Tuesday 9th June 2026
As well as in Southend-on-Sea (and also Preston – which I’ve yet to visit) it all kicked off in Stevenage last week where Stagecoach is flexing its muscles against Arriva.
It doesn’t seem that long ago (February 2024), Stagecoach extended its Bedford to Hitchin routes 9A and 9B onwards to Stevenage bringing its buses into the 1960s New Town for the first time by competing against Arriva’s routes 100/101 which link Luton and Hitchin with Stevenage with connections between the latter two towns going right back to London Transport Country Bus days.
Now in this latest skirmish, from the beginning of the month, Stagecoach has struck out again and this time introduced a local bus route in Stevenage itself.
New route SB12 links the Chells residential area with Stevenage town centre every half an hour in the peaks and hourly off-peak…
… in direct competition with Arriva’s busy and well used route SB1 which serves the same stops as well as continuing on to serve Chells Manor and Poplars.
The SB1 currently runs every 20 minutes…
… but in a fight back move against the interloper, Arriva has registered an improved 15 minute frequency to begin at the end of the month.
The SB1 route to Chells was famously the very first Superbus route introduced way back in early London Country days in 1971 with a bright yellow and blue livery under the then new and revolutionary ‘Superbus’ branding. More routes followed but by 1980 the branding changed to the plainer Stevenage Bus.
However, 50 years after its introduction, Arriva reintroduced the brand in 2021 on a ‘heritage liveried bus’ to mark that anniversary…
… and now it’s back again with yellow SB logos reintroduced to four Wright StreetLite buses, three of which are used on the SB1 at any one time…
… with the strap line reminding passengers it’s “the original, best and frequent Superbus!”.
I had a couple of rides up and down the route last Friday morning travelling on buses on both the SB1 and SB12 to see how things were going at the end of the first competitive week.
It was evident Stagecoach hasn’t yet made much of an inroad into Arriva’s market share with lightly loaded buses passing well occupied Arriva ones.
Some of that is obviously down to unfamiliarity among passengers which will change as the weeks go by with Stagecoach buses being noticed going up and down the route.
Some is down to relative frequencies, particularly off-peak, with Stagecoach only making an hourly presence, and some is down to Arriva’s erratic time keeping I observed on Friday with some journeys running 15 minutes late and getting just in front of the Stagecoach bus.
That late running wasn’t by design as one bus I saw was as late as 20 minutes and effectively meant a journey was missing which is not a sensible modus operandi when you’re faced with competition.
It meant Arriva buses had numbers as high as 32-35 on board on some journeys (effectively a double load) compared to Stagecoach carrying ones and twos with only one I saw with around six.
Stagecoach departures on the SB12 from the bus station were originally planned for the same stand G as Arriva’s SB1 but at the last minute were reallocated to stand J meaning most passengers still queue and board from the stand they’re familiar with – stand G…
… with very few moving further along to stand J and therefore not noticing Stagecoach’s relative infrequent departure from there.
Unusually for Hertfordshire County Council I noticed timetable displays hadn’t yet been updated along the route…
… and even more strange all the timetables in the bus station had been removed…
… leaving just multiple notices with the same message…
… and another with a QR code linking to upcoming departures which I wasn’t convinced were even all showing in ‘real time’ as a late running SB1 was missed off.
Some of the large electronic departure screens by each stand were also not working.
However, Hertfordshire’s Intalink website has the new timetables online as well as an updated network map for Stavenage and out along the route to Chells I noticed every bus shelter…
… had a notice from BUGS (Bus Users Group Stevenage)…
… explaining about the new SB12 together with a copy of the Stagecoach SB12 timetable.
Stagecoach are interworking the SB12 with buses on its newly numbered route 9D which provides an hourly service between Stevenage, Hitchin and Henlow Camp (roughly half way along the route to Bedford) which runs on the opposite half hour to the 9A and 9B between Stevenage, Hitchin and Bedford and have seen a frequency reduction from hourly (on each of the 9A and 9B) to each now running two-hourly.
