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First Group: General Discussion

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johnw

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22 May 2013
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151
It’s hard to say if the previous MD actually created the King's Lynn problems. But the Competition it faced from the localy based Lynx which I believe started after Stagecoach bought Norfolk Green did not help. King's Lynn to Hunstanton cannot sustain two operators at the frequencies being offered. Stagecoach did not help themselves by ditching the local NG identity.

NG was never going to run as a stand-alone devision within Stagecoach. But if the 2000s structure of UK Bus had been left in place ie the 3 divisions of what was Midland Red South, United Counties and Cambus and not been rearranged into 2 divisions it might have given NG more managerial time from Cambridge. This apples to Bedford which was managed much better from Northampton than Cambridge.

(Mods this probably should be either a new thread or the Stagecoach one!)
 
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overthewater

Established Member
Joined
16 Apr 2012
Messages
8,161
Should be Monday - opps!

If the buyer isn't Transdev I think a lot of people will be very very surprised.

 
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overthewater

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16 Apr 2012
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I'm no fan of Edward Transdev but I would rather have them instead of Rotala any day of the week.
 
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Kahuna47

Member
Joined
13 Sep 2017
Messages
112
overthewater said:
I'm no fan of Edward Transdev but I would rather have them instead of Rotala any day of the week.
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Hear, hear! If Rotala get Bolton the fire brigade will be called due to the anount of drivers leaving at the same time and getting stuck in the doors...
 
M

mbonwick

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26 Oct 2006
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Kendal
overthewater said:
Is this new MD the person that pulled Stagecoach out of King lynns
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Nope, Michelle Hargreaves is the new MD, having been intrim MD of East since December.
Highly regarded wherever she's been, and known as a turnaround specialist (which is why she was latterly part of the business change team).
 
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Andyh82

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Joined
19 May 2014
Messages
3,528
I bet it won’t be Transdev.

Although how reliable is the post on the other forum anyway, it could be from a fantasist?
 
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Kahuna47

Member
Joined
13 Sep 2017
Messages
112
First has been getting taken over once a month for years according to the rumour mill.

Although with whats going on at the moment it's entirely possible, but I won't believe anything until its there in black and white...
 
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Kahuna47

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13 Sep 2017
Messages
112
darloscott said:
I did hear a murmur that the Go Ahead deal was supposed to be released this Monday so it would tie in.
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If I was a betting man I'd guess that BN will be announced on Monday with OM the Monday after. By the look of the news story released by the Telegraph it would allude to it all being a done deal.

Not to say it will happen like that, but like I say, if I fancied a flutter
 
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Kahuna47

Member
Joined
13 Sep 2017
Messages
112
Bolton have 163/162, 471, 472/4, 511, 524
QS have 92/93 95, 97, 98 and 135.

Oldham have nothing that comes over.

Interesting point is that all three depots have common ground at Rochdale and Middleton bus stations really. They do partly at Piccadilly but don't really 'meet' as such.
 
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Kahuna47

Member
Joined
13 Sep 2017
Messages
112
overthewater said:
TY, So who else would want these depots?
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Its a difficult one tbh. Transdev have reasons to take either of them. Rotala could go for Bolton with their closeness to Atherton and Preston. Stagecoach could be interested in Bolton too, but it could trigger CMA input.

Otherwise, you could be looking at any number of firms from out of area really. The obly one you can really rule out is Arriva since they've said they haven't the interest.

IMHO, its a shame Go Ahead didn't take more - I really rate them highly as a company.
 
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overthewater

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16 Apr 2012
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I wouldn't rule out Go ahead either at this moment of time. Of course there going to say were not looking at the other depots..
 
K

Kahuna47

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Joined
13 Sep 2017
Messages
112
overthewater said:
I wouldn't rule out Go ahead either at this moment of time. Of course there going to say were not looking at the other depots..
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Ha, my other half said something like that when she read 'not interested at the moment'. Does it mean in the next year or in the next few days! :)
 
B

baza585

Member
Joined
1 Aug 2010
Messages
638
TheGrandWazoo said:
Wow..... I am genuinely astonished by some of the comments on here.


