Hansons

[Mike360]

Just thought i'd start a new topic on Hansons to see what others think of this company overall. It's great that they've acquired a new service 004 to and from Harborne to Merry Hill which people are happy to have back and today I traveled on one of there Enviro 200's which was a well looked after bus and someone was saying if the 004 is successful then it could be increased to every 20 minutes and when I got on the bus in Harborne it was very busy and more popular than I thought it would have been for a new route.

[4504]

Just thought i'd start a new topic on Hansons to see what others think of this company overall. It's great that they've acquired a new service 004 to and from Harborne to Merry Hill which people are happy to have back and today I traveled on one of there Enviro 200's which was a well looked after bus and someone was saying if the 004 is successful then it could be increased to every 20 minutes and when I got on the bus in Harborne it was very busy and more popular than I thought it would have been for a new route.

I don't ever use Hanson buses, but they've got a good range of buses, from E200s, E300s and 29F darts

[4504]

As for the 004, I'm not sure why it has withdrawn, it doesn't go the same way as the 636, and provides people who live on the Ridgacre road, a service to Halesowen. I'm glad it's been reinstated

[winston]

Hanson's seem like a high quality independent, I'm not sure they can grow much bigger at their current garages premises in Lye though, I think it's a tight squeeze as it is.

The 004 always used to be pretty busy under Ludlow's, not as busy as the 002 but still carried good loads, that route went downhill hill when Diamond curtailed it to operate Harborne – Halesowen only, that was the nail in its coffin

[PM]

Might give the 004 a try this week along with going to the Black country and Chelmsley Wood. Yes, i like Hanson's a lot. They are a bit like Claribels to be honest-high quality independant though I have heard several rumours that Arriva are trying to tempt the owners with huge cheques!!! Yet, for me it is a shame that they dont have a website maybe this is something that they and Claribels could do to improve.

[D10]

Talking of Hansons, I saw on VOSA today that they had registered a Sunday service on the 227 to Kinver for one day only on the 17th June. Does anybody know what is happening on that day?

[4504]

Do Hansons operate Sunday services?

[Tomjusttom]

Talking of Hansons, I saw on VOSA today that they had registered a Sunday service on the 227 to Kinver for one day only on the 17th June. Does anybody know what is happening on that day?

Do Hansons operate Sunday services?

I can confirm it is only a special one day service for the Kinver Fair.

[Tomjusttom]

several rumours that Arriva are trying to tempt the owners with huge cheques!!!

That rumour has been said for Midland and Rotala too but not National Express - I wonder why! I was talking to the Hansons owner the other day about the runours and she has said that she has no intention to sell at all.

[PM]

several rumours that Arriva are trying to tempt the owners with huge cheques!!!

That rumour has been said for Midland and Rotala too but not National Express - I wonder why! I was talking to the Hansons owner the other day about the runours and she has said that she has no intention to sell at all.

Thats good then. itll be good to see Hansons remain as a high quality family owned independant for which I felt sorry when diamond muscled in on the 226.....

[hartshill busman 724210]

Yeh Peter...... Typical laziness on diamonds part to set up on an existing route and not develop their own...
I would suggest though that with Arriva winning all the centro contracts Rotala in the West mids are looking at tougher times ahead.

[Ash]

Diamond seem to do well on their commercial services they operate but agree would be good for them to develop some new routes or for example try some new things with their exisiting service im sure a sunday service on the 002 would be a good try out as im sure shoppers would use it for Merry Hill even if its a 002E between Halesowen and Merry Hill

[PM]

Yeh Peter...... Typical laziness on diamonds part to set up on an existing route and not develop their own...
I would suggest though that with Arriva winning all the centro contracts Rotala in the West mids are looking at tougher times ahead.

I agree and Rotala are looking at tough times ahead with the Arriva presence. If I were them, I would close Redditch, and keep a small high quality commercial operation of the Solihull Signature routes, a high quality 10H, the 56, 50, 301, 404E, 16 and try to reintroduce the 87, 120 or 74. I would try to buy out Claribels and aim for around a 100 vehicle operation with perhaps a small flights hallmark coaching operation.

[winston]

That rumour has been said for Midland and Rotala too but not National Express - I wonder why!

As regards Arriva not being interest in National Express, it may have something to do with the minor difference in price tags between the above companies of some £940 Million based on today's closing price, NXWM are part of a large multinational group and I very much doubt NXWM would be sold off individually even it Arriva were interested, as it produces high profit margins. Plus any deal would no doubt attract interest from the competition commission. It's also questionable whether Deut she Bahn (Arriva's parent company) could finance another deal of that size, even at NX's current low share price, NX are worth more than what DB paid for Arriva

[PM]

I think the comment was that NX arent interested in Hanson's not that Arriva isnt interested in NX(WM).