Lets Take First Scotland because that what I know. I bet other part of the UK could be the same.
Cleaning is already subcontract, Also alot of admin is not controlled locally not even SM, so if certain thing would have to be utilised by other operations in your corporate group. So that not really a cost saving. Of course selling of you assist and renting them back has been such a good idea for others companies,
Dangerous path..
There still short of drivers, and if you were able to get more driver for no bus driving duties I doubt there would want to mix.
This would only work in Aberdeen - the only place left with travel shop somehow. There could deal with Amazon pick but its location no where you could park nearby so it would have to be small parcels. Plus the Travel shop only open 9 - 5, so it would maybe workers? There is locker in Union sq shopping Centre and that open for longer including today. Every other travel shop office is gone. Heck Lost Property office at Larbert was also shut and moved to the so called Head office building. Again the depots have been gutted right out, I doubt there is any spare staff
TauRx Therapeutics already rent office space in Aberdeen depot , First are already letting out parts of its depots.
I can see where your coming from, but the cost savings and merger would be much smaller if you only acquire certain parts of the business. Sainsburys bought Argos are doing the same thing, Bin lorries and buses or parcels and buses are not. How many people actually read the advertisements on buses instead being glued to their phones. I doubt there is demand for new petrol station with franchised minimart, you would have to compete with the supermarkets. There not really any close to there depots.
If you had a proper large space, I dare say you could have big warehouse, where buses are storage overnight and by 6am there all out then and Yoda/Hermies comes in for the morning to sort out the local parcels, but again you would have to get rid of your existing depots to make that that is possible.
Logistics/ Deliveries/ other forms of transport (Uber etc) have been completely transformed in the past decade or so – one of the most changed bits of the economy – other companies have had to adapt to changing tastes (e.g. Supermarkets moving away from having a big shed on the edge of town that people will travel to, to having lots of “local”/”express” shops in communities for people to do their top up shops, with vans delivering the weekly/monthly “big shops”).
Bus companies still feel very twentieth century though – we provide the same service that we’ve always provided, take it or leave it, the only concession to modern developments has been to finally accept debit card payments.
So we have bus depots with huge yards, back from the days when PVRs were a lot higher, sometimes storing dozens of dilapidated vehicles whilst the firm waits for the Accountants to give them permission to finally scrap them.
We have no partnerships with other organisations (e.g. whilst I could earn Nectar Points on a VTEC train, or redeem them against journeys, there’s no loyalty card to encourage me to use buses more often).
We have depots capable of fuelling hundreds of buses per day, where the pumps are fairly unused during “office hours”, but I’m not aware of any entrepreneurial bus company that tries to bring in some revenue for the diesel that they must purchase in bulk at a low price (I’m not even saying it needs to be available to the general public – they could use it for certain commercial organisations).
But we are often stuck in the twentieth century – e.g. your reply that there’d be no point in trying some synergy between a Lost Property office and a place for getting internet shopping sent to, since the Lost Property place shuts at five o’clock – an entrepreneurial organisation would decide to move with the times and offer something more attractive than that.
I’m not saying that all of this would work, mind, I’m just giving examples that I (
a layperson who doesn’t work in the industry) can see where there could be synergies between a bus firm and other businesses, or the existing assets/ land of a bus depot could be better used, or you could find new revenue streams.
You’ve got an operation at each depot with potentially hundreds of drivers, maybe hundreds of vehicles, lots of mechanics, often lots of underutilised yard space, large fuelling facilities, an office that needs to be staffed for Lost Property (so would be ripe to provide additional facilities)… you have lots of contracts being tendered for other “driving” work (e.g. you could bid for the council bin lorry contract, and use that as a “foot in the door” to train staff capable of driving large vehicles to make the switch into driving buses).
At the same time there are a lot of businesses looking to exit the High Street who want to retain some sort of physical “presence”. Look at how companies like Regus have turned office space into a highly lucrative operation (people will pay a premium for short term rental). You could enter into a partnership with businesses to permit people to buy/ collect/ drop off products at the bus depot – it doesn’t have to remain just a “twentieth century” office that closes at five o’clock and only deals in bus enquiries/ lost property.
I can see why an investor who already had transport or retail interests may feel like they could use a bus depot better than the existing bus company can – I can see why an operation with bus depots could be attractive to outside companies (so that the potential bidders doesn’t just have to be the same old list of other bus companies). So if I were a private equity firm who already owned a freight firm or had interests in a motoring organisation or who was part of a consortium that owned something like Kwik Fit then I might see potential in First that isn't being utilised.
Sadly, we probably won't see anyone being proactive regarding First's potential and depots will continue on a downward spiral.
