McGill's Buses - Renfrewshire & Inverclyde

[overthewater]

Isn't the new contract for 7 years?

 

[NorthClyde320]

Isn't the new contract for 7 years?

Yes, from what I could find it runs from 2018-2025.

Does anyone know how the length of a contract is determined, as some contracts can be for 3, 5 or 7 years? I know temporary contracts can be up to 6 months.

 

[overthewater]

I think SPT are trying to get longer term contracts to save money while also making sure company have to stick around with the investment. IE here is brand new bus it will be used for 7 years.

 

[ClydeCoaster]

Stagecoach must have been a 3 year contract? Shuttle Buses were on it before that.

 

[alangla]

There seems to be a load of dealer white E300s floating about on the 17 just now. Legals are on a sheet of paper stuck to the window but they have fleet names on all 4 sides & the destinations work. Any idea what’s going on?

 

[GaryMcEwan]

There seems to be a load of dealer white E300s floating about on the 17 just now. Legals are on a sheet of paper stuck to the window but they have fleet names on all 4 sides & the destinations work. Any idea what’s going on?

At least one of them comes from Somerset Passenger Solutions, not to sure where the rest come from - could be the same place. Have they got fleet that are VOR?

 

[Bus Guru]

David Martin now non executive chairman of First Group resigns as a Mc Gills director

Mcgill s accounts for 2018 will be filed by end of month. Total disaster expected

 

[PaulMc7]

David Martin now non executive chairman of First Group resigns as a Mc Gills director

Mcgill s accounts for 2018 will be filed by end of month. Total disaster expected

More cuts inbound then on their services. In a bit of a miserable state tbh

 

[Bus Guru]

New bankers at Mcgills, Santander replacing Bank of Scotland

Garages at Greenock, inchinnan , Johnstone and Coatbridge given individually as security to the bank This prevents them selling any garages when they are offered as security .

 

[overthewater]

All the depots are safe? Why has there been a change of bank?

 

[PaulMc7]

Interesting considering they've slashed their network in Coatbridge down to just SPT tenders now. If anything it looked like they wanted rid of that depot

 

[Bus Guru]

Can't really get rid of Coatbridge very easily Proceeds from sale would go to Santander due to that property being a security to the bank Proves Coatbridge is owned not leased

 

[PaulMc7]

Can't really get rid of Coatbridge very easily Proceeds from sale would go to Santander due to that property being a security to the bank Proves Coatbridge is owned not leased

Yeah it's a weird one. Don't think they've got any services left that aren't SPT tenders in Coatbridge if memory serves correct

 

[Bus Guru]

It's weird Paul that's for sure

 

[PaulMc7]

Sums up Mcgills in recent times though tbh

 

[Scotrail314209]

What baffles me is why McGills don't accept the Daytripper, when their network covers most of Strathclyde.

 

[Gingerbus1991]

What baffles me is why McGills don't accept the Daytripper, when their network covers most of Strathclyde.

They dont!!??

 

[Scotrail314209]

They dont!!??

Nope, they only accept it on certain routes, one of them being the 757 from Paisley to the Airport.

 

[Observer]

Yeah it's a weird one. Don't think they've got any services left that aren't SPT tenders in Coatbridge if memory serves correct

At the end of the day Coatbridge just didn't work out the way they wanted to, just like Dumbarton when they took the McColl's services.

Of course they still have some SPT services, but they have been drastically decreased over the years. It's not like the clean sweep when Henderson Travel went out of business.

Yes, they might have cleaned Monklands up for a while, sweeping up most independent operators but not for long.

The bus war with United on two routes didn't help either...and who won in the end when McGill's pulled their services?

 

[PaulMc7]

At the end of the day Coatbridge just didn't work out the way they wanted to, just like Dumbarton when they took the McColl's services.

Of course they still have some SPT services, but they have been drastically decreased over the years. It's not like the clean sweep when Henderson Travel went out of business.

Yes, they might have cleaned Monklands up for a while, sweeping up most independent operators but not for long.

The bus war with United on two routes didn't help either...and who won in the end when McGill's pulled their services?

