Stagecoach In Hull
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Stagecoach in Hull is a bus operator providing services in
Kingston upon Hull Kingston upon Hull, usually shortened to Hull, is a historic maritime city and unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It lies upon the River Hull at its confluence with the Humber Est ...
,
East Riding of Yorkshire The East Riding of Yorkshire, often abbreviated to the East Riding or East Yorkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and west, S ...
, England. It is a subsidiary of Stagecoach East Midlands, a subdivision of the
Stagecoach Group Stagecoach Group is a transport group based in Perth, Scotland. It operates buses and express coaches in the United Kingdom. Stagecoach was originally founded in 1976 as ''Gloagtrotter'', a recreational vehicle and minibus hire business. Dur ...
.


History

Stagecoach in Hull's origins can be traced back to
Hull Corporation Hull City Council, or Kingston upon Hull City Council, is the local authority for the city of Kingston upon Hull (generally known as Hull) in the ceremonial county of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. Hull has had a council since 1299, whic ...
Transport, whose tramway operations began in 1899. Motorbus operations began in 1909 with a fleet of six buses, later restarting in 1921 and expanding alongside the city's trolleybus network. The trolleybus network was officially abandoned on 31 October 1964, having been gradually replaced by fleets of
Leyland Atlantean The Leyland Atlantean is a predominantly double-decker bus chassis manufactured by Leyland Motors between 1958 and 1986. Only 17 Atlantean chassis were bodied as single deck from new. It pioneered the design of rear-engined, front entrance ...
motorbuses. Hull Corporation Transport was one of the quickest operators of one-person operated buses, and on 10 November 1972, became the first bus operator in the United Kingdom to fully phase out the use of conductors. Earlier in the same year, Hull Corporation Transport was renamed to Kingston upon Hull City Transport (KHCT), coinciding with the introduction of a new fleet livery and uniform. To comply with the
Transport Act 1985 The Transport Act 1985 (c. 67) was an act of Parliament in the United Kingdom. It introduced privatised and deregulated bus services throughout Great Britain and came into effect in October 1986. The act was created as a response to growing ...
and ensuing
deregulation Deregulation is the process of removing or reducing state regulations, typically in the economic sphere. It is the repeal of governmental regulation of the economy. It became common in advanced industrial economies in the 1970s and 1980s, as a ...
of the bus industry, on 27 July 1986, Kingston upon Hull City Council transferred the assets of KHCT to a new legal entity, Kingston upon Hull City Transport Ltd. Eventually faced with escalating financial losses and increased ' bus wars' with East Yorkshire Motor Services (EYMS) and local independent bus operators, in December 1993, Kingston upon Hull City Council sold KHCT to
Stockton-on-Tees Stockton-on-Tees is a market town in County Durham, England, with a population of 84,815 at the 2021 UK census. It gives its name to and is the largest settlement in the wider Borough of Stockton-on-Tees. It is part of Teesside and the Tees Val ...
based Cleveland Transit, with KHCT's employees taking a 49% stake in the company.


