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First Group: General Discussion

Robertj21a

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I don't think any Eclipses have moved to Potteries though they have just received 9 Streetlites (lucky them....) from First Manchester.
 
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TheGrandWazoo

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63107+63108 now reported, photographed as being in Leicester

Believe 63106 also reported there

I don't think any Eclipses have moved to Potteries though they have just received 9 Streetlites (lucky them....) from First Manchester.

Helping clear some of the elderly stuff out you’d expect

Reports attributed to Nigel Eggleton suggest that Leicester is getting some B9s (ex Leeds????) to displace 4 B7TLs to Worcester. Worcester losing long StreetLites to Leicester, replaced by Citaros (from Slough?) so looks like they’re getting sorted for Leicester CAZ.

Lots of fleet moves about. However, I’d not seen anything about Essex Eclipses in Potteries so wanted to check with Dragon East that I was interpreting his post correctly.
 

Robertj21a

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Believe 63106 also reported there



Helping clear some of the elderly stuff out you’d expect

Reports attributed to Nigel Eggleton suggest that Leicester is getting some B9s (ex Leeds????) to displace 4 B7TLs to Worcester. Worcester losing long StreetLites to Leicester, replaced by Citaros (from Slough?) so looks like they’re getting sorted for Leicester CAZ.

Lots of fleet moves about. However, I’d not seen anything about Essex Eclipses in Potteries so wanted to check with Dragon East that I was interpreting his post correctly.

That sounds about right. Citaros will be from Slough.

63106-63108 at Leicester, the other 9 at Potteries.
 

winston270twm

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As said there were detailed plans in place for fleet moves but Manchester has put pay to that so everything has changed again!

How has Manchester put pay to fleet moves? Surely the fact that Rotala at least haven't taken all of the Bolton fleet on hire (with non purchased) has allowed for additional cascades out, plus the services cuts at Oldham have further allowed for extra Streetlite cascades.
 

KendalKing

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How has Manchester put pay to fleet moves? Surely the fact that Rotala at least haven't taken all of the Bolton fleet on hire (with non purchased) has allowed for additional cascades out, plus the services cuts at Oldham have further allowed for extra Streetlite cascades.
The StreetLites at Oldham have been replaced by Eclipse bodied B7RLE's.
 

tbtc

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Reston City Centre
Some Max versions have but there have been short ones released via service reductions?

Talking of service reductions, we've some in South Yorkshire next month (traditional "start of September", new school year... using the reduced service levels during the school holidays to disguise the true nature of the overall cuts) - it seems to be enough to get rid of the remaining B7Ls and Tridents/Presidents (all ex-London double deckers in the FSY fleet are essentially the same to, so I lose track of which are which).

It wouldn't be First SY if they didn't cut services every few years as a way of permitting the worst buses in the fleet to be scrapped (though I've heard that in other operations they actually buy *new* buses to allow the oldest ones to be scrapped or cascaded away?) :lol:
 

mic

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anyone know what has happened to 30945 it was reported to be going to be reinstated at Oldham it had an annual test done and been retaxed but no sign of it
 

bristolbuses

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anyone know what has happened to 30945 it was reported to be going to be reinstated at Oldham it had an annual test done and been retaxed but no sign of it

It is currently at Lawerence Hill depot in Bristol, transferred a few weeks ago along with 30936.
 

Surreyman

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29 Jan 2012
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From "Transport Xtra"

"FirstGroup has dropped plans to sell its Oldham bus depot, its last remaining depot in Greater Manchester.

First sold the Manchester Queens Road depot to Go-Ahead this spring (LTT 01 Mar) and has announced the sale of its Bolton depot to Rotala (LTT 05 Jul). First Bus managing director Giles Fearnley told LTT the Oldham depot had been up for sale, too, but no acceptable offer had been made".
 

Anthony ross

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From "Transport Xtra"

"FirstGroup has dropped plans to sell its Oldham bus depot, its last remaining depot in Greater Manchester.

First sold the Manchester Queens Road depot to Go-Ahead this spring (LTT 01 Mar) and has announced the sale of its Bolton depot to Rotala (LTT 05 Jul). First Bus managing director Giles Fearnley told LTT the Oldham depot had been up for sale, too, but no acceptable offer had been made".


Interesting turnaround
 

In Focus

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13 Sep 2018
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From "Transport Xtra"

"FirstGroup has dropped plans to sell its Oldham bus depot, its last remaining depot in Greater Manchester.

First sold the Manchester Queens Road depot to Go-Ahead this spring (LTT 01 Mar) and has announced the sale of its Bolton depot to Rotala (LTT 05 Jul). First Bus managing director Giles Fearnley told LTT the Oldham depot had been up for sale, too, but no acceptable offer had been made".

Now may be a good time to buy shares ,currently at 127 can only see them going up in the short term.
 

Mal

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Liverpool
From "Transport Xtra"

"FirstGroup has dropped plans to sell its Oldham bus depot, its last remaining depot in Greater Manchester.

First sold the Manchester Queens Road depot to Go-Ahead this spring (LTT 01 Mar) and has announced the sale of its Bolton depot to Rotala (LTT 05 Jul). First Bus managing director Giles Fearnley told LTT the Oldham depot had been up for sale, too, but no acceptable offer had been made".

The way I see it, is if a better offer came from other interested Groups or companies, then First would go for it.
 

Robertj21a

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The way I see it, is if a better offer came from other interested Groups or companies, then First would go for it.

This is what makes the statement meaningless. First have said, for a very long time, that they will consider offers for any part of the UK Bus operation. Just saying that they've dropped their plans for Oldham simply means that it's still the same as it's always been - available for sale.
I assume the reason that it's not selling is that First value it more than anyone else does (!), or there's still a Pensions issue, or quite simply, nobody sees the Oldham operation as particularly attractive anyway.
 

Rod Harrison

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15 Oct 2017
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I wonder if they will continue to give up routes like 415, 149 and Ashton routes and then sell the main routes separately? Maybe the 59, 81, 409, 181/182 and 350 would be attractive to the other three Manchester operatives.
 

ivanhoe

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15 Jul 2009
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Initially you think you would make money in Oldham. However, doing a bit of research, the nature of Oldham has changed dramatically . It has lost so much Industry that it appears to have the appearance of a dormitory town which is only 6 miles from Manchester.
The tram would have taken up much of the business westwards to Manchester. It kind of leaves the scraps for the bus Industry. Bearing in mind then, that a lot of its business after 9.30 will be concessionary travel which we all know, doesn't cover the bills, if it is the dominant fare. I can therefore see problems ahead in trying to achieve a favourable sale.
 

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