Has Magic Bus lost its er ...magic?

Low fares ... great value ... it's Magic Bus! That's what the branding used to be for Stagecoach's low-cost brand. Intended to look like another operator back in the day using low fares and "competing" against Stagecoach and whichever poor company had upset Souter and his merry men, the brand has come of age lately and has very little resemblance of the old Magic Bus.

Used in Manchester to attract students on the university corridor, Magic Bus makes no secret these days that it is part of Stagecoach. Branding proudly states that it is part of the Souter empire and specific 'magic' tickets are available for those who just use the blue buses.

But has the point been lost? It would appear so. Stagecoach only use this to get rid of the competition and after introducing the brand in various places (Glasgow and Rotherham/Barnsley spring to mind) it has never really left Manchester since its introduction 20 years ago when things were very much different.

So is it time to pack off the wizard that adorns the rear of the vehicles? Perhaps not as the idea is very good and maybe this is where some operators are missing a trick. You do have two different types of bus user. There's the ones who want Wifi, chargers for their phones, waitress service (okay maybe not that one!) but there are still a number of passengers who for them would happily have a slight reduction in frequency, vehicles that don't necessarily have such mod cons but are cheaper. This business model fits both.

Mainline in South Yorkshire flirted with Bargain Bus, which was Dennis Dominators painted in a horrendous pink livery in Sheffield to compete with what was Yorkshire Terrier and of course themselves, offering low fares running at peak times. It's not as daft as it sounds.

With the advent of Quality Contracts and the like, it's impossible to see how this would fit in now but we have to remember that passengers want different things. Phil Stockley writes a great write-up in this month's BUSES magazine highlighting a similar issue in Hucknall. Well worth a read if you get the chance.

Stagecoach would do well to keep Magic Bus as I think it has potential to work elsewhere, but don't make it too obvious what you're doing as it dilutes the point of the exercise.