Go-Ahead acquires four coach operators

[darloscott]

Really interesting to see this finally go public yesterday! There are Go Ahead logos on many of the fleet now already, seen some Compass coaches with them too. No doubt with it being half term next week they’ll all have them very soon!

Caledonian are not included in the sale as far as I understand. They’ll continue to operate separately.
This purchase does gain Go Ahead some significant territory in the Yorkshire area though… and with some very lucrative contracts too!

 

[Fox192]

Is there any chance in the future they may put the public buses in East Yorkshire livery, like dales and district?

 

[SCH117X]

Is there any chance in the future they may put the public buses in East Yorkshire livery, like dales and district?

Given the fact Leeming Bar is a more logical base for much of the the "North Riding" operation I can see Dales & Dristict being consumed into North Riding. East Yorkshire do not have a 53, 73, 138 or 139 so only two Dales & District services would need to be renumbered to avoid duplication - the Monday to Friday only 136 between Ripon and Melmerby Business Park and the Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday only 144 between Bedale and Masham

 

[Delenn]

The biggest issue with relocating the North Riding operation would be drivers. Can't see many from Pocklington wanting to relocate.

 

[dodecahedron67]

North Riding services will not be relocating to Leeming Bar.

There is a very serious and well progressed plan to get a depot within the York ring road and this will become the North Riding/York base.

 

[darloscott]

Given the fact Leeming Bar is a more logical base for much of the the "North Riding" operation I can see Dales & Dristict being consumed into North Riding. East Yorkshire do not have a 53, 73, 138 or 139 so only two Dales & District services would need to be renumbered to avoid duplication - the Monday to Friday only 136 between Ripon and Melmerby Business Park and the Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday only 144 between Bedale and Masham

Where do people come up with these daft ideas? Pocklington to Malton is 18 miles, it's 40 miles from Leeming...

 

[SCH117X]

Where do people come up with these daft ideas? Pocklington to Malton is 18 miles, it's 40 miles from Leeming...

I did say "much" not all. Leeming is, for example 37 miles closer to Ripon, 16 miles closer to Boroughbridge, 8 miles closer to Raskelf and 7 miles closer to Knaresbrough than Pocklington. Consider just how long it would take for a replacement for a failed vehicle to turn up at Ripon for example from Pocklington 51 miles away.

 

[dodecahedron67]

I did say "much" not all. Leeming is, for example 37 miles closer to Ripon, 16 miles closer to Boroughbridge, 8 miles closer to Raskelf and 7 miles closer to Knaresbrough than Pocklington. Consider just how long it would take for a replacement for a failed vehicle to turn up at Ripon for example from Pocklington 51 miles away.

All of this is irrelevant as the plan is for North Riding & York services to be based in York where a depot is being procured.

Realistically the only services you’d run from Leeming would be the 82/83/182 Little explorers and maybe the 80. But when there is the option to run everything from York, this is then pointless. You would also run into problems with cycling buses back to Pocklington, and drivers not wanting to swap from Pock to Leeming!

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

I did say "much" not all. Leeming is, for example 37 miles closer to Ripon, 16 miles closer to Boroughbridge, 8 miles closer to Raskelf and 7 miles closer to Knaresbrough than Pocklington. Consider just how long it would take for a replacement for a failed vehicle to turn up at Ripon for example from Pocklington 51 miles away.

The reality is that the North Riding operation is really centred on York. That's the focal point of the operations where the NR operations converge.

Perhaps more likely is that the creation of a York depot may render Pocklington redundant in due course. I hope not as I've always had a soft spot for that outpost.

 

[AlexG99]

I could be wrong but it appears the entire Proctors / Dales & District operation has now been fully moved to Leases Farm Yard which is just up the road from Leeming Bar industrial estate. From what I’ve also seen, it appears the “Dales & District” side of the business is being dropped and replaced fully with just Proctors on the sides of all their service buses. Am happy to be corrected though!

 

[geoffk]

Go-Ahead seem to favour buying coaching operations, which is a change of direction. (e.g. Pulhams Coaches). Is this because of uncertainty in the bus field such as franchising and the additional cost of converting to EVs?

