Report on the SEC Spring Evening Meeting held on 23rd March

About 30 members attended the Club’s Spring meeting held at the Shoreham Centre to hear from Marc Reddy, Managing Director of Stagecoach South, about his first impressions on that company, having recently been appointed to lead it. To set the scene Marc gave a most interesting review of his career thus far, commencing with obtaining his licence to drive buses at the earliest possible age and a number of amusing anecdotes (like the hasty provision of a replacement minibus for a private-hire job, the first vehicle having been stolen from outside his home overnight by joyriders). There were many insights as well, learnt while he was employed by both municipal, deregulated and major group operators. Often employed in the “back room” scheduling, working rotas and staff matters were all dealt with over this period, which included some time overseas.

Moving on to Stagecoach South, Marc noted the development of the company:

• Hampshire Bus – was the first NBC company to be purchased by Stagecoach in 1987 – Southampton and Eastleigh operations then sold (leaving Basingstoke, Andover, Winchester)
• Southdown purchased by Stagecoach in 1989 (gaining Worthing, Chichester, Portsmouth)
• Portsmouth City Transport purchased in 1989 (most sold in 1991)
• Alder Valley South sold to Stagecoach in 1992 (gaining Aldershot)
• Fleet Buzz sold to Stagecoach in 2011
• Acquired the routes of Arriva (ex-London & Country) in December 2021 (gaining Guildford).

He then emphasised the importance of partnership working with the local authorities, dealing with each in the company area in turn, as below:

Portsmouth City Council

• Awarded £48 million under BSIP – largest award by head of population in England
• Commercial passenger customer growth has been strong 115-120% of pre-covid: passholders are at 75-80% of pre-covid
• Network is stable with no changes to commercial services since 2021 and majority of core pre-covid frequency reinstated
• Strong recruitment and retention process at Portsmouth depot, enabling business growth
• 10 extra buses since September with PCC / HCC tender awards : over 14% extra depot volume
• Investing in service quality : 22 brand-new Euro-6 double-decks for service 700 in May 2023
• All vehicles are Euro-6 diesel
• ZEBRA bid submitted with Hampshire for 41 electric buses for Portsmouth – but unsuccessful
• Helped shape and design Enhanced Partnership with City Council – enhanced services introduced February 2024 (some services now 24/7) along with new ticketing options
• Jointly led the introduction of Solent Travelcard (now called Solent Go) in 2004. Additional zones being introduced shortly
• Enhanced next stop on-bus information about to be installed, also showing multi-modal (train – ferry) options
• QR Readers to be installed shortly
• Bus Priority schemes are fundamental to making buses more attractive, especially city centre schemes
• Investing in additional buses to assist with punctuality
• Continuing to invest in apprenticeships for both engineers and drivers

Hampshire County Council

• Former Hampshire Bus depots (purchased 1983) and Alder Valley (purchased 1992)
• Winchester, Andover, Basingstoke and Aldershot
• Company has a long-standing relationship with the County Council
• HCC unsuccessful in original BSIP bid, but awarded BSIP plus funds of £3.6 million per annum
• ZEBRA bid submitted for 42 electric buses at Portsmouth, plus 26 at Basingstoke, but unsuccessful
• Continue to invest in service quality: most Basingstoke buses are Euro-6 diesel, as are those for Gold service 1 (Aldershot – Farnborough – Camberley)
• Drivers – fully staffed at Winchester and Aldershot, more challenging at Andover and Basingstoke
• Helped shape and design the Enhanced Partnership with the County Council – enhanced services planned for 2024, some in partnership with other local authorities which are cross border
• Winchester Park & Ride – HVO (Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil) fuel … then electric vehicles
• Jointly led the introduction of Solent Travelcard (now called Solent Go) in 2004.
• Continuing to invest in apprenticeships for both engineers and drivers

