Public bus routes that are currently worked by coaches

[Bletchleyite]

I thought that National Express had de registered their coach services as they were having to carry free bus pass holders.
Can confirm that Oxford to Cambridge X5 is a Bus as I use my free bus pass on it

The X5 is an oddity - a walk-up express stage carriage route using coaches. Far more of these operate in Scotland than England.

Though even the "other X5", a similar "Beeching bus"[1][2] in the north Lakes, now uses Gold-spec buses rather than coaches, which are excellent for enjoying the views!

[1] The Oxford-Cambridge one is well post-Beeching; the Lakes one may well be the descendent of the actual "Beeching bus".

[2] It's interesting that the two similar routes share a number.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

The X5 is an oddity - a walk-up express stage carriage route using coaches. Far more of these operate in Scotland than England.

Though even the "other X5", a similar "Beeching bus"[1][2] in the north Lakes, now uses Gold-spec buses rather than coaches, which are excellent for enjoying the views!

[1] The Oxford-Cambridge one is well post-Beeching; the Lakes one may well be the descendent of the actual "Beeching bus".

[2] It's interesting that the two similar routes share a number.

The Cumbrian one was not a through route.

34/35 were Cumberland services from Workington and Cockermouth to Keswick - worked by deckers.

74 was a Ribble service from Penrith to Keswick worked by singles (often DP Leopards in later years).

Even after Ribble’s Penrith depot passed to CMS in 1986, and Stagecoach bought it, they were still separate services until the early 1990s.

 

[route101]

The X5 is an oddity - a walk-up express stage carriage route using coaches. Far more of these operate in Scotland than England.

Though even the "other X5", a similar "Beeching bus"[1][2] in the north Lakes, now uses Gold-spec buses rather than coaches, which are excellent for enjoying the views!

[1] The Oxford-Cambridge one is well post-Beeching; the Lakes one may well be the descendent of the actual "Beeching bus".

[2] It's interesting that the two similar routes share a number.

Yeah Stagecoach Fife services like Glasgow to Fife are coaches most of the time , as is X74 Glasgow to Dumfries

 

[Ianno87]

The X5 is an oddity - a walk-up express stage carriage route using coaches. Far more of these operate in Scotland than England.

Though even the "other X5", a similar "Beeching bus"[1][2] in the north Lakes, now uses Gold-spec buses rather than coaches, which are excellent for enjoying the views!

[1] The Oxford-Cambridge one is well post-Beeching; the Lakes one may well be the descendent of the actual "Beeching bus".

[2] It's interesting that the two similar routes share a number.

Such routes were much more common in the early 2000s under the Stagecoach Express brand. E.g. Stagecoach Ribble had a decent network going for a while (e.g X59 Preston-Southport, X61 Manchester-Blackpool, X63 Colne/Burnley-Preston, plus X25 Clitheroe-Manchester).

Most have either died a death, or now operated with regular buses. X5 is however a success story from this.

 

[overthewater]

So is the Ayrshire express to Glasgow. The Androssane route ended up with coach seated single and double deckers. those Express routes haven't been making the cash of late and also would wheelchair add on extra cost in running time to loading?

 

[Bletchleyite]

Given how rarely you see a wheelchair user on a bus outside London I doubt it.

 

[overthewater]

I dispute what your just wrote, if you take look at twitter feeds you might see complaints from Wheelchair user from mainly B7 coaches wheelchair lifts. Its nearly weekly on the certain routes.

 

[johnw]

Very interesting.... a few days ago I witnessed several
real OAPs with sticks get on a high floor X5......

 

[Jordan Adam]

Virtually all services operated around Thurso are operated by non DDA equipped coaches.

Actually everything based at Thurso is fully compliant (all the coaches being built after May 2005 meaning they're fully compliant).

Currently the only non-Compliant coaches with Stagecoach North Scotland are a number of B7Rs and B10Ms on Orkney... Along with 52362 at Aviemore and 52621 which rotates between Aberdeen and Elgin.

 

[Statto]

Such routes were much more common in the early 2000s under the Stagecoach Express brand. E.g. Stagecoach Ribble had a decent network going for a while (e.g X59 Preston-Southport, X61 Manchester-Blackpool, X63 Colne/Burnley-Preston, plus X25 Clitheroe-Manchester).

Most have either died a death, or now operated with regular buses. X5 is however a success story from this.

X59 Preston-Southport is now X2 Preston-Southport-Liverpool & operated by deckers & every 30 minutes,

 

[Bletchleyite]

Very interesting.... a few days ago I witnessed several
real OAPs with sticks get on a high floor X5......

