For Sale

[winston]

I can't reveal what is happening but something will happen in earlyish 2013, something quite unexpected too, but thats all i can say at this stage.

Fair enough, do you anticipate that there will be an announcement to the stock exchange before the end of 2012 then?

[jc]

I would have to say no.

[tank90]

Badgerline and or Grampian are coming back or Worcestershire County Council have bought the Redditch and Kidderminster Depots and buses so they have more control.

Or the Managers at Redditch and Kidder have bought out Redditch and Kidder along with the name Midland Red West.

[Bob]

Couldnt imagine any Council anywhere buying a bus company

[winston]

Couldnt imagine any Council anywhere buying a bus company

For starters Councils don't have any money to spend on their normal services, let alone buying up bus companies.

Those that still own bus companies are more likely to sell them in the current climate.....

[tank90]

Worcestershire County Council do weird things. I would call WCC Red Squirrel Tories for the simple reason they are handy in realising money that is taken in land/buildings to do things they want to. As far as I know they still own a few old School sites that are no longer used across the county and there are also the Youth centre sites they are selling so they would have money to spend there.

Like jc said some unexpected will happen; and Worcestershire CC doing something against the grain would be unexpected. Unless of course First are keeping Redditch and Kidder and getting rid of Leicester Potteries Hereford and Worcester as they all use the same ticket machines.

[jc]

The new machines at Worcester are the new first standard issue machines in preparation for there new oyster card style tickets ...

Anyone heard about the new multi-op tickets avliable in Worcester, Kidderminster and Redditch from Spring next year?

[tank90]

The Worcestershire Rider has gone quite so far not sure why.

*goes off to the council website to have a look*

[tank90]

"Multi Operator Ticketing

Traditional bus ticketing arrangements can act as a barrier to wider use of bus services as they are complex, poorly understood and are disproportionately expensive where changes of services are required. Such ticketing arrangements can therefore make bus transport an unattractive mode, especially to the irregular user or for more complex journeys.

The County Connecta Multi-Operator Ticketing Scheme covers all journeys within the Worcestershire county boundaries and  benefits the public providing alternative simplified ticketing arrangements and reducing costs where journeys require a change of bus operator.

There are  also local schemes covering the urban areas of Redditch (Redditch Connecta), Kidderminster-Bewdley-Stourport (Kiddy Connecta) and Worcester (City Connecta)

It is expected that the scheme will commence early next year.

The Scheme is governed by a board representing the bus operators (3 members) and Worcestershire County Council (3 members). The County Council provides a non voting chairperson and the scheme is administered by JMP Consultants Ltd.

The current board consist of:

    Non Voting Chairperson: Wayne Arthur - Worcestershire County Council
    Secretary: David Ivill - JMP Consultants Ltd.
    Worcestershire County Council Representatives: Andrew Baker, Michael Knott and Christopher Holloway
    Large Bus Operator Representatives: Julian Elliott (First Midland Red) and Ian Pollard  (Rotala Plc.)
    Small Bus Operator Representative: Andrew McKinnon (Whittlebus)"

http://www.worcestershire.gov.uk/cms/bus/multi-operator-ticketing.aspx

Lifted from the website and the address is there for people to have a look

[tank90]

On that note Whittles have bought Redditch and Kiddy and the whitehall bods have okayed it. Its just a thought as that would comfirm it somewhat.

[jc]

Whittles haven't brought them, however, from what i know they may expand.

Those Connecta tickets should be interesting, i wonder if they will be valid to Studley ...

[tank90]

Redditch Connecta I would think would not be valid in Studley or Birmingham. How ever I would think it would be vaild for travel on the 247 in Worcestershire, ie if you board the service in Worcestershire it will be vaild. Same I would think for City connecta and the services to Hereford and other none Worcestershire towns.

So ifs its not Whittles or Rotala and First are selling why wouldnt the new company be involed orare they and WCC are keeping them off the loop role call or they are hiding in the WCC reps.

[tank90]

Theres a lot more to that article than meets to eye, the article below also reads of a Diamond review in Redditch, watch this space as unexpected things will happen rather soon!

yeah I tried doing the online review and its pretty pants to be fair but hey ho gave up in the end.

[jc]

I actually went through the whole thing, although answering questions about my use of Preston Bus may have been a bit of topic ...

[PM]

If its something unexpected, could be centrebus, RATP, Julian Peddle, management or eyms. those would be some of my guesses.