Parent | Stagecoach |
---|---|
Founded | 1986 |
Locale | Manchester |
Hubs | Manchester Piccadilly Gardens bus station Wilmslow Road bus corridor |
Fleet | Alexander Dennis Enviro 400 Alexander Dennis Enviro 400 Hybrid |
Operator | Stagecoach Manchester |
Magic Bus is a brand of Stagecoach Group for local bus operations in the United Kingdom, usually operated on routes with strong competition from other operators. The brand is currently used in Manchester and in the past has been used in Glasgow, Newcastle, Liverpool, and Rotherham. A similar brand Magic Mini have also been used in Corby, Ayrshire and the Scottish Highlands.
The name was first introduced in Glasgow in 1986, where ex London Transport AEC Routemasters were used on a route to Castlemilk. [1] In 1992 this operation was sold to Kelvin Central Buses. [2]
The brand was used in Newcastle around 1997 when trying to eliminate smaller companies operating in the area. The buses were prone to breaking down due to their age and broken down Magicbuses in Newcastle were common sights.
The Magic Bus brand was reintroduced to Glasgow by Stagecoach West Scotland in 2002. [3] At its peak it was used on three routes; one was withdrawn in 2005, [4] and the remainder in 2006.
It was also used more recently in Liverpool by Stagecoach Merseyside.
The Magic Bus brand was introduced by Stagecoach Manchester to the Wilmslow Road bus corridor where Bullocks Coaches, Finglands Coachways, and UK North competed.
In 2006 the Magic Bus brand was introduced in Manchester on route 192 to counter a bus war started by UK North. [5] Following UK North being delicenced, the Magic Bus ceased operating on route 192 with all services provided by Stagecoach liveried buses. [6]
Buses used in Manchester have been older buses from the Stagecoach Manchester fleet including Leyland Olympians, Volvo B10Ms, Volvo Olympians, Scania N113NRBs as well as some 3-axle Leyland Olympians imported from Stagecoach's Citybus operation in Hong Kong (via a stint with Megabus) and Kenya.
In April 2012, Magic Bus was introduced in Rotherham by Stagecoach Yorkshire on route 22 to compete directly with First South Yorkshire's service of the same route number, albeit a slightly different route terminating at Manvers instead of Barnsley. Dennis Darts were used on this service. [7] [8] This service has since ceased due to low patronage.
In April 2010 Stagecoach Manchester purchased competitor Bullocks Coaches bus operations, [9] but the sale of Finglands Coachways to First Greater Manchester has ensured competition remain on the corridor. [10] In September 2014, route 141 commenced, funded by Manchester Metropolitan University, to serve its Birley Fields accommodation in Hulme. [11] [12] This route was withdrawn in September 2018, after funding from MMU ceased. [13]
In 2018, Stagecoach started operating route 147, from Manchester Piccadilly railway station to West Didsbury, [14] after the expiry of the previous contract [15] with Bullocks Coaches, with the route being extended from its previous terminus at the Manchester Royal Infirmary to West Didsbury, but now omitting the hospital grounds.
As of June 2021, the Manchester Magic Bus fleet consisted of 51 2010/2012/2013 built Alexander Dennis Enviro 400 hybrids and one 2008 built Alexander Dennis Enviro 400 transferred from the Stagecoach Manchester fleet, for operation on Wilmslow Road routes 142, 143 & 147. During the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, services 143 and 147 were temporarily withdrawn, but were reinstated on 1 June 2020. [16] [17]
The Magic Mini brand was used in a small number of locations across the UK including Corby and Ayr.
The brand was used in Corby as "Corby's Magic Mini's" operated using Iveco minibuses along lettered routes around the town centre. The service commenced in 1990 under the then-separate United Counties Omnibus Company, with the purpose of revitalising the bus network in the town from the previous downfall of bus travel due to an influx of Hackney carriages. The service was operated by United Counties until the 29 November 1999, when it was incorporated into the Stagecoach group. The livery used on the vehicles was a recoloured version of the Stagecoach "Stripes" paintwork. The main bodywork was black, with the stripes being recoloured to gold. The services ran a 5-6 minute frequency, and were free on Saturdays.
The brand was also used in Ayrshire for a time to compete against Ayrways in Ayr and T&E Docherty in Irvine. The Ayr operation used minibuses and larger single-deck buses branded as Magic Mini, which were introduced in February 2004. [18] The brand has since been dropped in Ayrshire when the competing operators withdrew their services.
The Magic Mini brand was also engaged in a miniature bus war on the Black Isle to Inverness route in the Scottish Highlands with local operator Scotbus, with Stagecoach in Inverness adopting aggressive tactics such as scheduling buses five minutes before the rival operator and undercutting fares. Competition between the two operators was acrimonious, climaxing in an arson attack on Stagecoach's Inverness depot. [19]
Stagecoach Group is a transport group based in Perth, Scotland. It operates buses and express coaches in the United Kingdom.