I didn't know Pulham's had been sold but not surprising if the family decided not to continue the business or perhaps didn't want to rely on tendered work.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

I could be wrong but it appears the entire Proctors / Dales & District operation has now been fully moved to Leases Farm Yard which is just up the road from Leeming Bar industrial estate. From what I’ve also seen, it appears the “Dales & District” side of the business is being dropped and replaced fully with just Proctors on the sides of all their service buses. Am happy to be corrected though!

Was up in Northallerton in August and at least some of the fleet were carrying Proctors names as well as Go Ahead. Given how much the D&D operation has reduced, it's not surprising that they've decided to amalgamate onto the one site, but thanks for the heads up.

 

[AlexG99]

Was up in Northallerton in August and at least some of the fleet were carrying Proctors names as well as Go Ahead. Given how much the D&D operation has reduced, it's not surprising that they've decided to amalgamate onto the one site, but thanks for the heads up.

No worries! Yeah, it appears at least 2 different businesses have since moved into the previous yard at Leeming Bar industrial estate.

 

[SCH117X]

Definitate rebranding (or is it debranding?). The 23 reg Merc Sprinter Ilesbus i-City used on the Ripon City services spent ages in unbranded white before gaining Dales & District vinyls but those have now been replaced by Procters ones. Wonder how many months will pass before the website changes, where incidentally the Ripon City services get no mention

Dales & District Bus Time Tables | North Yorkshire | Procters Coaches

Dales & District Bus time tables for North Yorkshire. Dales and District bus services currently take part in the 1 way £1 scheme.

procterscoaches.com

Thought it would be more logicall if rebranding to use the North Riding brand as applied to various Pocklington bases East Yorkshire buses working North Yorkshire Council tenders.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Definitate rebranding (or is it debranding?). The 23 reg Merc Sprinter Ilesbus i-City used on the Ripon City services spent ages in unbranded white before gaining Dales & District vinyls but those have now been replaced by Procters ones. Wonder how many months will pass before the website changes, where incidentally the Ripon City services get no mention

Dales & District Bus Time Tables | North Yorkshire | Procters Coaches

Dales & District Bus time tables for North Yorkshire. Dales and District bus services currently take part in the 1 way £1 scheme.

procterscoaches.com

Thought it would be more logicall if rebranding to use the North Riding brand as applied to various Pocklington bases East Yorkshire buses working North Yorkshire Council tenders.

Think the buses also work on some closed school contracts where you can substitute a Proctors coach (or vice versa) so perhaps more sensible to have them all as Proctors. More likely that substitution will happen with a much reduced bus fleet.

 

[stevieinselby]

Wonder how many months will pass before the website changes, where incidentally the Ripon City services get no mention

The attention to detail from Dales & District over the years has consistently been non-existent. Their website is usually out of date and/or missing some services, they have had numerous destination boards programmed in with spelling mistakes, I suspect they haven't registered the Ripon City services correctly as they aren't showing on bustimes, heck it was only pretty recently that they introduced live tracking. I make no judgement on whether or not they are any good at running buses, but they haven't been any good at running a business, for sure, which may be connected with the way their operations have shrunk over the years.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

The attention to detail from Dales & District over the years has consistently been non-existent. Their website is usually out of date and/or missing some services, they have had numerous destination boards programmed in with spelling mistakes, I suspect they haven't registered the Ripon City services correctly as they aren't showing on bustimes, heck it was only pretty recently that they introduced live tracking. I make no judgement on whether or not they are any good at running buses, but they haven't been any good at running a business, for sure, which may be connected with the way their operations have shrunk over the years.

I suggest you have a look at their published financial results - you might be rather surprised how good they are. The bus side has shrunk but that's because they've focussed on developing the coach side of the business and that is what attracted Go Ahead.

 

[SCH117X]

The attention to detail from Dales & District over the years has consistently been non-existent. Their website is usually out of date and/or missing some services, they have had numerous destination boards programmed in with spelling mistakes, I suspect they haven't registered the Ripon City services correctly as they aren't showing on bustimes, heck it was only pretty recently that they introduced live tracking. I make no judgement on whether or not they are any good at running buses, but they haven't been any good at running a business, for sure, which may be connected with the way their operations have shrunk over the years.

All the Ripon City service are covered by a North Yorkshire Council timetable leaflet https://northyorkstravel.info/timetable/RSmay24.pdf so all their web site needs a link.

