CT Plus Yorkshire / Powell’s seeking to transfer routes

[Flange Squeal]

Looks like HCT Group’s CT Plus Yorkshire operation is to be no more.



Image: Company bulletin from HCT Group reading “
Yorkshire seeks service transfer
Wednesday 3 August 2022
You will all be aware that we have had significant difficulties
in our Yorkshire operation for some time. We have faced
multiple challenges - a period of difficult trading prior to the
pandemic, the financial impact of the pandemic itself,
followed immediately by the current surge in fuel prices and
labour cost.
Everyone at CT Plus Yorkshire and Powell's - and across the
wider HCT Group - has worked tirelessly to put the
operations in Yorkshire on a sustainable footing, but there is
nothing further to be done and the situation cannot continue
We have two priorities right now - we want to ensure that
services to the public are not disrupted, but most importantly,
we want to preserve as many jobs as possible. We are now
talking with our commissioners across Yorkshire, seeing if we
can transfer as many services as possible over to new
operators. This would mean that all or most of our team can
transfer to new operators with their jobs intact. We expect
this process to take up to a week and we are hopeful that an
agreement can be reached. We will keep you updated on our
conversations and progress in the coming days.
This is an immensely sad day for all of us across the Group,
and we are sorry for the distress that this situation will
inevitably cause.
=
Social Enterprise UK
HCT Group
020 7275 2400
[email protected]”

 

[JD2168]

This is interesting news. Powell’s run a number of contract services & school services in South Yorkshire so will be interesting to see where these will go to. The state of some buses, particularly the Deckers in Sheffield & Rotherham recently on A1 have been noticibly poor with a number running with no or broken blinds & paper route numbers in the window.

This could also explain the number of CT Plus services that went to Globe Coaches recently.

 

[Leeds1970]

CTplus also have a couple of tendered routes in Leeds plus a significant number of school & Mybuses.
i think that they also operate the access bus in Leeds but not 100% sure on that one

 

[gazmark]

This is interesting news. Powell’s run a number of contract services & school services in South Yorkshire so will be interesting to see where these will go to. The state of some buses, particularly the Deckers in Sheffield & Rotherham recently on A1 have been noticibly poor with a number running with no or broken blinds & paper route numbers in the window.

This could also explain the number of CT Plus services that went to Globe Coaches recently.

Powell's also put very low bids in for most of the South Yorkshire work, route 5 being a prime example (lucky if it carries 30 people a day), the tender price was at the lowest end of the market and to be honest would be very lucky to break even at best.... Who will now take over the work, Tm would be a long shot, but my money would be Worst Sheffield to prop them up a little bit longer.

 

[darloscott]

Powell's also put very low bids in for most of the South Yorkshire work, route 5 being a prime example (lucky if it carries 30 people a day), the tender price was at the lowest end of the market and to be honest would be very lucky to break even at best.... Who will now take over the work, Tm would be a long shot, but my money would be Worst Sheffield to prop them up a little bit longer.

More than likely a lot of the routes will disappear entirely if the last tendering round debacle is anything to go by.

 

[Galaxy]

Services lost under Powell's are:

3 (Parkgate - Rotherham - Ravenfield)
Hourly Mon-Sat between 0930 and 1330

5 (Sheffield - Firth Park)
Hourly Mon-Fri daytimes

6 (Sheffield - Millhouses)
Every 40 minutes, Mon-Sat daytimes

10/10a (Sheffield - Manor Park)
Hourly Mon-Sat daytimes (both routes)

18 (Doncaster - Hellaby)
One journey each way, recently cut back

35a (Chapeltown - Warren - Chapeltown)
Every 20 minutes, Mon-Fri all day and sporadic on Saturdays

49 (Doncaster - Sprotborough)
Hourly Mon-Sat mornings

61 (Hillsborough - Bradfield)
Hourly Mon-Sat all day, two-hourly all day Sunday

62 (Hillsborough - Loxley)
Hourly Mon-Sat all day, two-hourly all day Sunday

117 (Rotherham - Bramley)
Hourly Mon-Sat daytimes

201 (Chapeltown - Stocksbridge)
Hourly Mon-Sat daytimes

A1 (Sheffield - Meadowhall)
Every 20 mins in morning peak, then hourly Mon-Fri daytimes

X20 (Barnsley - Doncaster) 'zip'
Hourly Mon-Sat daytimes and towards evening


The A1 has had a chequered life and would be interesting if this ended up back with FSY.

Would Tracky consider redoing the X20 again? Remember this was why Powell's started this when SG pulled the X20 after Covid.