Stagecoach ownership

In November 1994, Cleveland Transit and KHCT were sold to Stagecoach Holdings for £7.7 million. The Transit-era KHCT blue and white livery was initially maintained by Stagecoach, however on 1 January 1996, KHCT was formally renamed ''Stagecoach Kingston upon Hull'', later shortened to ''Stagecoach in Hull'', with the Stagecoach corporate livery being introduced by the spring of 1996. Permission was granted by Hull City Council for Stagecoach to move operations from the former KHCT depot on Lombard Street to a new site on Foster Street, Stoneferry in November 1995, which was completed in 1996. KHCT's Kingstonian coaching arm was acquired by EYMS and integrated into its own coaching operations in March 1997. Stagecoach Kingston upon Hull and twelve other bus companies in Hull were summoned to the Restrictive Practices Court by the
Office of Fair Trading The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) was a non-ministerial government department of the United Kingdom, established by the Fair Trading Act 1973, which enforced both consumer protection and competition law, acting as the United Kingdom's economi ...
in November 1998 after investigations revealed they were taking part in a
price fixing Price fixing is an anticompetitive agreement between participants on the same side in a market to buy or sell a product, service, or commodity only at a fixed price, or maintain the market conditions such that the price is maintained at a given ...
and market sharing "cartel" on tendered Hull City Council school bus services. The OFT stated that they had uncovered evidence of representatives of the thirteen companies, including Stagecoach, secretly meeting at a Hull hotel to agree on the minimum prices they would bid to run the services and what services each company would bid for. In 2006, Stagecoach in Hull was included as part of the reorganisation of Stagecoach operations in the
East Midlands The East Midlands is one of nine official regions of England. It comprises the eastern half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. It consists of Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire (except for North Lincolnshire and North East ...
and
Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...
into an enlarged Stagecoach East Midlands subsidiary. In the same year, Stagecoach in Hull introduced the ''Frequento'' network, with routes serving Orchard Park, Bransholme and later
Sutton-on-Hull Sutton-on-Hull (also known as Sutton-in-Holderness) is a suburb of the city of Kingston upon Hull, in the ceremonial county of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is located north east of the city centre and has the B roads in Zone 1 of t ...
being operated to more frequent timetables using new
low-floor bus A low-floor bus is a bus or trolleybus that has no steps between the ground and the floor of the bus at one or more entrances, and low floor for part or all of the passenger cabin. A bus with a partial low floor may also be referred to as a l ...
es. The service was initially launched with nine new Dennis Trident
Alexander ALX400 The Alexander ALX400 (later known as the TransBus ALX400 and the Alexander Dennis ALX400) is a 2-axle double-decker bus body built by Walter Alexander Coachbuilders (later by TransBus International/ Alexander Dennis). It was one of the ALX-s ...
s. These were later supplemented with 14 Alexander Dennis Enviro300s in 2010 and nine
Alexander Dennis Enviro400 The Alexander Dennis Enviro400 is a twin-axle low-floor double-decker bus that was built by the British bus manufacturer Alexander Dennis between 2005 and 2018. It replaced the Alexander ALX400 (from which the Enviro400 was developed). In 201 ...
s in 2011, the latter of which were named after notable Hull people such as
William Wilberforce William Wilberforce (24 August 1759 – 29 July 1833) was a British politician, philanthropist, and a leader of the movement to abolish the Atlantic slave trade. A native of Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, he began his political career in 1780 ...
,
Philip Larkin Philip Arthur Larkin (9 August 1922 – 2 December 1985) was an English poet, novelist, and librarian. His first book of poetry, '' The North Ship'', was published in 1945, followed by two novels, '' Jill'' (1946) and '' A Girl in Winter'' (194 ...
and
Mick Ronson Michael Ronson (26 May 1946 – 29 April 1993) was an English musician, songwriter, arranger, and producer. He achieved critical and commercial success working with David Bowie as the guitarist of the Spiders from Mars. He was a session musici ...
. 250 workers at Stagecoach in Hull affiliated with
Unite the Union Unite the Union, commonly known as Unite, is a trade union in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, Ireland, formed on 1 May 2007 by the merger of Amicus (trade union), Amicus and the Transport and General Workers' Union. A general union ...
entered a period of
strike action Strike action, also called labor strike, labour strike in British English, or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to Working class, work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Str ...
from 7 October to 7 November 2022 in a pay dispute, disrupting bus services provided for the annual Hull Fair. The strike was scheduled to last until 29 December, however negotiations between Stagecoach management and Unite representatives involving
Acas The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) is a non-departmental public body of the Her Majesty's Government, Government of the United Kingdom. Its purpose is to improve organisations and working life through the promotion and fa ...
resulted in the strike suspended on 7 November and formally ended on 11 November, with workers receiving a backdated 20% pay rise of up to £13 an hour.