Always forget Mcgills took McColls services. I still remember the 204X too. Yeah Coatbridge seems to be an independents dream tbh. First scaled back to just the 201 and Mcgills have no non-SPT services now. The train improvements definitely play a massive part in the area too and considering it's an area full of poverty there's a lot of cars on the road too

 

[gingerheid]

They do seem to have had a disastrous time with acquisitions. Buying companies and more or less closing them down is only a good thing to do if you aren't paying very much!!!

Can't really get rid of Coatbridge very easily Proceeds from sale would go to Santander due to that property being a security to the bank Proves Coatbridge is owned not leased

However if there's lending secured on a property that means they're paying interest and repayments on it, and if they sold it they would save money because they wouldn't have to (and may even get a proportion of the sales proceeds too; it's likely a company the size of McGillls would have a separate agreement with the bank to cover things like that, and negotiating the terms of such an agreement could even be a reason for changing bank).

 

[156478]

What baffles me is why McGills don't accept the Daytripper, when their network covers most of Strathclyde.

With Daytripper there is no definitive reimbursement of the costs of the travel undertaken. As apart from the amount sold they have no definitive figures on when or how they are used.

Zonecard diary data is used to portion the revenue taken from Zonecard to all the participating operators.

No such mechanism applies for the Daytripper.

Any route that is A SPT contract must accept all SPT tickets however.

 

[Bus Guru]

Legally Mcgill s accounts must be filed at companies house by Monday but waiting until the deadline until they are lodged isn't usually a sign of great results

Santander will have seen their management accounts though and run their slide rules over things and wouldn't be investing in them if they are a complete basket case.

There must be a lot of equity in the four garages I think for Santander to have confidence even though they will have discounted their worth from valuations made by chartered surveyors to be safe.

Really think that the Easdales would do a BHS of they could and sell it to a sucker for £1 problem is there aren't many suckers out there

 

[overthewater]

Mcgill should have went to Monklands back in 2012/13 instead of Dumbarton that was strange move which cost them dearly, it might have worked out better in Monklands. Mcgills is alot smaller compared to post Arriva days.

 

[NorthClyde320]

The way McGill's are performing on some of the SPT routes they operate, particularly the 72, 166, 172, 247, 310 & 329 at the moment they might not have these for much longer, I think the company has serious maintenance issues atm going by the amount of breakdowns and the amount of hired in white buses they are operating.

Wasn't there a story going about a few years ago the Go Ahead group were offering £70 million for McGill's but the Easedale's valued the company at £100 million? They would be lucky to get anywhere near a half of that value today.

 

[PaulMc7]

The way McGill's are performing on some of the SPT routes they operate, particularly the 72, 166, 172, 247, 310 & 329 at the moment they might not have these for much longer, I think the company has serious maintenance issues atm going by the amount of breakdowns and the amount of hired in white buses they are operating.

Wasn't there a story going about a few years ago the Go Ahead group were offering £70 million for McGill's but the Easedale's valued the company at £100 million? They would be lucky to get anywhere near a half of that value today.

Surprised First haven't gone after the 72, 172 and 329 considering that they operate in areas mainly covered by other First buses. Looking at 20/30 million max on a good day for now. In a fairly poor state as a company

 

[Observer]

What is the story with the white buses really? There's so many of them it's questionable.

 

[Scotrail314209]

I remember when arrive had Paisley - Glasgow you had the 36/38/39, what happened to the 39 and the 36, did they just become merged into the 38?

 

[Bus Guru]

Yes all of these SPT services are unreliable due to breakdowns , probably due to bad maintenance which will come out in the wash when the postponed PI goes ahead .

SPT are stuck between a rock and a hard place because there aren't many operators capable of doing all of these services apart from First who will inevitably be expensive causing SPT budgetary problems

 

[Anthony ross]

The way McGill's are performing on some of the SPT routes they operate, particularly the 72, 166, 172, 247, 310 & 329 at the moment they might not have these for much longer, I think the company has serious maintenance issues atm going by the amount of breakdowns and the amount of hired in white buses they are operating.

Wasn't there a story going about a few years ago the Go Ahead group were offering £70 million for McGill's but the Easedale's valued the company at £100 million? They would be lucky to get anywhere near a half of that value today.

If I remember correctly there was a story about go ahead but they decided that the owners wanted to much money for the business so they dropped there offer