Scottish Citylink is a long-distance express coach operator in Scotland and Ireland and formerly England. The company was formed as a subsidiary of Scottish Transport Group in March 1985. It is operated as a 63/37 joint venture between ComfortDelGro and Stagecoach.
Western Scottish Omnibuses Ltd, in Scotland, was a bus operating subsidiary of the Scottish Transport Group formed in June 1985 from Western SMT Company Ltd and operated until 1997, when it became Western Buses Ltd. This successor company is now a part of Stagecoach West Scotland.
Ayrshire Bus Owners Ltd was a prominent independent co-operative bus operator in Ayrshire, Scotland. Based in Ardrossan, it provided local bus services around the towns of Ardrossan, Saltcoats, Stevenston, Kilwinning, Irvine and Dreghorn, as well as the company's trunk route from Ardrossan to Kilmarnock. It also provided express coach services from Ardrossan to Glasgow throughout the 1980s.
Stagecoach West Scotland is an operating region of Stagecoach UK Bus, comprising Western Buses Ltd based in Ayr, Scotland.
East Yorkshire operates both local and regional bus services in the East Riding of Yorkshire and North Yorkshire, England. Prior to acquisition by the Go-Ahead Group in June 2018, the company was known as East Yorkshire Motor Services.
First South Yorkshire is a major bus operator providing bus services within and across South Yorkshire. It is a subsidiary of FirstGroup.
First Greater Manchester is a bus operator in Greater Manchester. It is a subsidiary of FirstGroup, operating franchised Bee Network bus services on contract to Transport for Greater Manchester. The operator was once dominant in the northern areas of the county, competing against Stagecoach Manchester, which was dominant in southern areas of the county; however in recent years it has scaled back its operations, now primarily serving north eastern suburbs of Manchester, and the metropolitan boroughs of Oldham and Rochdale.
Stagecoach Manchester is a major bus operator in Greater Manchester, operating franchised Bee Network bus services on contract to Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM). It is the largest UK bus subsidiary of Stagecoach Group outside of Greater London, as well as the largest within the metropolitan county of Greater Manchester by passenger numbers, carrying up to 96.2 million passengers in 2019/20.
Finglands Coachways was a bus and coach operator in Rusholme, Manchester.
Centrebus Limited, trading as Centrebus, is a bus company based in Leicester operating services in Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and Rutland.
GM Buses was a major bus operator serving the ten metropolitan districts of Greater Manchester in North West England. The company was formed in February 1986 by the Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive prior to deregulation on 26 October. In December 1993, it was split into GM Buses North and GM Buses South in order to increase competition for services in the area, before they were sold to the FirstGroup and Stagecoach respectively.
Megabus is a long-distance intercity coach service operator owned by Scottish Citylink and based in the United Kingdom. Founded by Stagecoach Group in August 2003, it operates using low-cost fares, formerly starting at £1, based on a yield management model.
The Wilmslow Road bus corridor is a 5.5-mile-long section of road in Manchester that is served by a large number of bus services. The corridor runs from Parrs Wood to Manchester city centre along Wilmslow and Oxford Roads, serving Didsbury, Withington, Fallowfield and Rusholme.
Greater Manchester bus route 192 runs between Hazel Grove in the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport and Piccadilly Gardens in Manchester city centre. It is operated by Stagecoach Manchester.
Stagecoach Highlands is a division of the Stagecoach Group operating within the Scottish Highlands as well as on the Orkney Islands and Isle of Skye. The company is based in Inverness and covers most of the former Rapson Group bus and coach operations, which were taken over by Stagecoach in May 2008.
Buses in Milton Keynes are run by a mixture of operators on a network of urban and rural routes in and around the Milton Keynes urban area. These services have a varied history involving five different companies. At the foundation of the 'New City' in 1967 and for some years afterwards, Milton Keynes was served by a rural bus service between and to the pre-existing towns. Apart from a small-scale experimental service, urban buses arrived on the scene with deregulation in 1986. Since April 2010 the core local services have been provided by Arriva Shires & Essex. Long-distance coach services also serve MK, often via the Milton Keynes Coachway located near junction 14 of the M1 motorway.
British Coachways was a consortium of independent coach operating companies in the United Kingdom. Formed immediately after the deregulation of coach services in October 1980, it competed with the state-owned National Express and Scottish Bus Group on a range of long-distance routes. Initially composed of six members, it varied in size and composition over its two years of operation to include a range of ten different companies.
Bullocks Coaches is a bus and coach operator in Cheadle, Greater Manchester.
Media related to Magic Bus at Wikimedia Commons