Regional express coach network

[AutoKratz]

Hi,

Are there any regions in the UK with a regional express coach network? Something which can compete with rail.

I’m struggling to find out if anything like this exists as a single entity rather than just a network of standard long distance service buses.

There’s nothing in the North East where I’m from.

Thanks.

 

[goldisgood]

Express City Connect run by Stagecoach has 15 services running around Fife, Perth and Dundee to Aberdeen, Glasgow and Edinburgh. A few services compete with rail down to the West Coast, notably the X74, X76 and X77 to Dumfries, Kilmarnock and Ayr. The X76 is faster than the train to Kilmarnock depending on where you are travelling from in Glasgow.

Scottish Citylink has some services rivalling trains, but is more comparable to National Express. It is part owned by Stagecoach, and some services are contracted. The 900 runs every 15 minutes between Glasgow and Edinburgh which rivals the train.

 

[overthewater]

Citylink service that competes with the train is Gold services, non stop with a cup of tea. There is also X1 Peterbourgh to Norwich? X4 Peterbourgh to MK?

 

[Bletchleyite]

X5 Oxford-MK-Cambridge.

 

[Darklord8899]

As @goldisgood said, Stagecoach East Scotland run Express City Connect Network

(See map below)

 

[overthewater]

That map is well out of date, here is the most updated one: https://tiscon-maps-stagecoachbus.s...st Scotland/ESCOT_MAP_EastScotlandExpress.pdf

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Citylink service that competes with the train is Gold services, non stop with a cup of tea. There is also X1 Peterbourgh to Norwich? X4 Peterbourgh to MK?

The X4 isn't really an express service. It's a long distance bus service. Peterborough to Corby, it stops at all stops, then limited stop but quite a few until the edge of Northampton where it stops a lot, acts as a local bus service round Grange Park and the limited stop to MK though, in truth, there aren't many places to stop on the A508!!

 

[Darklord8899]

That map is well out of date, here is the most updated one: https://tiscon-maps-stagecoachbus.s3.amazonaws.com/RouteMaps/East Scotland/ESCOT_MAP_EastScotlandExpress.pdf

Aye, that was the one I was looking for
Serves me right being lazy and googling it, rather than going to SES website

 

[goldisgood]

The X4 isn't really an express service. It's a long distance bus service. Peterborough to Corby, it stops at all stops, then limited stop but quite a few until the edge of Northampton where it stops a lot, acts as a local bus service round Grange Park and the limited stop to MK though, in truth, there aren't many places to stop on the A508!!

Doesn't run to MK any more!

 

[route101]

The Fife coach services are quite quick from Dunfirmline to Glasgow . I always thought they could been brought into the citylink network.

 

[Flying Snail]

There are no surviving coach networks left other than NX, the Scottish ones as mentioned and Northern Ireland where it helps that almost all public transport is run by the same company. Belfast - Derry in particular, as well as a number of other routes from Belfast, is a great example of both rail and turn up and go coach services operating successfully alongside each other. Not only that but with integrated ticket products passengers can affordably mix and match between the two.

 

[Ianno87]

There are no surviving coach networks left other than NX, the Scottish ones as mentioned and Northern Ireland where it helps that almost all public transport is run by the same company. Belfast - Derry in particular, as well as a number of other routes from Belfast, is a great example of both rail and turn up and go coach services operating successfully alongside each other. Not only that but with integrated ticket products passengers can affordably mix and match between the two.

In NI, also "helps" that the rail network is sparse and generally slow/indirect/relatively infrequent.

Coaches easily give trains a run for their money in terms of service offering Belfast-Derry/Dublin.

 

[route101]

Citylink service that competes with the train is Gold services, non stop with a cup of tea. There is also X1 Peterbourgh to Norwich? X4 Peterbourgh to MK?

A tea is that all you get !

When i used it in 2010 , you got a sandwich , drink , water , tablet and ice cream

 

[Megafuss]

Hi,

Are there any regions in the UK with a regional express coach network? Something which can compete with rail.

I’m struggling to find out if anything like this exists as a single entity rather than just a network of standard long distance service buses.

There’s nothing in the North East where I’m from.

Thanks.

Go North East had a Expresslink brand for limited stop regional services back in the Go Ahead Northern days. Some of the routes used coaches, other used a MCW Metrobus with coach seating

Nowadays other than Stagecoach East Scotland and Stagecoach Fife I struggle to think of any.

 

[philthetube]

A tea is that all you get !

When i used it in 2010 , you got a sandwich , drink , water , tablet and ice cream

Was that for travel sickness?

 

[Robertj21a]

There are no surviving coach networks left other than NX, the Scottish ones as mentioned and Northern Ireland where it helps that almost all public transport is run by the same company. Belfast - Derry in particular, as well as a number of other routes from Belfast, is a great example of both rail and turn up and go coach services operating successfully alongside each other. Not only that but with integrated ticket products passengers can affordably mix and match between the two.

