Stagecoach Group
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Stagecoach Group plc (LSE: SGC) is a leading international transport group operating bus, train, tram, express coach and ferry operations. The group was founded in 1980 by the current chairman, Brian Souter, his sister, Ann Gloag, and her now ex-husband Robin Gloag. The group is based in Perth, Scotland and has operations in the United Kingdom and North America.
With 16% of the bus market and 11% of the rail market (plus a further 14% through its share in Virgin Trains), the company is the second biggest transport firm in the UK behind its closest rival First Group. Stagecoach operates over 7200 vehicles and covers 90 major towns and cities across Britain, carrying around 2 million passengers daily. Stagecoach UK Bus employs 18,000 people.
In North America, Stagecoach owns the Coach USA and Coach Canada brands, although the Western and South Central units of the company have been sold to a separate company, CUSA LLC.
Operations in Kenya, Malawi, Portugal, Sweden, Hong Kong and New Zealand have been sold.
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[edit] History
Stagecoach was born of deregulation in the British express coach market in the early 1980s, though its roots can be traced back to 1976 when Ann Gloag and her husband Robin set up a small motor caravan and minibus hire business called Gloagtrotter. Ann's accountant brother Brian Souter joined the firm and expanded the business into bus hire. Robin Gloag subsequently sold his shareholding in the business and ceased any involvement in 1982 with the collapse of his marriage to Ann. The Transport Act 1980, which freed express services of 35 miles and over from regulation by the Traffic Commissioner, brought new opportunities for the Perth-based company and services were launched from Dundee to London using second-hand Neoplan coaches. For a while, they offered a very personal service with Brian Souter doing the driving and Ann Gloag making up sandwiches and snacks for the passengers. Successfully competing against the then state-owned National Express and Scottish Citylink, the company grew significantly between 1981 and 1985, when Stagecoach entered local bus operation with the acquisition of McLennan Of Spittalfield, near Perth. Its early success allowed Stagecoach to take advantage of the privatisation of the national bus groups. Several firms were purchased from the National Bus Company, Scottish Bus Group, London Buses and various city councils. The company consolidated its operations during the 1990s by purchasing management and employee owned bus companies, often ex-NBC and SBG firms where the owners were keen to make a huge profit on their sale. Stagecoach left the long distance express coach market in 1988 when it sold its operations to National Express.
However, controversy was never far from Stagecoach. The company often found itself on the wrong side of the Competition Commission and faced sharp media criticism over its predatory approach to smaller operators. Bitter "bus wars" broke out in towns and cities throughout Britain as Stagecoach took on the local competition, often forcing the competitor to abandon traditional markets and sometimes causing the collapse of smaller operators. This was through aggressive pricing and timing, often running more buses on a route than necessary and just a few minutes ahead of the competition. In its hometown of Perth, Stagecoach successfully forced the dominant operator Strathtay Scottish to abandon local services in the town. Similarly, Stagecoach subsidiary Bluebird Buses replaced Highland Scottish buses on most city services in and around Inverness. Similarly aggressive tactics were used to force Scottish Citylink into a joint venture. Now that Stagecoach has completed the effective takeover of Scottish Citylink the biggest shock of all was to be Stagecoach’s actions in the town of Darlington.
Darlington Borough Council put Darlington Transport up for sale in 1994. Despite submitting a bid through its Busways subsidiary, Stagecoach lost out to Yorkshire Traction (which was eventually takenover by Stagecoach and rebranded Stagecoach Yorkshire in 2005). In response, Stagecoach Busways registered identical routes to Darlington Transport, and subsequently commenced operations running free buses across Darlington Transport's network. Yorkshire Traction withdrew its bid for Darlington Transport and no other interested parties stepped forward. Within a week of Stagecoach arriving in the town, Darlington Transport went into receivership and ceased trading. This would lead to reform in the regulatory framework for bus operation in the UK.
Stagecoach took another turn in 1998, when it purchased, for £41 million, Scotland's Prestwick Airport. This acquisition looked to be short-lived, however; by the summer of 1999, the company was rumored to have been offered some £80 million for Prestwick. They did however, hold out until January 2001 before selling the airport to concentrate on ground transportation.
