Rotala take over First Redditch and Kiddiminster

[StourportSam]

An interesting photo on Flickr of former First 31452 with its new operator (not my photo)
Follow the link if you can stand using the horrible new Flickr!!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bmb15/8781036621/

[StourportSam]

I travelled on R455 CCV today, running the 3 in Kidderminster from Redditch garage.
The seats looked like they had been recently reupholstered (left over moquette from First??)

Was also nice to see the 'enjoy travelling - First' sticker still on the driver's door.
Also interesting to note part of the driver security screen had been removed.
The bus still shows its fleet number 42455!

Seems odd this bus has been fitted with an LED screen - when it has no ramp?

I also saw the repainted 54 plate dart in Kidderminster garage from the bus I was on - looks smart and the aqua handrails look quite at home with the blue I think.

[Ash]

Does anyone know when exactly the decision regarding whether diamond can takeover First's services officially will be made?

[winston]

Does anyone know when exactly the decision regarding whether diamond can takeover First's services officially will be made?

Someone on another forum seemed to think it was by the 24th July, but I pointed out that the decision is whether the Oft actually intend to investigate the acquisition, as I see it if they do decide to investigate it could be sometime yet before Rotala know the outcome. Unless anyone knows differently?

[Cedric]

From this  link  I think  every thing has gone through
http://www.oft.gov.uk/OFTwork/mergers/decisions/2013/diamond-bus#.UheADcJwbcs

[winston]

Its been cleared so it looks that way. Will be interesting to see the full text to see if undertakings have been given

[PM]

From this  link  I think  every thing has gone through
http://www.oft.gov.uk/OFTwork/mergers/decisions/2013/diamond-bus#.UheADcJwbcs

Great news! Right decision made here-though stagecoach and natex will be a bit irritated, stagecoach in particular as they are known to have wanted the operation

[winston]

From this  link  I think  every thing has gone through
http://www.oft.gov.uk/OFTwork/mergers/decisions/2013/diamond-bus#.UheADcJwbcs

Great news! Right decision made here-though stagecoach and natex will be a bit irritated, stagecoach in particular as they are known to have wanted the operation

Lets hope Rotala can now sort the remaining issues out in Redditch and run a tight ship there, I'd like to now see some new B7RLE ordered for Redditch (57/58) & Tividale (4) now the uncertainty has been lifted.

I'm sure if NX or Stagecoach would have been seriously interested in the operation they would have easily outbid Rotala

[Ash]

From this  link  I think  every thing has gone through
http://www.oft.gov.uk/OFTwork/mergers/decisions/2013/diamond-bus#.UheADcJwbcs

Great news! Right decision made here-though stagecoach and natex will be a bit irritated, stagecoach in particular as they are known to have wanted the operation

Lets hope Rotala can now sort the remaining issues out in Redditch and run a tight ship there, I'd like to now see some new B7RLE ordered for Redditch (57/58) & Tividale (4) now the uncertainty has been lifted.

I'm sure if NX or Stagecoach would have been seriously interested in the operation they would have easily outbid Rotala

I would like to think there will be some investment but I guess there won't be by any large scale. Some branding for certain service would be also be useful promoting the service and going an individual brand like the black country connection was. The average fleet age of diamond is not bad but there are too many mpd darts and solo's and to few heavy duty single deckers such as the b7rle or citaro's.

[PM]

From this  link  I think  every thing has gone through
http://www.oft.gov.uk/OFTwork/mergers/decisions/2013/diamond-bus#.UheADcJwbcs

Great news! Right decision made here-though stagecoach and natex will be a bit irritated, stagecoach in particular as they are known to have wanted the operation

Lets hope Rotala can now sort the remaining issues out in Redditch and run a tight ship there, I'd like to now see some new B7RLE ordered for Redditch (57/58) & Tividale (4) now the uncertainty has been lifted.

I'm sure if NX or Stagecoach would have been seriously interested in the operation they would have easily outbid Rotala

I would like to think there will be some investment but I guess there won't be by any large scale. Some branding for certain service would be also be useful promoting the service and going an individual brand like the black country connection was. The average fleet age of diamond is not bad but there are too many mpd darts and solo's and to few heavy duty single deckers such as the b7rle or citaro's.

I agree here and based on the loads I saw on the 4/H/M I saw yesterday they are definitely justified. Whats good is when you have a 4H/M come into west brom with a 4 just in front that goes to the stand and collects passengers while the 4H/M can unload and then leapfrog ahead and collect passengers. This happened yesterday and both buses were full on arriving in walsall where there were 3 NX ones sat around so they unloaded and went straight off again and both were full again by west brom. Admittedly they were a cadet and W337VGX so not massive buses but still very busy.

[Tony]

Message from Simon Dunn

YourBus

I have noted on the West Midlands Bus forum comments about the relationship
between the two companies.

I am the Chief Executive of Rotala and as such if I or any Director or Rotala
had any involvement in YourBus it would trigger an announcement

Scott is my older brother, and we have sold, rented vehicles and services to
them historically but today there is no on going business relationship, other
than what would be described as in the normal course of business.  So for
example we sold and took in part exchange from them a number of vehicles this
year.

