it would be more cost affective for the Bus company to run the smaller buses as thay do around europe - but then again they have to find the money to buy them! Just a thought

[Sorastro]

Stagecoach, as with other companies, are witnessing staff shortages..... quote:- "due to the pandemic".
 I'm sorry to say that, over two years on, using the Covid crisis as an "excuse" for bad service is wearing a little thin in bus passengers eyes.
Yes they struggled through the pandemic {what company didn't?} so if they are short staffed they should be making the package for recruiting new drivers a lot more appealing than it seems to be at the moment.
I've never been a bus driver but I can appreciate the problems they face on a daily basis, so from what I can glean on sites such as Indeed where employees can leave a comment on their experiences in their industry then if you read the Stagecoach one it doesn't make for easy reading.

The trouble with Stagecoach is it is TOO big, it's nationwide, at least when the corporation ran the buses in town they didn't have to worry about other parts of the country getting their buses running smoothly, they just concentrated on Chesterfield and surrounding area which meant the service was more compact and so manageable.

Yes I appreciate not as many people use buses now as they did then, but constantly running a bad service is not going to convince anyone including car drivers to catch the bus for some trips.
 Should this "in house" come about I also think it wouldn't be asking too much for O.A.P.'s to contribute to their free bus passes. Lets face it they get free bus trips {here and nationwide} which over the course of a year your average O.A.P. couple would save well into the £hundreds in fares, more in some cases. It doesn't matter how poorly off a particular O.A.P. may be, even they could scrape together say £20 per year for their bus pass, just imagine what they would have to pay if they scrapped them!

[Old Cruser]

A few years ago my daughter a powered wheelchair user had a lot of issues with Stage Coach drivers and I suspect they used to think 'ohhh not her again' when she phoned to complain.
I haven't heard her complain for awhile now but then again I generally take her and drop her off to where she wants to go, collect later when she's ready.
I don't uses buses much but on the occasions I have I've found some drivers to be surly whilst others friendly.
I do know daughters PA's have had problems with the bus times and have had to adapt their hours to when the buses were operating to get them to daughters.
Having said the above I don't think they will have an easy job!

[Sorastro]

I have in fact penned a letter to the D. T.  in hopes it will be published. I am waiting to see if they do publish it before I send one to the council.
AS I say whether it does any good remains to be seen. 

[Old Cruser]

I have in fact penned a letter to the D. T.  in hopes it will be published. I am waiting to see if they do publish it before I send one to the council.
AS I say whether it does any good remains to be seen.

There is never any harm in trying!

[Sorastro]

Pages 12 and 13 of the D.T. is about bus funding.......doesn't look good.

[Rheged]

I worked as a Driver for Chesterfield Borough Transport from 1979 until 1990.
 
In 1985 (?) at the opening of the Inner Relief Road, we held a protest at the Government's proposals to deregulate bus companies, citing the National Bus Company as monopolising public transport. This was followed later by a huge demonstration through Central London.
My claim to fame was creating a banner reading ' Chesterfield Transport - Born Of Social Need 1897 - Killed By Tory Greed 1987' which attracted some media attention in London.

The National Bus Company was a nationalised bus company that operated in England and Wales between 1969 and 1988. NBC did not run buses itself, but was the owner of a number of regional subsidiary bus operating companies. Sound familiar?
Privatisation happened, with CBT staff buying out the Council owned bus company for the princely sum of £800 per employee, (the first company in the UK to do so)

Brian Souter was born in the Scottish city of Perth. His father was a bus driver and as a child Brian often travelled on bus routes with his father.
Using his father's redundancy money, with his sister Ann Gloag and his brother-in-law Robin Gloag established the Stagecoach Group in 1980, running buses from Dundee to London.
Following the deregulation of bus services in Great Britain, expansion continued, and in the late 1980s Stagecoach acquired National Bus Company subsidiaries in Cumberland and Hampshire, and the East Midlands, Ribble, Southdown and United Counties companies. Stagecoach also bought bus operations in Scotland, Newcastle and London, with Manchester being added a few years later.

The chances of CBC buying back the bus operation in Chesterfield, would be non existent.

[Scimitar]

I'm not saying a lot because I (obviously) have to be careful.
Stagecoach are being bought out by an overseas company, and I agree with comments previously made about service and drivers. We are not all the same.
As drivers most of us do our best daily, but within the constraints of what our employers provide us with.
Advances in technology mean that "inspectors" have now become "Revenue protection officers" and due to driver shortages spend more time driving than doing their proper job.
As Stagecoach are giving up the ghost we are in a transition period although we are increasing/returning 54's to every 12 minutes and other changes whilst letting non profitable (as far as Stagecoach deem)go to other operators.
A lot depends on the takeover which should be soon  - the funding which is extended to September approximately, and negotiations between local authorities & review of passenger numbers, particularly late evening services.To be fair I don't know an awful lot more, but the future depending on the new owners may be a bit more rosy than it is now, or completely the opposite. Pay talks ongoing at the moment which as usual if we accepted would in fact result in another pay cut but there we go.

[Scimitar]

Also, when was the last time anyone saw the word 'Duplicate' on a bus destination board?

Hardly any spare drivers or buses!

[Old Cruser]

Could I ask a question of our Stage Coach Drivers please?

Have Stage Coach ever considered using smaller buses like they run in Europe.
A bit like an excursion bus or some are smaller - just wondering how cost effective or practical that would be??

[Sorastro]

I'm not saying a lot because I (obviously) have to be careful.
Stagecoach are being bought out by an overseas company, and I agree with comments previously made about service and drivers. We are not all the same.

Lets hope it's not P.& O Scimitar!!!

[Old Cruser]

Yesterday my daughters PA walked from Birdholm to Tupton. It was a Bank Holiday buses were running hourly and the bus didn't turn up.
I wished she had phoned me as I was free to go and collect her.

Going back I kept in touch with her and sure enough the bus hadn't come and was down as running very late on her app.
I took her home as it had been a long day.

I have no idea why it was running so late on each occasion but this care worker may have had other calls to go to and just highlites how much buses can affect other workers.

[Sorastro]

As it was a nice morning this morning my wife and I decided to walk to Hasland {from Grassmoor} then catch the 54 into town from there.

The first bus, to town, passed us at Grassmoor golf club, the second passed us at Hasland church and a couple of minutes later we only just caught another bus on the green just below the church total walking time just over 20 minutes and three buses. The bus timetables, on the bus stops, bare no resemblance to the service provided so it's pointless displaying them.
Coming back from town we got to Church way at about 5 to 11, we stood there till almost half past before a bus eventually turned up.

And to top it all my granddaughter rang us at 25 past 4 this afternoon saying she was at a bus stop in Grassmoor and has been waiting for the bus for over half an hour to get her to Hasland to pick up her daughter, so I had to jump in my car and take her, on the way back home I was passed by two 54's only 1 minute apart.

Stagecoach.....another nail in Chesterfields coffin.