Surrey County Council

Company has a long-standing relationship with the County Council

• SCC unsuccessful in original BSIP bid, but awarded BSIP plus funds of £3.9 million per annum
• Haslemere outstation moved to Peasmarsh, Guildford in Summer 2015
• Arriva in Surrey collapsed in December 2021 – most routes taken on service new areas (i.e. Woking, Cranleigh, Guildford town etc. The combined network is still maturing
• Guildford has been challenging for driver recruitment, but now fully staffed
• There are nine first-generation BYD battery-electrics for the SCC contracted Park & Ride
• More electric buses to come but there are depot challenges both at Lees Road and Peasmarsh
• Helped shape and design the Enhanced Partnership with the County Council – enhanced services planned for 2024
• Link card Young Persons scheme – half-price singles for under-21s – began Summer 2023
• Bus Priority schemes are fundamental to making buses more attractive, especially city centre schemes
• Investing in additional buses to assist with punctuality
• Continuing to invest in apprenticeships for both engineers and drivers

West Sussex County Council

• Company has a long-standing relationship with the County Council
• Awarded £17.4 million under BSIP and also £1.1 million per annum under BSIP plus
• Very strong recruitment and retention at Worthing depot and now fully staffed at Chichester too
• Investing in service quality : 22 brand-new Euro-6 double-decks for service 700 in May 2023
• Helped shape and design the Enhanced Partnership with the County Council – enhanced services
• service 500 Chichester – Littlehampton – introduced in summer 2023
• Bus Priority schemes are fundamental to making buses more attractive, investing in additional buses into the network – more buses for 52/53, 600 and 700 from April 2024
• There is a huge challenge on punctuality because of the A27 (National Highways), the number of level crossings (Network Rail) and flood disruption
• Continuing to invest in apprenticeships for both engineers and drivers

Marc then reported that there were a number of challenges that the company faced with regard to its premises.

First was the problem of dealing with the infrastructure needed to run battery-electric buses arising from the very welcome ZEBRA-awards. The problem was installation of the charging stations required for over-night charging, as well as securing sufficient power from the national grid. Buses run for the greater part of each day and must therefore, ideally, be charged at night to avoid having to double-up the number of (expensive) buses needed to run the service. Charging stations will be required at Portsmouth, Basingstoke and Winchester.

A further problem is security of tenure at Aldershot, Andover, Chichester and Worthing. While all of hese garages were ideally situated in the town centres, in each case the local authority is keen to obtain the land for town centre redevelopment – that at Worthing has been under threat for decades, Chichester more recently. The problem is the finding of suitable alternative, affordable, vacant land on which to establish a new depot.

At Guildford both of the existing sites present problems. Lees Road, the former London Transport / London & Country / Arriva garage is only leased from a development company and at some stage the company will have to relocate, while at Peasmarsh the land is vulnerable to flooding. This is particularly awkward as it hosts the electric charging station for the Park & Ride buses. Although Guildford is very congested and therefore would benefit from more electric buses the national grid supply is unable to support charging more buses at present. Indeed the supply is maintained by trickle-charging banks of batteries from the grid throughout the day and then charging the nine buses overnight from the battery banks.

Finally, to sum up his talk Marc listed some Successes

• Great partnership relations with all of the local authorities
• Bus Operator of the Year 2023 : National Transport Awards
• Fully staffed at most depots
• Portsmouth – Top English Bus Operator for Customer Satisfaction 91% : Transport Focus 2023
• Fleet Investment (Financial Year 2023) 22 x double-deck buses, more to come in 2024
• Additional electric vehicles (subject to ZEBRA awards)
• Business growing through tenders and organic growth
• Some of the company’s top team recognised as some of the best leaders in the industry

… and some Challenges

• Improving Roadside Publicity
• Improving Punctuality
• Costs and Inflation
• £2.00 Fare Cap – and the exit strategy
• Ticket Technology.

We were most grateful to Marc for travelling some 80 miles from Bournemouth to give us this most interesting and informative talk about Stagecoach South. His enthusiastic analysis of ‘where the company now is’; its Successes; and the Challenges it now faces as outlined above, added greatly to our knowledge and understanding of the company and he was thanked for giving up his Saturday afternoon and evening for our entertainment.