tbtc
Veteran Member
A generation ago, Sheffield had the half hourly Stagecoach Express 909 to Doncaster and Grimsby or Hull. There was the Stagecoach Express X2 every hour from Meadowhall/ Sheffield to Chesterfield/ Mansfield/ Nottingham.
The X2 became the 747, with the 757 from Nottingham/ Mansfield to Doncaster and the 767 from Sheffield/ Meadowhall to Worksop (there was a slower 737 from Nottingham to Mansfield, though I dont remember if that was Stagecoach Express branded?).
The Sheffield Hull/Grimsby service no longer exists. The Sheffield Chesterfield service is a Gold one (the X17 to Matlock), the Chesterfield to Mansfield and Nottingham one is Pronto (jointly operated with TrentBraton and theres no Stagecoach Express to be seen around here.
There were days when Stagecoach Express seemed to be as common a sight on motorways as National Express (before Megabus, or at least before Megabus became what it is today). Trains werent so attractive back then, advanced fares a novelty, so there was a market for a regular coach from Manchester to Blackpool (X61) or from Darlington to Newcastle/ Metro Centre (X90). Significantly improved train services and cheaper advanced train fares mean rail now competes a lot better. Its not just a Stagecoach thing non-Stagecoach expresses around the UK have seen similar cutbacks.
Since the heyday of Stagecoach Express around the millennium, the company have taken on a number of additional operations (Yorkshire Traction and their subsidiaries, Norfolk Green, ex First operations in Chester/ Wigan etc), but the only new Express branded service I can think of in those areas is the X7 from Aberdeen to Perth (which links two long running Stagecoach areas, but passes through the Strathtay operation that they acquired just over a decade ago.
Stagecoach still run a number of fast services around the country, but many of them are either gold (like the Penrith Keswick Whitehaven corridor) or have local names (Falcon in the south west, the aforementioned Pronto in Nottinghamshire). Megabus seems to be in vogue. New fast services often have their own branding (like the X24 from Sunderland to Newcastle), rather than following a national template. This may explain the comment in the Stagecoach rebranding thread about the number of regional and unique liveries now carried by its vehicles.
So, any Stagecoach Express memories?
The X2 became the 747, with the 757 from Nottingham/ Mansfield to Doncaster and the 767 from Sheffield/ Meadowhall to Worksop (there was a slower 737 from Nottingham to Mansfield, though I dont remember if that was Stagecoach Express branded?).
The Sheffield Hull/Grimsby service no longer exists. The Sheffield Chesterfield service is a Gold one (the X17 to Matlock), the Chesterfield to Mansfield and Nottingham one is Pronto (jointly operated with TrentBraton and theres no Stagecoach Express to be seen around here.
There were days when Stagecoach Express seemed to be as common a sight on motorways as National Express (before Megabus, or at least before Megabus became what it is today). Trains werent so attractive back then, advanced fares a novelty, so there was a market for a regular coach from Manchester to Blackpool (X61) or from Darlington to Newcastle/ Metro Centre (X90). Significantly improved train services and cheaper advanced train fares mean rail now competes a lot better. Its not just a Stagecoach thing non-Stagecoach expresses around the UK have seen similar cutbacks.
Since the heyday of Stagecoach Express around the millennium, the company have taken on a number of additional operations (Yorkshire Traction and their subsidiaries, Norfolk Green, ex First operations in Chester/ Wigan etc), but the only new Express branded service I can think of in those areas is the X7 from Aberdeen to Perth (which links two long running Stagecoach areas, but passes through the Strathtay operation that they acquired just over a decade ago.
Stagecoach still run a number of fast services around the country, but many of them are either gold (like the Penrith Keswick Whitehaven corridor) or have local names (Falcon in the south west, the aforementioned Pronto in Nottinghamshire). Megabus seems to be in vogue. New fast services often have their own branding (like the X24 from Sunderland to Newcastle), rather than following a national template. This may explain the comment in the Stagecoach rebranding thread about the number of regional and unique liveries now carried by its vehicles.
So, any Stagecoach Express memories?
- Short lived services, like the extended X54 (Dundee Edinburgh) to Newcastle and North Shields?
- Areas where Stagecoach were oddly reluctant to try Express services?
- Any services which could have had the branding but didnt (e.g. I dont think the 685 from Newcastle to Carlisle was an Express route, though obviously a joint operation with Arriva).
- Suggestions for what *could* have been attempted?
- How far could you have travelled on Stagecoach Express branded vehicles(e.g. Dundee to Newcastle then Newcastle to Darlington)?