Redditch/Kidderminster

I am committed to confidentiality by the OFT at the present moment in time, so I
am unable to comment on their judgement. 

Moving forward, we have already started the process in replacing a large number
of vehicles.  We are working towards removing all the Ex-First deckers and None
DDA vehicles (if anyone is interested the DDA deckers will be sold at £10-11k
each), and at the same time increasing the number of long low floor single
decked DDA vehicles. 

The OFT process has not helped, we have learnt a lot from it, but now it is over
we can get focused on improving the network and service delivery


Simon

[PM]

Message from Simon Dunn

YourBus

I have noted on the West Midlands Bus forum comments about the relationship
between the two companies.

I am the Chief Executive of Rotala and as such if I or any Director or Rotala
had any involvement in YourBus it would trigger an announcement

Scott is my older brother, and we have sold, rented vehicles and services to
them historically but today there is no on going business relationship, other
than what would be described as in the normal course of business.  So for
example we sold and took in part exchange from them a number of vehicles this
year.

Redditch/Kidderminster

I am committed to confidentiality by the OFT at the present moment in time, so I
am unable to comment on their judgement. 

Moving forward, we have already started the process in replacing a large number
of vehicles.  We are working towards removing all the Ex-First deckers and None
DDA vehicles (if anyone is interested the DDA deckers will be sold at £10-11k
each), and at the same time increasing the number of long low floor single
decked DDA vehicles. 

The OFT process has not helped, we have learnt a lot from it, but now it is over
we can get focused on improving the network and service delivery


Simon

Shame Simon cannot just join the forum to discuss rotala as they are my favourite company and it would be nice to have a member of diamond's management to answer our questions  :) And I don't think people now consider the relationship between rotala and yourbus big news any more what is big news is that yourbus are receiving financial backing from another company but no one seems to know who!!!!!

I understand the situation regarding redditch and kidderminster and I am definitely on rotala's side-the oft have just been downright unhelpful to them as have local people and politicians. Diamond have taken a lot of unfair criticism most of which is unfair and ungrounded. I do however think that saying a large number of vehicles have been replaced is a little short of the truth even for me who really would defend rotala in terms of their fleet replacement. At that price they are certainly priced to sell which is good as Im not a massive fan of them.

It would be great though Simon if you could answer some of our questions such as:

Could the 002 be improved?
Are new buses destined for the WM operation and if so of what kind?
Will W901/4 JNF be coming to the west midlands along with the withdrawn park and ride centro at wessex?
Will the other jnf dart be re entering service-either 902/3 the one that hasnt entered service.
There are a lot of buses withdrawn-could these not be priced more to get shot of them as they are just depreciating and the money could be put towards more buses
Would rotala group consider buying more secondhand buses such as a dart slf from drew wilson and a dart slf and enviro300 from southdown psv
Also, could the ex wessex mpds be repainted and DIAMOND logos put onto all vehicles
Could the 4M frequency be increased, returns advertised and evening/sunday services reinstated

Hopefully you can help with maybe at least one or two of these queries
I'm glad you read the forum but it would be great if you could answer enthusiasts questions even though you are no doubt very busy   :)

[Ash]

Message from Simon Dunn

YourBus

I have noted on the West Midlands Bus forum comments about the relationship
between the two companies.

I am the Chief Executive of Rotala and as such if I or any Director or Rotala
had any involvement in YourBus it would trigger an announcement

Scott is my older brother, and we have sold, rented vehicles and services to
them historically but today there is no on going business relationship, other
than what would be described as in the normal course of business.  So for
example we sold and took in part exchange from them a number of vehicles this
year.

Redditch/Kidderminster

I am committed to confidentiality by the OFT at the present moment in time, so I
am unable to comment on their judgement. 

Moving forward, we have already started the process in replacing a large number
of vehicles.  We are working towards removing all the Ex-First deckers and None
DDA vehicles (if anyone is interested the DDA deckers will be sold at £10-11k
each), and at the same time increasing the number of long low floor single
decked DDA vehicles. 

The OFT process has not helped, we have learnt a lot from it, but now it is over
we can get focused on improving the network and service delivery


Simon

Shame Simon cannot just join the forum to discuss rotala as they are my favourite company and it would be nice to have a member of diamond's management to answer our questions  :) And I don't think people now consider the relationship between rotala and yourbus big news any more what is big news is that yourbus are receiving financial backing from another company but no one seems to know who!!!!!

I understand the situation regarding redditch and kidderminster and I am definitely on rotala's side-the oft have just been downright unhelpful to them as have local people and politicians. Diamond have taken a lot of unfair criticism most of which is unfair and ungrounded. I do however think that saying a large number of vehicles have been replaced is a little short of the truth even for me who really would defend rotala in terms of their fleet replacement. At that price they are certainly priced to sell which is good as Im not a massive fan of them.