Services


Simplibus network

Stagecoach in Hull was the second operator in Stagecoach East Midlands to launch a 'Simplibus' network, following the launch of Stagecoach Grimsby-Cleethorpes' network in 2014. The new Hull network saw existing routes renumbered from west to east into a numerical sequence of 1–16, as well as providing new services connecting Orchard Park Estate, Kingswood and East Hull. The new services launched on 6 September 2015 and replaced the previous ''Frequento'' network. The new Simplibus services later resulted in a combined £8.4 million investment in a fleet of new buses over three years, with Stagecoach in Hull receiving 46 new
Alexander Dennis Enviro400 MMC The Alexander Dennis Enviro400 MMC (sold as the Alexander Dennis Enviro400) is a low-floor bus, low-floor double-decker bus produced by the British bus manufacturer Alexander Dennis since 2014, replacing the Alexander Dennis Enviro400. The Envir ...
double-decker bus A double-decker bus is a bus that has two storeys or decks. Double-deckers are used primarily for commuter transport, but open-top models are used as sightseeing buses for tourists, and there are coaches too for long-distance travel. They app ...
es and
Alexander Dennis Enviro200 MMC The Alexander Dennis Enviro200 MMC, also marketed as the Alexander Dennis Enviro200, is a single-decker city bus produced by Alexander Dennis since 2014 as the successor to the Alexander Dennis Enviro200, Enviro200 midibus and Alexander Dennis E ...
single-decker bus A single-decker bus or rigid is a bus that has a single deck for passengers. Normally the use of the term ''single-decker'' refers to a standard two-axled rigid bus, in direct contrast to the use of the term double-decker bus, which is essen ...
es between 2016 and 2019, all delivered new with Simplibus branding.


Council tenders

Stagecoach in Hull first took on the Priory Park Park and Ride services as a commercial operation from
CT Plus HCT Group was a social enterprise providing transport services and community services in several areas of the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1982 as Hackney Community Transport in the London Borough of Hackney, to provide transport services f ...
in September 2014, following a retendering process by
Hull City Council Hull City Council, or Kingston upon Hull City Council, is the local authority for the city of Kingston upon Hull (generally known as Hull) in the ceremonial county of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. Hull has had a council since 1299, whic ...
. The company invested in five single deckers, three of which were given blue route-branding for the service, with the aim of improving bus services for the 2017 City of Culture events. Stagecoach announced it was to withdraw from operating peak time services on the park and ride in June 2023 due to low passenger numbers and high operating costs, however a deal was agreed in September 2023 for Stagecoach to continue running the service until March 2025, with the park and ride's operations being reduced to operating between 6:00a.m. to 9:30a.m. and 2:30p.m to 7:00p.m. on weekdays only and bus frequency moving from every 20 minutes to 30 minutes. Retendering by the
East Riding of Yorkshire Council East Riding of Yorkshire Council is the local authority for the East Riding of Yorkshire, a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area within the larger ceremonial county of the same name. The council has been under no overall cont ...
in 2019 saw Stagecoach in Hull gain the contract to operate a seasonal park and ride service in
Bridlington Bridlington (previously known as Burlington) is a seaside town and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is on the Holderness part (Flamborough Head to the Humber estuary) of the Yorkshire Coast by the North Sea. The town is ...
from East Yorkshire, also launching a bus service operating from Hull to Bridlington three times a day. Stagecoach later gained
Hull City Council Hull City Council, or Kingston upon Hull City Council, is the local authority for the city of Kingston upon Hull (generally known as Hull) in the ceremonial county of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. Hull has had a council since 1299, whic ...
bus service contracts from East Yorkshire in 2021, being awarded funding to run both an East Hull supermarket shuttle and services connecting two West Hull estates.


Fleet

As of October 2022, Stagecoach in Hull operates a fleet of 113 buses, mainly manufactured by
Alexander Dennis Alexander Dennis is a British bus manufacturing company based in Larbert, Scotland. The largest bus and coach manufacturer in the United Kingdom, with a 50% market share in 2019, it has manufacturing plants and partnerships in Canada, China, ...
. £5.7 million of funding awarded jointly to Hull City Council and East Riding of Yorkshire Council through the central government's Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas 2 (ZEBRA2) fund will see Stagecoach in Hull take delivery of 19
battery electric bus A battery electric bus is an electric bus that is driven by an electric motor and obtains energy from on-board batteries. Many trolleybuses use batteries as an auxiliary or emergency power source. Battery electric buses offer the potential for z ...
es during 2025.


References


External links

* {{Bus companies in Yorkshire Bus operators in the East Riding of Yorkshire Companies based in Kingston upon Hull Stagecoach Group bus operators in England Transport companies established in 1994 Transport in Kingston upon Hull 1994 establishments in England