I can't imagine any of the Rotherham town work would come back, partially because of overlaps with existing routes (unless First fancied a route change for some?)

Difficult times for the industry I'm sad to say.

 

[Robertj21a]

Services lost under Powell's are:

3 (Parkgate - Rotherham - Ravenfield)
Hourly Mon-Sat between 0930 and 1330

5 (Sheffield - Firth Park)
Hourly Mon-Fri daytimes

6 (Sheffield - Millhouses)
Every 40 minutes, Mon-Sat daytimes

10/10a (Sheffield - Manor Park)
Hourly Mon-Sat daytimes (both routes)

18 (Doncaster - Hellaby)
One journey each way, recently cut back

35a (Chapeltown - Warren - Chapeltown)
Every 20 minutes, Mon-Fri all day and sporadic on Saturdays

49 (Doncaster - Sprotborough)
Hourly Mon-Sat mornings

61 (Hillsborough - Bradfield)
Hourly Mon-Sat all day, two-hourly all day Sunday

62 (Hillsborough - Loxley)
Hourly Mon-Sat all day, two-hourly all day Sunday

117 (Rotherham - Bramley)
Hourly Mon-Sat daytimes

201 (Chapeltown - Stocksbridge)
Hourly Mon-Sat daytimes

A1 (Sheffield - Meadowhall)
Every 20 mins in morning peak, then hourly Mon-Fri daytimes

X20 (Barnsley - Doncaster) 'zip'
Hourly Mon-Sat daytimes and towards evening


The A1 has had a chequered life and would be interesting if this ended up back with FSY.

Would Tracky consider redoing the X20 again? Remember this was why Powell's started this when SG pulled the X20 after Covid.

I can't imagine any of the Rotherham town work would come back, partially because of overlaps with existing routes (unless First fancied a route change for some?)

Difficult times for the industry I'm sad to say.

Are major operators, particularly First South Yorkshire, in any position to take on extra work given their driver shortage?

 

[duncombec]

Service 113 is transferring to Arriva from 8th August:

Arriva Bus

www.arrivabus.co.uk

Arriva Yorkshire has confirmed today it will step in to run Service 113 from Monday 8th August, as an emergency temporary arrangement in partnership with West Yorkshire Combined Authority and Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust.​

The move follows the news that the incumbent operator, CT Plus, has begun a process of working with local transport authorities to find new operators for its bus services.

Given the importance of the 113 route, running between three hospitals in our community, we clearly would not want to see it unserved. That’s why our team have been working flat-out over the past 24 hours to mobilise resources and arrange cover for this very important service.

Service 113 is a free shuttle bus that connects Dewsbury & District Hospital, Pinderfields Hospital and Pontefract Hospital.

The timetable will remain the same as it is today.

113 timetable

We’re also looking forward to welcoming new colleagues from CT Plus to the Arriva Yorkshire family.

If you would like to drive your career forward with Arriva Yorkshire, with some of the best hourly rates in the region, please apply now through arrivabusjobs.co.uk

"clearly would not want to see it unserved", "working flat out", "very important service"... getting in all the buzzwords there. Interesting they put the bit about pay rates in, too...

 

[gazmark]

Services lost under Powell's are:

3 (Parkgate - Rotherham - Ravenfield)
Hourly Mon-Sat between 0930 and 1330

5 (Sheffield - Firth Park)
Hourly Mon-Fri daytimes

6 (Sheffield - Millhouses)
Every 40 minutes, Mon-Sat daytimes

10/10a (Sheffield - Manor Park)
Hourly Mon-Sat daytimes (both routes)

18 (Doncaster - Hellaby)
One journey each way, recently cut back

35a (Chapeltown - Warren - Chapeltown)
Every 20 minutes, Mon-Fri all day and sporadic on Saturdays

49 (Doncaster - Sprotborough)
Hourly Mon-Sat mornings

61 (Hillsborough - Bradfield)
Hourly Mon-Sat all day, two-hourly all day Sunday

62 (Hillsborough - Loxley)
Hourly Mon-Sat all day, two-hourly all day Sunday

117 (Rotherham - Bramley)
Hourly Mon-Sat daytimes

201 (Chapeltown - Stocksbridge)
Hourly Mon-Sat daytimes

A1 (Sheffield - Meadowhall)
Every 20 mins in morning peak, then hourly Mon-Fri daytimes

X20 (Barnsley - Doncaster) 'zip'
Hourly Mon-Sat daytimes and towards evening


The A1 has had a chequered life and would be interesting if this ended up back with FSY.

