February 3rd, 2008
Don’t ride Stagecoach
The public transport company Stagecoach, including one of its brandnames Magic Bus, dominate the student-heavy Oxford Road bus route in Manchester. Unfortunately Stagecoach isn’t a nice friendly company providing low-cost, environmentally-friendly public transport that students might assume, as it is owned by a man named Brian Souter. Brian Souter is well-known for donating between £500,000 and £1,000,000 to run a corrupt polling exercise in his (failed) attempt to stop the repeal of Section 28, a homophobic piece of legislation which, among other things, set back over 10 years attempts to tackle homophobic bullying in schools.
In addition, Stagecoach’s employees appear to have a culture of homophobia, with a gay couple being thrown off a bus in Aberdeen and a gay employee in Manchester recently made complaints about anti-gay comments going unchallenged by senior staff. Queer Up North have called for a boycott of the company until the company’s behaviour changes.
Not only does Stagecoach have a shameful attitude towards LGBT people, but Brian Souter paid himself over £1m in bonuses last year despite the massive rises in fare prices (usually blamed on “rising oil prices”). The company is a disgrace and people should avoid it as much as possible.
For students on the Oxford Road corridor, Finglands is 10p cheaper per single. It is also possible to get a free ride between the Royal Infirmary and North Campus (a short walk from the city centre). Please avoid Stagecoach, and join the group on Facebook calling for a boycott.