Stagecoach Group plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange, though company Chairman Brian Souter and his sister Ann Gloag are major shareholders. Despite being co-founder of Stagecoach, Ms Gloag no longer has an executive role in the company.
Souter and Gloag's involvement in bus manufacturer Alexander Dennis (the former Transbus International), and Souter's stake in ScotAirways, are not related to the Stagecoach Group in any way.
A Stagecoach London vehicle, operating London Buses route 30, was destroyed in the 7 July 2005 London bombings and a second was targeted 21 July 2005 London bombings, operating London Buses route 26. Coincidentally, both buses were bound for Hackney. In a tribute to those who lost their lives in the attack, Stagecoach London dedicated a new Alexander Dennis Enviro 400, "The Spirit Of London", to London Buses route 30, replacing the vehicle destroyed. The bus was unveiled by the Mayor of London in a ceremony on 3 October 2005. [1]
On 21 November 2005 Stagecoach announced the sale of its New Zealand operations to Infratil for 250.5m New Zealand dollars (£100m; US$171.6m) [2].
On the 14 December 2005 Stagecoach purchased Barnsley-based Traction Group (Yorkshire Traction) for £26m, and also assume Traction's £11m debt. Traction operated 840 buses in South Yorkshire (Yorkshire Traction, Barnsley & District, Yorkshire Terrier), Lincolnshire (RoadCar) and Angus (Strathtay Scottish). Traction was the largest of the remaining privately owned bus operators in the UK before acquisition.
Following the sale of its London bus operations to Macquarie Bank on 31st August 2006 (for £263.6m), Stagecoach UK Bus will concentrate on the bus market outside the UK capital, focusing on organic growth and exploring acquisition options. Macquarie will continue to use the Stagecoach brand for a limited period under licence, and the bus group will provide administrative and other support functions for a transitional period of 12 months from the sale.
Stagecoach are also active in the rail industry, currently operating the South West Trains franchise (extended for another 10 years from February 2007) and having a 49% stake in Virgin Trains. The group are also currently in the running to take over the Central Trains and Midland Mainline franchises. In November 2006, Stagecoach was shortlisted to submit a final bid to operate the Manchester Metrolink tram network. The group already operates Sheffield Supertram on a 27-year concession due to expire in 2024.
[edit] UK operating companies
The following is a breakdown of the Stagecoach operating divisions. The centre of each operating region is shown in parentheses. Legal company names are listed alongside the trading names for that company.
Western Buses Ltd - Stagecoach Western, Stagecoach A1 Service
Stagecoach Glasgow Ltd - Stagecoach in Glasgow
Fife Scottish Omnibuses Ltd, AA Buses Ltd - Stagecoach in Fife
Bluebird Buses Ltd - Stagecoach Bluebird, Stagecoach in Inverness, Stagecoach in Perth
Strathtay Scottish Omnibuses Ltd - strathtay
JW Coaches Ltd - JW Coaches
Busways Travel Services Ltd - Stagecoach in Newcastle, Stagecoach in South Shields, Stagecoach in Sunderland
Cleveland Transit Ltd - Stagecoach on Teesside, Stagecoach in Hartlepool, Stagecoach in Darlington
Cumberland Motor Services Ltd - Stagecoach in Cumbria, Stagecoach in Lancaster
Ribble Motor Services Ltd - Stagecoach in Lancashire
Greater Manchester Buses (South) Ltd - Stagecoach in Manchester, Magicbus
Glenvale Transport Ltd - Stagecoach in Merseyside
Yorkshire Traction Co Ltd, Barnsley & District Traction Co Ltd - Stagecoach in Yorkshire
Chesterfield Transport Ltd - Stagecoach in Chesterfield
Andrews (Sheffield) Ltd - Stagecoach in Sheffield
South Yorkshire Supertram Ltd - Stagecoach Supertram
- STAGECOACH EAST MIDLANDS (Lincoln)
East Midland Motor Services Ltd - Stagecoach in Bassetlaw, Stagecoach in Mansfield, Stagecoach in South Yorkshire
Grimsby-Cleethorpes Transport Ltd - Stagecoach Grimsby-Cleethorpes
