| Company Slogan: | Catch a little luxury... |
| Parent: | Stagecoach |
| Founded: | November 2007 |
| Service Type: | Luxury bus |
| Routes: | 49 |
| Fleet: | Alexander Dennis Enviro300 Alexander Dennis Enviro400 Alexander Dennis Enviro200 MMC Alexander Dennis Enviro400 MMC |
| Operator: | Stagecoach East Stagecoach East Kent Stagecoach East Scotland Stagecoach Cumbria & North Lancashire Stagecoach Merseyside & South Lancashire Stagecoach Midlands Stagecoach South Stagecoach South Wales Stagecoach South West Stagecoach West Stagecoach Yorkshire |
| Website: | www.stagecoachgold.com |
Stagecoach Gold is a luxury bus sub-brand used by various Stagecoach bus subsidiaries in the United Kingdom.
Stagecoach Gold (originally Goldline) was launched in 2007 and was designed to attract more middle-class passengers to choose bus travel as a method of transport as well as to reward passengers on some busy and popular routes.
Stagecoach West currently runs the most Stagecoach Gold routes, nine, as of August 2022. Stagecoach Midlands owns the largest number of Stagecoach Gold branded vehicles with 63 in its fleet as of August, 2023.
The Goldline brand was introduced to try to win more middle-class motorists to bus services. The brand was initially trialled in both Perth, using Alexander Dennis Enviro300 single-deck buses, and Warwick, using Optare Solo midibuses, from November 2007, both on routes which received Kickstart funding from the Department for Transport to help establish the routes. Stagecoach East Scotland invested £300,000 to demonstrate the idea to politicians.[1] [2]
Goldline routes have a luxury specification. Buses have hand-stitched leather seats, metallic paint, special flooring and free WiFi. Drivers wear a special uniform and there is a Goldline customer charter.[1]
In February 2009 the service was expanded to Aldershot and in September 2009 to Cheltenham and Gloucester on route 94. At this stage the brand name changed from Goldline to Stagecoach Gold, as well as the introduction of a new livery with brighter swoops added, as opposed to the previous gold and blue only livery. The reason behind the name change was that Translink had the rights to the Goldline name, using it on their Ulsterbus coach services, and Stagecoach had to pay Translink a royalty.
In 2010, the Stagecoach Gold brand was extended to services run by Scottish Citylink, where Stagecoach have a 35% shareholding, where the Glasgow to Aberdeen and Glasgow to Inverness services were designated as Citylink Gold.[3]
In 2015, all brand new Stagecoach Gold vehicles came equipped with USB charging facilities underneath every seat which enabled passengers to charge their mobile devices whilst on board. USB charging first became available on the Stagecoach in Oxfordshire S4 service which was upgraded to Stagecoach Gold in September 2015.
As of 2016, all brand new Stagecoach buses, including non-gold vehicles, come equipped with high back leather seats, USB charging facilities and many with free onboard Wi-Fi. Subsequently, this means that many of Stagecoach's new non-gold vehicles are now at the same specification as the Gold branded vehicles. As a result, some non-gold routes now have higher specification vehicles than many of the Gold routes as prior to 2015, Stagecoach Gold vehicles did not come equipped with USB charging facilities.
2016 also saw Stagecoach take delivery of the first Stagecoach Gold branded Alexander Dennis Enviro400 MMC and Enviro200 MMC vehicles. The liveries on the new vehicles remain the same as the previous models; however, Stagecoach have slightly modified the interior upholstery with new style leather seats that incorporate a cream-coloured headrest as well as new wood effect flooring.
As of July 2024, there are 37 Stagecoach Gold routes (including night services).
