Stagecoach Group - History

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 ex NBC and SBG bus companies that had been purchased by management and employees when privatised. Stagecoach left the long distance express coach market in 1988 when it sold its operations to National Express.

During the privatisation of British Rail Porterbrook was formed as one of three rolling stock companies owning around a third of passenger railway locomotives, multiple units and coaching stock running on Network Rail's system which is leased to various train operators. It was sold to a management buyout before being purchased by Stagecoach in August 1996. In April 2000 Stagecoach sold Porterbrook to Abbey National for £773 million.

In 1997 Stagecoach won the franchise to operate the Sheffield Supertram system, from South Yorkshire Supertram Ltd, an arm of the South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive, who own the system. The Group bought the remaining 27 years of a 30 year franchise, which expires in 2024, and run the operation under the Stagecoach Supertram brand, having responsibility for the operation and maintenance of the tram system. When Stagecoach took over the system, it was struggling, both financially and in terms of attracting passengers, but it now an extremely popular and successful operation.

Stagecoach took another turn in 1998, when it purchased Scotland's Prestwick Airport for £41 million. By the summer of 1999, the company was rumoured to have been offered some £80 million for Prestwick. They sold the airport in January 2001 to concentrate on surface transport.

A Stagecoach London vehicle operating on London Buses route 30 was destroyed in the 7 July 2005 London bombings and a second was targeted 21 July 2005 London bombings, operating on London Buses route 26. 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 Enviro400, "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.

On 21 November 2005 Stagecoach announced the sale of its New Zealand operations to Infratil for NZ$250.5m (£100m; US$171.6m).

On 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 and West Yorkshire (Yorkshire Traction, Barnsley & District, Yorkshire Terrier), Lincolnshire (RoadCar) and Angus (Strathtay Scottish). Traction was the largest remaining privately owned independent bus operator in the UK.

Following the sale of its London bus operations to Macquarie Bank in 2006, Stagecoach UK Bus concentrated on the bus market outside the UK capital, focusing on organic growth and exploring acquisition options.

In September 2005, following competition with its Megabus coach operation, Stagecoach launched a joint venture with Scottish Citylink coaches. After a competition enquiry, in October 2006 Stagecoach was instructed to sell some of the Scottish coach services.

Stagecoach are also active in the rail industry, currently operating the South West Trains franchise (extended for 10 years from February 2007) and having a 49% stake in Virgin Rail Group. In 2007 the group won the right to take over the part of the old Central Trains franchise and the Midland Mainline franchise, creating the new East Midlands Trains operation.

In November 2006 Stagecoach was shortlisted to submit a final bid to operate the Manchester Metrolink tram network. On 3 April 2007 it was announced that the Group were the preferred bidders for the tram and infrastructure maintenance and operation after Serco ended its service during 2007. In May 2007 Stagecoach signed the 10 year contract, which started in July 2007. It is believed that the Group's experience with, and successful operation of, the Sheffield tram system was a factor in the final decision.

In January 2009 Stagecoach bought Preston Bus, a former rival in the Lancashire area. Which it later sold to Rotala plc in early 2011, after being order to by the Competition Commission.

In October 2010 Stagecoach expanded further by re-acquiring East London and Selkent, Stagecoach's former London bus operations.

In August 2011 Stagecoach sold its Manchester Metrolink concession to French state-owned transport group RATP. The company was half way through its ten year contract to operate the network.