I have been musing on the Essex results. Why don't First pull the plug? It doesn't fit in with any other part of the business. They need capital and Chelmsford and Basildon depots are ideal housing sites which the local authorities need (possibly Hadleigh depot too). I think they own Basildon bus station too, and the town centre is ripe for some redevelopment. A transfer of the business is out of the question, not least, I suspect as they seem to overpay drivers compared to everyone else. (Cynically, why else would anyone work for them?)
In Colchester and Southend they're still after more than 20 years playing second fiddle to the former municipal operators (now Arriva) across the network. In any other provincial town as far as I can see things have settled down with a division of territory but not here, and in the Tendring peninsula have reached a draw (at best) with Hedingham (Go-Ahead). They'd not be missed. That being said I suspect they're all all doing better than mid-Essex (Chelmsford and Basildon) where they look a right pigs ear, and it's not looking to get any better with what looks liked a botched re-organisation (before it's even started). Couldn't Ensign be persuaded to take on the 100, and Southend/Canvey routes and the X30, or have First made an even worse hash of them? (Just on the X30 do the X1 changes due in Feb release a bus for the X30 which is the desperate rob Peter to pay Paul state that First are in?) Independent Stephensons have had their (new) depot at Boreham (a few miles outside Chelmsford), ready and waiting for over a decade. On ex-First routes (where they admit they couldn't make money) and a few tenders, they seem to make an operating profit in the order of £2m on £10 turnover, which must surely show how hapless First locally are. Even Uno who play second fiddle in Herts, with a poor network , and heavily reliant on tenders (like First), are no-where near as bad - and are improving apparently anyway having made the appropriate changes over the last 18 months which First haven't even started, probably let's face it, because they can't.
They couldn't sell the (worthless) operation I know, but surely they've demonstrated they can't run it with any prospect of earning a decent profit either? Whilst property prices are still booming in the south-east (unlike the rest of the country) at least they can cut their losses surely? The passengers would gladly see the back of them! It matters. They may be able to rescue some areas. But not Essex. It's too far gone. Irrespective of the state of the Pension Fund, or any accounting tricks. Even the anonymous management (whoever they are) keep mum and their heads below the parapet. Too ashamed, I hope. It speaks volumes. It's certainly embarrassing watching the Norwich customer service unit as they try their best, endlessly, to defend the indefensible with no help whatsoever. They surely ought to be spared the humiliation, too.