Don't forget Megabus !

 

[route101]

Was that for travel sickness?

Ha scottish tablet , the sweetest thing ever .
Had on the megabus sleeper once out of a tupperware , must of been homemade

 

[daodao]

Go North East had a Expresslink brand for limited stop regional services back in the Go Ahead Northern days. Some of the routes used coaches, other used a MCW Metrobus with coach seating

Nowadays other than Stagecoach East Scotland and Stagecoach Fife I struggle to think of any.

Transdev t/a the Lancashire Bus Co. run the X41 and X43 from Central Lancashire to M/c. Their existence is a consequence of the closure of the direct rail route from Clifton Junction to Accrington via Bury Bolton St.

In Wales, some express services run by First & Stagecoach still exist radiating from Cardiff/Newport/Swansea, some of which use coaches. There is also TrawsCymru (see separate thread), but many of these services are run by standard buses.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Doesn't run to MK any more!

Of course not - now the X7 is doubled! Doh!

 

[tbtc]

The Fife coach services are quite quick from Dunfirmline to Glasgow . I always thought they could been brought into the citylink network.

As far as I can remember, the Glasgow - Fife daytime service was never CityLink - the X26 was always a Fife Scottish route - but bits of the current Stagecoach network were previously Citylink - e.g. the X59 (Edinburgh - St Andrews) is the successor to the CityLink 959, the X76 (Kilmarnock) and X77 (Ayr) are successors to the CityLink service from Ayrshire to Glasgow (and Edinburgh) - the 501 (in the days when the 500 was Edinburgh - Glasgow - Gourock).

Stagecoach seem to be slowly replacing CityLink services elsewhere (e.g. the X56 from Edinburgh to Perth allowing the CityLink services to be sped up on the M90 corridor, no CityLink to Thurso) - I don't know if there's some long term plan to scale back the CityLink brand?

**

We used to have a reasonable network of "coach" services around Sheffield (X10/X11/X12 to Chesterfield, X18/X23 to Stoke/ Newcastle, X31/X32 to Leeds, X33/X34 to Bradford, X38/X39/X68 to Huddersfield/ Halifax, X48/49 to Manchester/Airport, X85 to Worksop, plus the X36 from Barnsley to Rotherham, the X19 from Barnsley to Doncaster though some of these services were more 'buses with coach seats" than actual coaches - the X31-X36 branded as White Rose Express).

Around the millennium, Stagecoach had a go at a network around these parts:

727 - Sheffield - Meadowhall - Worksop
737 - Nottingham - Mansfield - slow to Chesterfield
747 - Nottingham - Mansfield - Chesterfield - Sheffield - Meadowhall
757 - Nottingham - Mansfield - Doncaster
909 - Sheffield - Meadowhall - Doncaster - Hull/ Grimsby (artic operated, GNER tickets accepted)

The Nottingham - Mansfield - Chesterfield service is now the "Pronto" route shared with TrentBarton (sorry, not actually shared, just two parallel services that are coincidently co-ordinated, in case the competition authorities are reading...).

The "express" service from Chesterfield - Sheffield is now the the X17 which was recently extended to become Matlock -Chesterfield - Sheffield - Meadowhall - Barnsley.

There's also the X19/X20 from Barnsley to Doncaster and the X10 from Barnsley to Leeds (all run by Stagecoach) - I don't know if that's enough to make it a "network" but things are looking better in that respect than they have for a while.

 

[overthewater]

A tea is that all you get !
When i used it in 2010 , you got a sandwich , drink , water , tablet and ice cream

Its been cut RIGHT back its tea/coffee and table or muffin. Sandwich and ice cream are long gone..

As far as I can remember, the Glasgow - Fife daytime service was never CityLink - the X26 was always a Fife Scottish route - but bits of the current Stagecoach network were previously Citylink - e.g. the X59 (Edinburgh - St Andrews) is the successor to the CityLink 959, the X76 (Kilmarnock) and X77 (Ayr) are successors to the CityLink service from Ayrshire to Glasgow (and Edinburgh) - the 501 (in the days when the 500 was Edinburgh - Glasgow - Gourock).

Yes the 26 was Fife and Midland route going back years, it was only X26 from the mid 80s? when the bus started using the M80 to cumbernauld. X59 has always been Fife scottish route in 1982 in which it had 3 journeys. In 1983 it become X59 had 4 journeys and was under the Citylink branding. Where does this 959? There was 970 which was Aberdeen - Edinburgh via dundee and Glenrothes/Kirkcaldy.