This means, effectively Stagecoach has redeployed a resource that ran hourly between Henlow Camp and Bedford to instead run hourly to one of Stevenage’s prime bus residential areas making for quite a canny move.
Except a newly motivated Arriva is not going to take that without a counter reaction and the upcoming SB1 frequency increase is evidence of that.
Another one that’s going to be interesting to watch in the coming months.
Roger French
Summer blogging timetable: 06:00 TThSSu
BusAndTrainUser 
I’m so glad you blogged about this, Roger. Personally it makes me really cross. I know we are in a deregulated, competition is king, profit driven bus system… BUT, the people who live in the villages served by the 9A/9B have seen a halving of their bus service, now waiting up to 2 hours and unable to get to work and college in some cases. All the while, Stagecoach citing it’s not commercially viable, not making profit, etc etc… YET they can essentially waste money pointlessly competing against a well established local route in a New Town dominated by one company where most people will have network period tickets. One might suggest if they’ve got money to waste providing this duplicate service, they got money to make on the 9A/9B. Those services are always busy, and on the occasions where single decks are used can often be standing room only. It is a mad decision and one not being taken lightly of the local residents who are campaigning hard. Interestingly, this is not the first time Stagecoach have attempted to reduce the 9A/9B. The last time they did, they came back with their tail between their legs just a few months later reinstating the half hourly frequency! It truly is Beggar’s Belief!
LikeLiked by 2 people
This strikes me as a battle between two very badly run operators.
Stagecoach East is ceding ground in Bedford to Grant Palmer who have taken 4 routes off them in the past couple of years, most recently and surprisingly Bedford to Northampton. As an earlier post says the 9 has been reduced to 2-hourly on each route, with an e30 extension from Hitchin to Stevenage competing with Arrivas e15 frequency.
S East also introduced a ludicrous hourly one way loop service in Luton to Luton Airport against Arrivas 6/8 buses an hour, now inevitably withdrawn.
In Stevenage Arriva has cut back the town buses relentlessly. Chells only running every 20 minutes and if you live in Poplars look at Roger’s map to see how long it takes to get into town, no encouragement to use the bus. The 20 minute frequency is clearly milking profit on the Chells service. The whole town network needs a rethink. Arriva has also decimated services in Hemel Hempstead and Watford, can you imagine that Hertfordshire’s largest town (Watford)does not have a depot.
What’s needed in Stevenage is a decent competitor, Stagecoach’s hourly off peak frequency is a joke and will never get a following.
No wonder Hertfordshire is looking at franchising
LikeLiked by 1 person
All seems rather pointless. I give it 3 months before it goes back to the status quo.
LikeLike
I agree with the comments on the halving of the 9A and 9B. When i have used these routes for off peak journeys out of hitchin they have been well used with passenger numbers often in double figures. By the time the buses reach Bedford there is often a standing load. How can this be uneconomical? Stagecoach’s resources would be far better utilised going back to the hourly service on the 9A and 9B.
John
LikeLike
Stevenage gets very good coverage in the BTF film All That Mighty Heart. Green RTs working Stevenage town services, crew RFs and towards the end, sight of two of the film’s “characters” going to London for a night out by Green Line RF rather than by train. The way the producers pack so much “London” and “transport” into such a superb short is an absolute joy.
Living in Walton on Thames “doing” the LCBS Superbus was a sinch: Green Line through London using a Golden Rover for 99P.
LikeLike
Needless to say, Arriva’s Chells-marked buses sometimes escape. I saw one in Letchworth on a 55 the other day! Rob F
LikeLike
The 9A through Arlesey is now carrying standing loads at times as now 2 hourly, causing problems for commuters, college students trying to get to Bedford etc. The local councillor is on the case and trying to get the local MP involved.
LikeLike