That Go South Coast attracts this level of criticism is akin to those people who rail against TrentBarton or Transdev. I mean, short of Lothian, Nottingham and Reading, where are all these fantastic operations that are so superb that, in comparison, these organisations are so poor? I've not been to Brighton recently, but I can certainly speak first hand of BlueStar, Thamesdown and Salisbury Reds. With the exception of Thamesdown (and they are sorting out what they inherited), they are excellent. Not perfect by any stretch but well presented vehicles, good drivers, investment in fleet, good marketing. Elsewhere, it's fair to say that Go North East's weekly tickets are a bit steep. They may have trimmed back recently but I'd suggest you look at how they have expanded in the last 15 years especially at the expense of Arriva who have certainly retrenched more. The other criticisms of Go North East is that they can be a bit "fur coat, no knickers" so a nice paint job and vinyls yet the internal condition might not be quite so good.
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interested (as always<() in your views on GSC. As you may recall, I live in Bluestar's patch and use their service to commute almost daily. There is much to admire about GSC - the slick marketing, the never ending stream of self congratulatory press releases, the investment in the fleet (though they do still have the oldest buses in Southampton as well as the newest...).

However, operationally, particularly on the cross city services in Southampton, they are dire. Timekeeping is appalling, bunching just gets worse and worse during the day and no attempt is seemingly made to regulate the service. Where First do compete, they at least try to get things back on track by actively regulating services to plug gaps; I only wish they were still running on the route I use. I do sympathise with the Bluestar drivers, but sadly GSC seem more interested in winning meaningless awards than providing a good service. They seem to have "operational problems" most Monday mornings; no explanation as to what these are.

Some balance maybe, based on daily experience of using their services. It isn't remotely as wonderful as Andrew Wickham and his acolytes would have us believe.
 
TheGrandWazoo

TheGrandWazoo

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18 Feb 2013
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20,028
Location
Somerset with international travel (e.g. across th
baza585 said:
interested (as always<() in your views on GSC. As you may recall, I live in Bluestar's patch and use their service to commute almost daily. There is much to admire about GSC - the slick marketing, the never ending stream of self congratulatory press releases, the investment in the fleet (though they do still have the oldest buses in Southampton as well as the newest...).

However, operationally, particularly on the cross city services in Southampton, they are dire. Timekeeping is appalling, bunching just gets worse and worse during the day and no attempt is seemingly made to regulate the service. Where First do compete, they at least try to get things back on track by actively regulating services to plug gaps; I only wish they were still running on the route I use. I do sympathise with the Bluestar drivers, but sadly GSC seem more interested in winning meaningless awards than providing a good service. They seem to have "operational problems" most Monday mornings; no explanation as to what these are.

Some balance maybe, based on daily experience of using their services. It isn't remotely as wonderful as Andrew Wickham and his acolytes would have us believe.
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I can only speak as I’ve found though I appreciate you use BlueStar more regularly than me :D Most of my recent experiences with GSC have been Salisbury Reds and Thamesdown and can’t really fault them too much. Damory perhaps a little more but then again, you’re going to run older deckers on schools and then use them on marginal stuff between the peaks. I also rate FHD highly too and the binary partisan tripe on the Soton bus blog is a special type of tragic.

The way some folk have a blanket criticism of First... it’s almost like they haven’t travelled on them ;)
 
M

Mwanesh

Member
Joined
14 May 2016
Messages
792
TheGrandWazoo said:
I can only speak as I’ve found though I appreciate you use BlueStar more regularly than me :D Most of my recent experiences with GSC have been Salisbury Reds and Thamesdown and can’t really fault them too much. Damory perhaps a little more but then again, you’re going to run older deckers on schools and then use them on marginal stuff between the peaks. I also rate FHD highly too and the binary partisan tripe on the Soton bus blog is a special type of tragic.

The way some folk have a blanket criticism of First... it’s almost like they haven’t travelled on them ;)
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Well said about the Soton bus blog its not objective.In my view i think the Oxford and Chiltern Bus page is unbiased and clear.
 
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