It must’ve cost a small fortune running the Newport operation over the past five months; I’m all for innovation and ideas but Rhys needs better business advice before embarking upon expensive ventures. The ‘tease’ concerning starting routes in Cardiff also indicates that Rhys fails to learn by experience.
There’s still the two bus Susscom/Babcock contract and that’ll need two of the three licence discs, handy that!
I expect the money from rail replacement and uni work helped a bit mind in the running of the OneIt must’ve cost a small fortune running the Newport operation over the past five months; I’m all for innovation and ideas but Rhys needs better business advice before embarking upon expensive ventures. The ‘tease’ concerning starting routes in Cardiff also indicates that Rhys fails to learn by experience.
There’s still the two bus Susscom/Babcock contract and that’ll need two of the three licence discs, handy that!
I expect the money from rail replacement and uni work helped a bit mind in the running of the One
It must’ve been obvious some months ago to Nick Siddaway, Cityfox Accountant and TM that the Newport operation wasn’t generating sufficient revenue to pay the bills; they could’ve deregistered the route in the usual timescale and retained a professional reputation. Also knowing that they had been refused a new Operators Licence and had a confirmed contract in Bristol, common sense surely?
It’s interesting to note that Rhys had an operators licence Bristol Greyhound Limited , surrendered sometime back .
It’s sad that passengers and employees are losing out by Rhys pulling out of Newport without statutory notice; also a negative for passenger transport as a whole and the Young Bus Managers Network.
They'd probably have lasted longer if they didn't lease heavy duty buses and just bought something smaller, older, but still painted and liveried. Just see the prices of second hand Darts and Solos nowadays...
Running before you can walk has happened by many new operators and this was no different. 10/10 for effort, but a 'see me after class' for execution.
If this was the first occasion, ‘running before you can walk’ might be an excuse however, Rhys has been ‘running’ with various real and imagined ventures since at least 2015. It’s probably more ‘see me’ and special measures.
I would suggest that most people would be supportive of any entrepreneur making his or her way, despite the odd pitfall etc. In that respect, I would certainly applaud an individual. However, that must be tempered and I would suggest that sympathy with Mr Hand should be taken "in the round".
For a start, the controversies involving Mr Hand have been ongoing since 2013. That was when he first came to the attention of people when he appeared to be responsible for websites/FB pages purporting to be Claribels. Impersonating a real business is serious and there have been some other "relationships" with other businesses that have been queried in the past. There have also been instances of outright plagiarism from other businesses. Then you have the teasing and announcement of various ventures that have then been rowed back from - again generating scepticism from people.
Despite that, it has been apparent that most people have been giving Mr Hand the benefit of the doubt, especially given how there was some tangible results in terms of MyFirstMile, the Keynsham 39 bus/taxi link, the Bristol taxi business, and then the visible working of Rail Replacement, supporting the First Bath Uni relief operations, and latterly the Newport venture (though the latter strategy seemed perverse - leased vehicles, expensive to run, on a relatively marginal route).
Also, might be worth considering the impact not only on the drivers but also any debtors that might be out of pocket.
Some might suggest you are being exceptionally kind in your summing up, by omitting other issues in which he is alleged to have been involved.
Some might suggest you are being exceptionally kind in your summing up, by omitting other issues in which he is alleged to have been involved.
I've been following the Cityfox/Foxstar journey for a while now. Must admit, Foxstar Newport did appear, from a distance (I'm from up north!) to be quite successful.
Omitted only for reasons of brevity though there are some things that can't be shared, publicly or otherwise.
I could've mentioned KernowFox, the Bristol night bus, the Plymouth taxi "weakness" among others. Which ones were you thinking about?
You can always PM meI was thinking of yet another matter but, as you say, there are some things that can't really be put on a public forum.
Quite a interesting use of the word "successful". To operate for four months before collapsing overnight.
You can always PM me
Having visited Newport in January, it was obvious that The One would not survive. I did write to them with a list of reasons why it was not economic.