Stagecoach seem to be slowly replacing CityLink services elsewhere (e.g. the X56 from Edinburgh to Perth allowing the CityLink services to be sped up on the M90 corridor, no CityLink to Thurso) - I don't know if there's some long term plan to scale back the CityLink brand?

I think the long term plan is to simplify the network instead of all the variations.

 

[GusB]

Yes the 26 was Fife and Midland route going back years, it was only X26 from the mid 80s? when the bus started using the M80 to cumbernauld. X59 has always been Fife scottish route in 1982 in which it had 3 journeys. In 1983 it become X59 had 4 journeys and was under the Citylink branding. Where does this 959? There was 970 which was Aberdeen - Edinburgh via dundee and Glenrothes/Kirkcaldy.

Were these the routes that Fife used the Cityliner brand on?

 

[overthewater]

Were these the routes that Fife used the Cityliner brand on?

No, that was X54/554 Edinburgh - Perth Via either Cowdenbeath or Dunfermline.

 

[GusB]

No, that was X54/554 Edinburgh - Perth Via either Cowdenbeath or Dunfermline.

Ah, thanks. I've only ever seen those vehicles in photographs and I wasn't sure of the route numbers.

On the subject of erstwhile Citylink routes there was also the 960 (originally 540, I think) which ran between Inverness and Aberdeen. It was then renumbered 560 when Bluebird Northern began running it for themselves. It was still listed as a Citylink route and was limited stop before it became the 10 in Stagecoach days and slowly became a long bus service. The 960 did make a brief come-back around 2002/3, and it was handy for me being routed down past Aberdeen University, but it didn't last long. After that I began taking the train.

 

[overthewater]

Ribble had proper network back 1998/2000:

X51: Lancaster - Preston: Hourly
X59: Preston - Southport??? : Hourly
X61: Blackpool - Preston - Manchester: Hourly
X63: Burnley - Blackburn - Preston : Hourly

Plus two peaks:
X62: Preston - Chorley - Manchester
X64 Bolton - Chorley - Preston - Blackpool

What was the old Stagecoach Burnley - Manchester?

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Ribble had proper network back 1998/2000:



What was the old Stagecoach Burnley - Manchester?

It was the X43 - longstanding forerunner to the X43 Witch Way - see #18

 

[overthewater]

It was the X43 - longstanding forerunner to the X43 Witch Way - see #18

Just wanted to double check that

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Go North East had a Expresslink brand for limited stop regional services back in the Go Ahead Northern days. Some of the routes used coaches, other used a MCW Metrobus with coach seating

Go Ahead Northern Expresslink was a slightly odd beast in that.... they operated under that banner on the joint routes with United X1/X10 Middlesbrough to Newcastle whereas United used the Tynelink name on the same routes. In fact, Go Ahead used Tynelink at first before Expresslink. United also used Tynelink on

• X55 Newcastle to Hartlepool
• X50 (and variants) Newcastle to Darlington
• X70 Newcastle to Richmond
• X17 Newcastle to Redcar

The MCW Metrobuses were fantastic machines with Gardner turbo charged engines, though their Tynelink deckers were some Olympians that were reliveried and used on the Consett/Stanley to Newcastle expresses.

United also had the Teesside Expressway network that I think (long time ago so apologies if I'm mistaken) was

• X14 Bishop Auckland to Middlesbrough (of which a modified version continues as the X66/X67 Darlington to Middlesbrough)
• X73 Middlesbrough to Saltburn (now part of the X3/X4 Middlesbrough to East Cleveland)
• X90 Peterlee to Middlesbrough (withdrawn but now sort of resurrected by Go North East)
• X41 Billingham to Middlesbrough (now subsumed into Stagecoach routes)

 

[Deerfold]

Don't forget Megabus !

I'm not sure you can see Megabus as a proper network. Generally, you can't book through tickets between different services - and if you book separate tickets and a connection doesn't work, tough. There's fewer than 10 frequent routes and then a few that are once or twice a day.

 

[CatfordCat]

There are a few remnants left of the Green Line coach network which used to cover a lot of the 'home counties' around London - but a heck of a lot less than there was in the past. London Buses X26 (it's a limited stop bus rather than a coach) is also what's left of orbital service 725 / 726 which ran from Gravesend via Bromley, Croydon, Kingston to Windsor / Heathrow.

There were some rumblings shortly before the economic you-know-what hit the fan in the late 2000s about developing express coach networks to fill in some of the gaps in the railway network (for example in the Thames Valley, looking at north - south links to supplement the mainly east - west rail routes to / from London.) I don't think any of this got much further than consultants' reports, although First Berkshire's X 74 (Slough - High Wycombe) and Carousel's A 40 (High Wycombe - Heathrow, now withdrawn) do touch on some of the corridors identified, along with the recent Reading Buses 703 Bracknell - Heathrow.