The media tends to report operator results days before they are actually published. Today’s Stagecoach interims will therefore come as anything but a surprise. They’ve been out there in brief since at least Sunday.
What the reports suggest is that Stagecoach is sniffing around for bus company bargains. Brian Souter is reportedly on the purchase trail. To the uninitiated, this may seem new. Souter, though, has been buying (and selling, and sometimes buying again) bus companies by fair means or foul as long as he’s been running them. The renewed reports of purchases to come spring from the recent Macquarrie deal and the current state of the industry.
This is always assuming that there's something to buy. The opportunities available have somewhat diminished and the competition for them could now be quite intense. But Stagecoach sees smaller operators struggling under the weight of cuts in both free travel and BSOG, something Stagecoach says might hasten the demise of some mid-sized fleets. And the municipal sector could again begin to look fragile and vulnerable as austerity bites. Long live economies of scale?
But will this sort of talk simply antagonise the Competition Commission? Souter is already its most vehement critic (something that may be a mutual thing?). The CC’s own interims (perhaps preliminaries might be a better word) are due in January 2011. Might it recommend the reverse, that operators divest and split up? Will it suggest that there’s a lack of competition?
Not everywhere’s like Bournemouth or Oxford, though. Deutsche Bahn, sorry, Deutsche *Bank* recently stated that, “It may be the case that one third of local transport authorities have just one operator because they cannot profitably sustain two. It should also be remembered that the private car remains a formidable competitor.”
We await the CC’s view on this. In the meantime, Stagecoach under Souter operates decent networks with flair and low fares. Is it set to expand while it can?
Wednesday, 8 December 2010
Cheque Book Ready?
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14 comments:
IMX some Stagecoach fares are rather high. I recently got charged £6 for a return from Chichester to Bognor Regis. That's a journey of just under half an hour (7 or 8 miles) each way. If I'd realised at the time I'd have used the train (about £4 return IIRC and quicker too).
The difficulty here is that the train service is no doubt subsidised, but the bus service not (other than BSOG). That does lead to bus fares being noticeably higher than train fares in some parts of the country.
...but that is often the same for operators other than Stagecoach as well.
I agree with Busing's view, though, that Stagecoach vehicles are always well-presented - they certainly are around Milton Keynes as well - the X5 coach service, at least is a very high quality operation. It's rather a shame that other services like the Arriva Aylesbury Express aren't up to that standard, and I think they'd be less of a distress purchase if they were.
Actually here's an idea - if Virgin Trains ever pull out of the VT99 MK<->Luton service, how about Arriva and Stagecoach teaming up to run an hourly coach service of the standard of the VT99 from Aylesbury-MK-Luton-Luton Airport? If they put on some early morning/late evening journeys I think it could prove popular.
Leave the small fry alone...how about one or two First subsidiaries who are in need of some Scottish magic.
Or then again, either East Yorkshire or TrentBarton would appear to be useful buys for the group.
Stagecoach have become a very respected operator in recent years, and should get more recognition of this fact.
On the other hand Stagecoach are in the processs of selling Preston Bus.
Stagecoach should have been allowed to keep Preston, also Stagecoach has MUCH MUCH better Dayrider ticker which are much cheaper than many returns!
There many routes where stagecoach could by up! like Diamond ;P
There's plenty of operators out there which could be acquired, there always will be. It's a circle in many ways: once a big group buys a small operator, over time work gets dropped and other small operators gradually pick up tenders etc building themselves up until they eventually get taken over and the cycle starts again...
Surely the obvious purchase for Brian Souter is that shambles that calls itself National Express West Midlands. If he can't get to buy TWM then he only needs to buy up Rotala and some small fry and he can launch some *proper* (quality) competition in the area.
Neil, interesting you should mention the VT99 service. Virgin Trains has recently pulled out of helping run the service, and Stagecoach are now running it themselves numbered 99.
Stagecoach doesn't really have particularly high fares, especially when you consider the area a Dayrider+ ticket is valid over (Around here they are £5.20, and I can travel from North Essex to South Lincolnshire on that one ticket!)
Certainly cheaper than an equivalent Arriva ticket I bought in Kent which covered a much smaller area yet was £1.20 more.
They do make the occasional slip-up, what operator doesn't, but even the F reg Olympians still in use around some of group are in very good condition for their age, with some even receiving interior refurbishments and having new destination kit fitted.
I don't see Stagecoach getting away easily with buying East Yorkshire - after all, it would have a fairly large impact on services in Manchester (EYMS own Finglands), and it would give them a near-monopoly in Hull.
Mac
South Wales has two municipal operators, when their operations are looked at closely beyond their modern vehicles, could do with a PLC make over.
Interesting re the (VT)99 - I'd missed that but it does indeed seem to be numbered 99 and operated with Stagecoach liveried vehicles. I did wonder how long VT would hold on to it. Surprised it hasn't gone to 899 or X99, though. (899 was previously what you got if the destination display wouldn't do "VT").
Will be interesting to see what they do with it - it's an odd service that is actually very lightly used between MK station and shopping centre, and between Luton town centre and airport, but is quite busy between central MK, Kingston (for commuters) and Luton town. Half hourly was tried before and failed, but there seems enough demand for hourly. By cutting it back to MK shopping centre<->Luton town only, you could save a vehicle - wonder if that's the way they'll go?
Actually, just 99 is a bad choice of number, as there's already one (the St Paul's School buses that roughly run the old 23 route).
Not sure why not X99 when it's an express route? That said, maybe X3 or X6 would fit it nicely into Stagecoach's "cross county" operation and branding, assuming they don't intend on getting rid of it (which I hope they don't - at least on the core section of route).
I agree with the comment about NXWM. I wish that last October the sale had gone through. Most routes in Birmingham are quite decent with NXWM, but sometimes they just cut too many corners and they don't know if they're coming or going. Also, Stagecoach might try and do something about the ASB that goes on on the buses. Then we might be able to have night buses!
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