| No./Name | Route start | Route end | Refs | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stagecoach South West | ||||
| GOLD | Paignton | Plymouth | ||
| Stagecoach West | ||||
| 55 | Chippenham | Swindon | [4] | |
| 63 | Forest Green (Nailsworth) | Gloucester | [5] | |
| 94/94X/N94 | Cheltenham | Gloucester | [6] | |
| S3/NS3 | Chipping Norton/Charlbury | Oxford | [7] | |
| S5/NS5 | Bicester | Oxford | [8] [9] | |
| S6 | Swindon | Oxford | [10] [11] | |
| S7 | Witney | Oxford | [12] | |
| S9/NS9 | Wantage | Oxford | [13] [14] [15] | |
| Stagecoach South | ||||
| 1 | Aldershot | Old Dean | [16] | |
| Stagecoach Merseyside & South Lancashire | ||||
| 125 | Preston | Bolton | [17] | |
| 471/472 | Heswall | Liverpool | [18] [19] | |
| Stagecoach South East | ||||
| 16 | Hythe | Canterbury | [20] | |
| Stagecoach Midlands | ||||
| 148 | Coventry | Leicester | [21] | |
| X4 | Peterborough | Northampton | [22] | |
| X46/X47 | Northampton | Raunds | [23] [24] | |
| Stagecoach Cumbria & North Lancashire | ||||
| 300/301 | Carlisle | Whitehaven | [25] | |
| Stagecoach Yorkshire | ||||
| 50/50A | Chesterfield | Sheffield | [26] | |
| X17 | Barnsley | Wirksworth | [27] | |
| Stagecoach South Wales | ||||
| 1/2/5/6/7 | Cwmbran | [28] | ||
| 26 | Blackwood | Cardiff | [29] | |
| 132 | Maerdy | Cardiff | [30] | |
| 151 | Blackwood | Newport | ||
| X24 | Blaenavon | Newport | [31] | |
| No./Name | Route start | Route end | Refs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scottish Citylink | |||
| G9 | Glasgow | Aberdeen | [32] |
| G10 | Glasgow | Inverness | |
| Route Number | Route | Operator | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gold | Torquay - Dartmouth | Totnes - Dartmouth section replaced by service 92. | ||
| 7 | Scone - Hillend | Gold status removed. | ||
| 10 | Rebranded as Stagecoach Long Distance service.[33] [34] | |||
| 13 | Cambridge - Haverhill | Stagecoach East | Gold status removed. | |
| 48 | Service split into 48A, 48C and 48L in 2020 but retains gold status | |||
| 48C | Nuneaton to Coventry via Bedworth | Merged back together as 148 | ||
| 48A | Nuneaton to Atherstone via Mancetter | |||
| 48L | Nuneaton to Leicester via Hinckley, Barwell, Leicester Forest East & Hinckley Road | |||
| 51 | Selsey - Chichester | Gold status removed due to service rebranding.[35] | ||
| 57/N57 | Exeter - Exmouth | Rebranded as Stagecoach Long Distance service. | ||
| 66 | Cheltenham/Stroud/Dursley - Gloucester | Gold status removed due to route changes and low passenger usage. | ||
| 93 | Arle Court P&R - Cheltenham Town Centre | Gold status removed, then service was withdrawn. | ||
| 97/98 | Cheltenham - Gloucester | Rebranded as Stagecoach Long Distance service. | ||
| 120/130 | Blaencwm - Caerphilly | Gold status removed. | ||
| G1 | Warwick - South Farm | Service withdrawn.[36] Replaced by service 1. | ||
| S1/S2/NS1 | Carterton/Witney - Oxford | Gold status removed due to Gold branding withdrawal.[37] [38] | ||
| S4/H4 | Banbury - Oxford/JR Hospital | Stagecoach West | Gold status removed due to Gold branding withdrawal and vehicle reshuffle. | |
| S7 | Carterton - Oxford/Headington | Gold status removed due to low passenger usage and route being discontinued. | ||
| S8/NS8/34 | Wantage/Harwell Campus - Oxford | Gold status removed due to an operator change to Thames Travel.[39] [40] | ||
| SW1 | Carterton - London | Service withdrawn in May 2015 due to low passenger numbers. | ||
| Severn Express | Service withdrawn in June 2020 due to low passenger numbers. | |||
| X4/X5 | Gold status removed due to service rebranding to Lakes Connection. [41] [42] [43] | |||
| X5 | Service withdrawn in June 2020 due to low passenger numbers. | |||
| X14 | Service withdrawn in June 2020 due to low passenger numbers. | |||
| X46 | Exeter - Paignton | Service withdrawn due to low passenger numbers. | ||
| 1/X1 | Rebranded as Stagecoach Local service. | |||
| 5 | Chester - Huntington/Wrexham | Stagecoach Merseyside & South Lancashire | Rebranded as Stagecoach Local service. | |
| 9 | Chester - Piper's Ash | Stagecoach Merseyside & South Lancashire | Rebranded as Stagecoach Local service. | |
| 38 | West Kirby - Eastham Ferry | Stagecoach Merseyside & South Lancashire | Rebranded as Stagecoach Local service. |