(20 Apr 2026, 10:45 am)SN69 ZRC wrote Well for one, everyone claiming Stagecoach's service 18 was just as bad when it was evidently more on time. I don't see how Northstar are more punctual than Stagecoach when Stagecoach ran it on time more often. I'm afraid you don't seem to know what punctual means.
Another claim was that Stagecoach never notified Nexus regarding timetable issues; but they did. As I mentioned previously, there was two timetable changes in the same year due to timetable issues.
And while I understand Northstars situation and understand why they don't, Stagecoach were overall more punctual by being able to put a fourth bus on when needed.
On Sundays and evenings, some drivers are still forgetting to serve BT on the rare scheduled trips via BT, that's not very punctual.
I'm not at all blaming Northstar for being less punctual, but I am however stating the facts that they are no where near Stagecoach level of punctuality on the 18s, like some of you are claiming.
Having worked in multiple industries which rely on extremely high levels of punctuality, I’m more than aware of the definition. If I followed the Stagecoach approach to punctuality I’d have been sacked long ago.
Do you have any actual evidence for the Stagecoach operation being more on time?
As I say, I tried to use it 4 times for part of my commute and each time it didn’t turn up when it was meant to. I frequently saw it on my lunch break too, late the majority of the time. I’ve used the Northstar service twice due to torrential rain, and both times it’s actually been waiting time when I got on.
How often did Stagecoach put this elusive 4th bus into action? Evidently all the times I tried to use the service, or saw crippled old E400s with a queue behind them crawling up Freeman Road, they weren’t using them.
Unless you’re involved in the inner workings of Stagecoach, which would explain the heavy bias on show here, then I’d query how you’d know how often they raised punctuality concerns with Nexus?
As I’ve said elsewhere, Stagecoach don’t even seem capable of adjusting their own timetables to account for late running hotspots. As a prime example of this, majority of PM peak express departures from Eldon Square leave late and are even worse by the first timing point as they’ve put no extra time in to account for the traffic on the A167.
I can’t comment on BT as I’m not watching bustimes 24 hours a day, but once again Stagecoach are hardly holier-than-thou in that regard.
I don’t think I’ve ever said Northstar are operating this fully to time, and they themselves have been quite clear that they aren’t due to a number of circumstances, but this idea that Stagecoach were significantly better (in any regard) is completely untrue.