Probably a bit slower than boarding a low floor bus, though.

 

[MK Tom]

The X5 is a good example of Stagecoach doing multiple registrations for one route. It's registered as separate Oxford-Buckingham, Buckingham-St Neots and St Neots Cambridge services I believe. Hence displays often say things like "Buckingham for Oxford". They do the same thing with the X4 and X7, but the X5 is worked by coaches.

The 99 from Milton Keynes to Luton Airport is also a coach-operated registered bus service, often subbed by Enviro 200s when the Panthers aren't available. I think one of the 99 coaches also does an evening run on the 81, or at least that certainly used to happen.

 

[Bletchleyite]

The 99 is an oddity. It has stops near both M1 junctions so they are close enough together to register it. Those stops are by far the busiest.

 

[Deerfold]

Given how rarely you see a wheelchair user on a bus outside London I doubt it.

I suspect this varies from area to area. I see more wheelchair users per bus in my local area in Yorkshire than I do when I travel in London.

 

[MotCO]

Years ago, Metrobus used to run route 705 from Westerham / Dunton Green to London and used AEC Reliances / Duple coaches, and later Javelin / Plaxton coaches otherwise used on Hoverspeed duties. When there were train strikes, their coach Olympian was sometimes used, but often bus Olympians often provided additional capacity. So this was a case of buses replacing coaches.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I suspect this varies from area to area. I see more wheelchair users per bus in my local area in Yorkshire than I do when I travel in London.

It may well do. I suspect the dearth of wheelchair users on buses in MK is because travelling by car is such an easy and quick thing to do (and with little bus infrastructure a bus is no quicker) that a wheelchair user who is able to drive a modified car, be driven in one, or take a taxi (these are cheap in MK by distance as you can do a longish journey very quickly) will just do that. Certainly if I was in a wheelchair and able to drive a modified car I would near enough give up travel by public transport.

It's not for reasons of accessibility, anyway, as near enough every stop has a Kassel kerb (so the ramp is rarely if ever needed) and all buses have a wheelchair space.

 

[padbus]

The First Cymru Cardiff-Swansea shuttle is usually operated by ex-Greyhound Irizar PBs which do not appear to have wheelchair lifts. However, when I was in Cardiff on Thursday 22/2/18 there was a Plaxton Paragon from the private hire fleet working on it. This coach did have a wheelchair lift mounted just forward of the rear axle.

 

[Jordan Adam]

The First Cymru Cardiff-Swansea shuttle is usually operated by ex-Greyhound Irizar PBs which do not appear to have wheelchair lifts. However, when I was in Cardiff on Thursday 22/2/18 there was a Plaxton Paragon from the private hire fleet working on it. This coach did have a wheelchair lift mounted just forward of the rear axle.

Those coaches are 55 plates or newer meaning they were registered well after the 1st of May 2005. This means that to be used in service at any point they have to have a WC lift and be fully PSVAR (DDA) Compliant. They'll most likely have a lift under the stairs along with seats that fold up to create space for the Wheelchair.

 

[philthetube]

The stagecoach ones operating around Thurso had two folding seats at the front so presumably a lift at the front though I must admit I did not notice it, also the toilets were locked out and as at the back I did not see those either.

 

[Jordan Adam]

The stagecoach ones operating around Thurso had two folding seats at the front so presumably a lift at the front though I must admit I did not notice it, also the toilets were locked out and as at the back I did not see those either.

Those will be the Plaxton Panthers which have a lift that folds in under the stairs.

 

[padbus]

Those coaches are 55 plates or newer meaning they were registered well after the 1st of May 2005. This means that to be used in service at any point they have to have a WC lift and be fully PSVAR (DDA) Compliant. They'll most likely have a lift under the stairs along with seats that fold up to create space for the Wheelchair.

I studied one of these coaches carefully at the end of last year and could see no evidence of a wheelchair lift, either in the doorway or anywhere else. If fact, I doubt if the door is wide enough to take a wheelchair. Is there anyone reading this thread who has practical experience of these coaches that can give us a definitive answer?

 

[Jordan Adam]

I studied one of these coaches carefully at the end of last year and could see no evidence of a wheelchair lift, either in the doorway or anywhere else. If fact, I doubt if the door is wide enough to take a wheelchair. Is there anyone reading this thread who has practical experience of these coaches that can give us a definitive answer?

If there's no ramp then they shouldn't be being used in service at all.