 

[Bristol LHS]

When Procters ran the 71 Northallerton - Ripon, the buses ran with electronic blinds for ‘Ripon City Center’. They were very late to adopt contactless, and the social media presence is still pretty laughable (posts all in caps, low res jpgs of timetables posted that are impossible to read). That said, Go Ahead will presumably sort that out, and as TheGrandWazoo comments, the coaching side seems to be doing well despite the service bus retrenchment. Hodgsons are very dominant in Northallerton now, except for the 73, a complete reversal in ten years, when it was pretty much all Dales and District.

I haven’t seen a Dales and District branded bus in weeks, all seems to be Procters branded now.

 

[AlexG99]

Service 70 from Northallerton to Ripon don’t you mean? Lol, They did actually run a 71 service from Northallerton to Romanby though! Most journeys on the 70 were done commercially before they put it out to tender in case anyone wasn’t aware.

Just noticed on bustimes that Services 53, RS1 and RS2 are now showing on the website lol

The attention to detail from Dales & District over the years has consistently been non-existent. Their website is usually out of date and/or missing some services, they have had numerous destination boards programmed in with spelling mistakes, I suspect they haven't registered the Ripon City services correctly as they aren't showing on bustimes, heck it was only pretty recently that they introduced live tracking. I make no judgement on whether or not they are any good at running buses, but they haven't been any good at running a business, for sure, which may be connected with the way their operations have shrunk over the years.

I have just noticed on Bustimes that Services 53, RS1 and RS2 are now showing on the website.

Currently in Northallerton and I’ve seen three of their service buses on 53/73, all of which now carries Proctors branding so definitely no more Dales & District.. also looks like the destination screens have been updated as well.

 

[darloscott]

I see East Yorkshire have announced they’re giving the 182 and their 31X journeys to Procters to operate.

North Riding and York Bus Route Changes from 10th November

From 10th November, we’re introducing some changes to our North Riding and York Locals bus routes.

www.eastyorkshirebuses.co.uk

North Riding 182

From November 11th, our sister company, Procters, will operate Service 182 to a revised timetable. All East Yorkshire tickets will still be accepted, and we’re ensuring transfer options for students at Ripon School and Boroughbridge High School between Services 182 and 82 at Ripon.

Service 31X

Our sister company, Procters, will operate Service 31X from 11th November under the exact timetable run by East Yorkshire. You can still use your East Yorkshire bus tickets as usual.

 

[stevieinselby]

I see East Yorkshire have announced they’re giving the 182 and their 31X journeys to Procters to operate.

What's interesting there is that at the moment, the 182 interworks with the 82, and the 31X interworks with the 80.

The 182 looks like it could operate as a stand-alone diagram with one bus, although it will be a little bit tight to retain a 2-hourly service.

The 31X is, on schooldays, one return journey from York to Kirkbymoorside and back – and unless Proctors are also inheriting some school contracts in York it will be an oddly uneconomic diagram to run.

 

[YorkRailFan]

The 182 looks like it could operate as a stand-alone diagram with one bus, although it will be a little bit tight to retain a 2-hourly service.

It looks like buses on the 82 will alternate between the 82 and the new express route between York and Ripon, 84, instead of continuing to Knaresborough as the 182.

 

[Delenn]

What's interesting there is that at the moment, the 182 interworks with the 82, and the 31X interworks with the 80.

The 182 looks like it could operate as a stand-alone diagram with one bus, although it will be a little bit tight to retain a 2-hourly service.

The 31X is, on schooldays, one return journey from York to Kirkbymoorside and back – and unless Proctors are also inheriting some school contracts in York it will be an oddly uneconomic diagram to run.

Proctors already have some college runs in York.

 

[AlexG99]

Any idea if this is a closed door type of route they’ve also gained or not? Noticed they’ve been doing this a good few months now, potentially longer.

 

[SCH117X]

Looks to be to a Ripon to Lightwater Valley staff working

 

[AlexG99]

Noticed the 16 plate MMC has been on the first day of them operating Service 182 between Ripon & Knaresborough today.

 

[Delenn]

Noticed the 16 plate MMC has been on the first day of them operating Service 182 between Ripon & Knaresborough today.

Yes, we were expecting a Strata.