Cleveland Transit Ltd - Stagecoach in Hull
Lincolnshire RoadCar Co Ltd - Stagecoach in Lincolnshire
Midland Red (South) Ltd - Stagecoach in Warwickshire
Midland Red (South) Ltd - Stagecoach in Oxfordshire
Thames Transit Ltd - Stagecoach in Oxfordshire, Brookes Bus, Oxford Tube
- STAGECOACH EAST (Northampton)
Cambus Ltd - Stagecoach in Cambridge
United Counties Omnibus Company Ltd - Stagecoach in Northants, Stagecoach in Bedford
Viscount Bus & Coach Company Ltd - Stagecoach in Peterborough
Cheltenham District Traction Company Ltd - Stagecoach in Cheltenham
Swindon & District Bus Company Ltd - Stagecoach in Swindon
Cheltenham & Gloucester Omnibus Company Ltd - Stagecoach in Gloucester, Stagecoach in the Cotswolds, Stagecoach in the Wye and Dean
- STAGECOACH WALES (Cwmbran)
Red & White Services Ltd; The Valleys Bus Co Ltd; Aberdare Bus Co Ltd; Rhondda Buses Ltd; Parfitts Motor Services Ltd; Eastern Valley Bus Co Ltd; Crosskeys Coach Hire Ltd - Stagecoach in South Wales/Stagecoach de Cymru
East Kent Road Car Company Ltd - Stagecoach in East Kent
Hastings & District Transport Ltd - Stagecoach in East Sussex, Stagecoach in Hastings
Stagecoach (South) Ltd - Stagecoach in Hants and Surrey, Stagecoach in Hampshire
Southdown Motor Services Ltd - Stagecoach Coastline also Stagecoach in Portsmouth and Stagecoach in the South Downs
Devon General Ltd; Torbay Bayline Ltd - Stagecoach in Devon
- RAIL DIVISION
Island Line Ltd (Isle of Wight)
South West Trains Ltd (London)
In addition, the group has a 49% stake in Virgin Trains, which operate fast intercity train services in the United Kingdom.
[edit] North American operating companies
- COACH USA (including Coach Canada)
- Stagecoach Montreal
[edit] Megabus & Magicbus
Megabus is a low cost, "no-frills" intercity bus service launched in the UK by Stagecoach in 2003 and, from 10 April 2006, in the United States.
Magicbus is the brand Stagecoach applies to local "no-frills" operations, usually operated on routes with strong competition from other operators.
[edit] Scottish Citylink Coaches Ltd
On 13 September 2005 Stagecoach and ComfortDelGro announced a joint venture in the provision of express coach services in Scotland, ending intense competition between ComfortDelGro's subsidiary Scottish Citylink and Stagecoach subsidiaries Megabus and Motorvator. Under the terms of the joint venture, the Stagecoach Group will acquire a 35% stake in Scottish Citylink Coaches Ltd, with Citylink assuming certain rights to the Megabus and Motorvator brands in Scotland. 1. Megabus operations in the rest of the UK are excluded from this agreement. Despite being a minority shareholder, Stageocoach appears to have assumed all but full control. Stagecoach staff have replaced much of the former Citylink management, while Stagecoach subsidiaries have began operating many of the routes formerly operated by subcontractors, albeit with vehicles in full Scottish Citylink livery. Citylink frequencies and routes have also been sacrificed in favour of Megabus where the two brands overlap.
The Competition Commission ruled on 23 October 2006 that the joint venture substantially reduced competition and that evidence suggested some routes were already experiencing higher fares as a result[3]. Though no firm conclusion was drawn, regulators are to consult the two companies about what they need to do to comply with competition regulations and they have indicated that this will likely lead to the forced divestment of some services to an independent operator. The ruling was criticised by Stagecoach as leaving vital services in limbo and jeopardising Scotland's intercity coach network, making it unable to compete effectively with rail and private car journeys[4].
One possible result of this ruling may be the return of National Express Group-operated express coach services on routes internally within Scotland, a move that would now be allowed following their loss of the Scotrail franchise to First Group in 2004.