Would Tracky consider redoing the X20 again? Remember this was why Powell's started this when SG pulled the X20 after Covid.

I can't imagine any of the Rotherham town work would come back, partially because of overlaps with existing routes (unless First fancied a route change for some?)

Difficult times for the industry I'm sad to s

More than likely a lot of the routes will disappear entirely if the last tendering round debacle is anything to go by.

Could see the 6 (links the Hallamshire hosp with the south west), 61 and 62 (always carries good numbers from Hillsborough to loxley/stannington) and A1 between town and airport business park is normally full at peak times

 

[RELL6L]

CT Plus run quite a number of services in West and South Yorkshire respectively, I assume pretty much all are tendered. They are quite spread out, in West Yorkshire CT Plus have are routes in Leeds, Huddersfield and SE of Wakefield and Powells have routes all over South Yorkshire. Some are minor but quite a few are hourly services and they provide the main service to areas of towns and cities that First (mainly) have decided not to bother with. If they cease operating it is hard to see who will take them over with the current staffing position. I fear for a lot of routes like this over the next few months. To get more staff available we need a recession... oh hang on!....

 

[61653 HTAFC]

CT Plus run quite a number of services in West and South Yorkshire respectively, I assume pretty much all are tendered. They are quite spread out, in West Yorkshire CT Plus have are routes in Leeds, Huddersfield and SE of Wakefield and Powells have routes all over South Yorkshire. Some are minor but quite a few are hourly services and they provide the main service to areas of towns and cities that First (mainly) have decided not to bother with. If they cease operating it is hard to see who will take them over with the current staffing position. I fear for a lot of routes like this over the next few months. To get more staff available we need a recession... oh hang on!....

One of the routes in Huddersfield is the 341 Huddersfield to Stocksmoor. This service has changed operators several times in the last few years (almost all using minibuses), but 20 or so years ago was a long-established Yorkshire Rider/First service which frequently used full size buses and even double deckers.

 

[darloscott]

Powell’s also run the Doncaster Hospital Park & Ride which being NHS funded will see another operator pretty quickly I imagine.
The SYPTE routes I’m not too sure about… if prices go up rapidly (which I am sure they will…!) then will they just not bother awarding them much like recent routes (32?) in Sheffield?

 

[Bwsbro]

Announced this morning by Travel South Yorkshire that Powells/CT Plus will cease trading on Monday with CT Plus services in Leeds ending at 5pm today

#Leeds, Our services will cease this afternoon at 5pm,

Thank you to all our loyal customers and thank you for traveling with CT Plus.

HCT Group has announced their Powells and CT Plus bus companies will close and services will stop running from Monday 8 August.

Originally founded as Hackney Community Transport in 1982, HCT Group was established in 2008. It operates 19 services across South Yorkshire from its Powells depot in Hellaby, employing around 50 staff.

https://www.travelsouthyorkshire.com/en-gb/news/313ee62f-851c-4fba-8a7b-7f543ff9d148

 

[MCSHF007]

Reported on the South Yorkshire Transport Forum that Stagecoach will take over operation of the 6, 61/62 and 201 on a temporary basis with the contract running until the big change when funding ends in October.

 

[AndyHudds]

One of the routes in Huddersfield is the 341 Huddersfield to Stocksmoor. This service has changed operators several times in the last few years (almost all using minibuses), but 20 or so years ago was a long-established Yorkshire Rider/First service which frequently used full size buses and even double deckers.

I went to get the 17.30 341 on Friday but it showed as cancelled on the departures board in the bus station (I live in Almondbury). I wonder if Stotts or TLC might take on the Huddersfield routes, TLC had the 341 before CT. First did use to run the 341 with double dockers back in the day with a more of an extensive timetable with the last service at 23.00, currently the last service is 19.30, it also ran via Somerset Road as opposed to the current route of Almondbury Bank.

 

[markymark2000]

Not sure how to link it but West Yorkshire Combined Authority (Or West Yorkshire Metro) have put out tenders for some of the CT Plus routes.

Public quote/tender - Batch 715 - Kirklees (Huddersfield) and Leeds district

3 years - September 2022 to September 2025. Contracts to reviewed after 6-9 months. The Authority is seeking a 4th September 2022 start date. If an operator feels they could commence contracts earlier please state so in your bid submission. Contracts within Batch 715 are as a result of notification from CT Plus that they are ceasing to trade

I can't find more specific details than that without signing up for an account.

 

[JD2168]

Cawthorne’s Travel have this week begun operating the 5 & A1 services but to a reduced frequency & Globe Holidays have started running the X20.