It would be great though Simon if you could answer some of our questions such as:

Could the 002 be improved?
Are new buses destined for the WM operation and if so of what kind?
Will W901/4 JNF be coming to the west midlands along with the withdrawn park and ride centro at wessex?
Will the other jnf dart be re entering service-either 902/3 the one that hasnt entered service.
There are a lot of buses withdrawn-could these not be priced more to get shot of them as they are just depreciating and the money could be put towards more buses
Would rotala group consider buying more secondhand buses such as a dart slf from drew wilson and a dart slf and enviro300 from southdown psv
Also, could the ex wessex mpds be repainted and DIAMOND logos put onto all vehicles
Could the 4M frequency be increased, returns advertised and evening/sunday services reinstated

Hopefully you can help with maybe at least one or two of these queries
I'm glad you read the forum but it would be great if you could answer enthusiasts questions even though you are no doubt very busy   :)

Some fair points there diamond dart, the 4 should return definitely every 15 minutes between Walsall and West Bromwich and run it 5 minutes before the 4M service similar to how it was before with the 404E and was working. 

[winston]

Message from Simon Dunn

YourBus

I have noted on the West Midlands Bus forum comments about the relationship
between the two companies.

I am the Chief Executive of Rotala and as such if I or any Director or Rotala
had any involvement in YourBus it would trigger an announcement

Scott is my older brother, and we have sold, rented vehicles and services to
them historically but today there is no on going business relationship, other
than what would be described as in the normal course of business.  So for
example we sold and took in part exchange from them a number of vehicles this
year.

Redditch/Kidderminster

I am committed to confidentiality by the OFT at the present moment in time, so I
am unable to comment on their judgement. 

Moving forward, we have already started the process in replacing a large number
of vehicles.  We are working towards removing all the Ex-First deckers and None
DDA vehicles (if anyone is interested the DDA deckers will be sold at £10-11k
each), and at the same time increasing the number of long low floor single
decked DDA vehicles. 

The OFT process has not helped, we have learnt a lot from it, but now it is over
we can get focused on improving the network and service delivery


Simon

Shame Simon cannot just join the forum to discuss rotala as they are my favourite company and it would be nice to have a member of diamond's management to answer our questions  :) And I don't think people now consider the relationship between rotala and yourbus big news any more what is big news is that yourbus are receiving financial backing from another company but no one seems to know who!!!!!

I understand the situation regarding redditch and kidderminster and I am definitely on rotala's side-the oft have just been downright unhelpful to them as have local people and politicians. Diamond have taken a lot of unfair criticism most of which is unfair and ungrounded. I do however think that saying a large number of vehicles have been replaced is a little short of the truth even for me who really would defend rotala in terms of their fleet replacement. At that price they are certainly priced to sell which is good as Im not a massive fan of them.

It would be great though Simon if you could answer some of our questions such as:

Could the 002 be improved?
Are new buses destined for the WM operation and if so of what kind?
Will W901/4 JNF be coming to the west midlands along with the withdrawn park and ride centro at wessex?
Will the other jnf dart be re entering service-either 902/3 the one that hasnt entered service.
There are a lot of buses withdrawn-could these not be priced more to get shot of them as they are just depreciating and the money could be put towards more buses
Would rotala group consider buying more secondhand buses such as a dart slf from drew wilson and a dart slf and enviro300 from southdown psv
Also, could the ex wessex mpds be repainted and DIAMOND logos put onto all vehicles
Could the 4M frequency be increased, returns advertised and evening/sunday services reinstated

Hopefully you can help with maybe at least one or two of these queries
I'm glad you read the forum but it would be great if you could answer enthusiasts questions even though you are no doubt very busy   :)

I agree, I think it would be good to have the Rotala chief Exec on the forum. It would be interesting to discuss / hear the issues that face Rotala & the WM Diamond operation.

Now that the Oft decision has gone in Rotala's favour, I would like to see Rotala take the bull by the horns and firstly conduct a full network review in both Redditch & Kidderminster, consulting with their passengers for opinions / suggestions etc, over time I'd also like to see Rotala try and reverse the years of decline & contraction of Pvr within those areas by First Wyvern through enhancing frequencies / route extensions and possibly new routes creating new links and a larger network & link the two garages routes closer still. I think there is potential to expand service linking Bromsgrove, I also think Rotala should considering strengthening the KR operation as it seems Whittles have a greater market share of town routes.

I would also like to see Rotala buy a new fleet of B7RLE for Redditch's flagship 57/58 routes, especially given they are soon to face competition once again. No doubt with a fleet of SLF Darts.

I think it's fair to say that few think Rotala have ties with Yourbus, however it does appear that Yourbus have some sort of financial backers that are intent on weakening Trent Barton. Given the number of new competitive services that are being started with a brand new fleet from day 1

[Ash]

I know that Whittles operates the 192 service to Kidderminster/Stourport but a link between Halesowen and Kidderminster would be ideal and give a good connection between there Worcestershire and Black country services especially with services such as the 4H/002/142/202 all diamond services serving Halesowen.