For Sale

[Tomjusttom]

That's owned by d&g

[winston]

That's owned by d&g

I know, but they've now sold most of the original D&G business to Arriva and now Midland as well, nothing stopping them selling SLT for the right price

[winston]

The Deal should include;

67600/2/4/31-46 (Currently at Redditch - 19 Buses)
32857/60/2/77/81/2/4-6/94 (Currently at Redditch - 10 Buses)
67324, 67246, 67250, 67238, 67239, 67244, 67255, 61013, 61016 (Currently Floating Allocation - 9 Buses)
42889-91 (ADL Darts (Personally would expect these to have moved to Worcester) Currently at Kidderminster - 3 Buses)
43475, 42180, 42402-6, 42641, 42455 (Variety of Darts Currently at Kidderminster - 9 Buses)

I could be wrong with several of these, 42889-91 i would expect to move to Worcester with them being the 'better darts', The Lances make up the 'big bus' fleet at Kidderminster so i would assume they would be included in the deal unless First Group want to give up some of there newer buses to swap with them.

JC, Is Solo 53042 still at KR?

[sconehead85]

Peter123-  Stagecoach would only get the Wigan  routes First run.   NXWM might have problems with the MMC if they buy the routes running into Birmingham.  First Midland Red could go to Rotala or Stagecoach.  EYMS are a possibility, but Ive a feeling they would be more likely to sell Whittle and stick to their home turf and Greater Manchester.

sconehead85

[jc]

53042 moved to Hereford a while ago, the Solos were unsuitable for most of the Kidderminster network.

[tank90]

Seen a Johnsons Operate Solo showing NIS on what would be the 55 today. Were we looking to the wrong company???

[winston]

I for one would love to see NX acquire not only KR & RH operations, but if they could persuade First to part with the remaining HD & WR garages and buy the whole of what is left of FMR. It would be interesting to see if NX could turn around a business in decline and back to growth, increasing the fleets / services at each of the garages. The FMR business is a shadow of its former self based on the size of the fleet back acquired back when Bagerline & Grampian merged to form First. To achieve that would take a lot of hard work & investment, but I believe the potential is there, especially given First have run the business in to the ground only managing the decline, with decisions that should be being made local by management familiar with the area being made from HQ in Essex

[tank90]

Granted Winston it would only work if the whole of FMRW was bought. I'm using FMRW as First have seeming added to First Midland Red; It's no longer just First Midland West/Wyvern but Potteries Leicester Northampton and Essex all being lumped in to Midland Red. Unless my Sherlock has left me in what i read on the website.

http://www.firstgroup.com/ukbus/worcestershire_herefordshire/about_us/

But then again I could have put 2 and 2 to get 5.

Also Midlandred.net reporting more movements of an Operate to Kidder and other things. Personally if they have sold they are both keeping stushum about it and not letting it get leaked.

But i would profer an independant take it on as I thonk a better service would be provided.

*grabs coat* :bolt:

[winston]

No you're right First have lumped all the Midlands based operation in to First Midlands which includes Wyvern, Northampton Leicester & Potteries and managed from Chelmsford, Essex. Once the sales hopefully go through & complete, there isn't actually going to be a lot left of First Midlands.

It also comes to something when First are drafting in Tridents from Essex to replace step entry Lances/SLF Lances at Redditch due to either a sale being agreed or close to being agreed

[tank90]

Well I think its mad personally but hey ho would would a user know. I think First are hitting the rocks big time; they have got so out of touch and know dont know what or where to go and do next.
I dare to say it but its very much like the Boys Brigade and Scouts, the BB was formed first and the scouts were formed from a BB book Scouting for Boys. Baydon Powell and the BB Officers who moved to the Scouts saw that they could set up something different from the BB and make a success of it. this was after the same officers has said why dont we add more of this book into our programmes and make it more fun for the lads but BB HQ said no it wouldnt work. May I add they are both very popular world wide and the BB in the USA has missed a trick or two with whats happening with the Boy Scouts of America.
Any way getting back now not seeing the point i was trying to make but hey ho it is late, but First havent moved with the times and kept things up to date, ie the ex stock from london. Im sure the bendis could have come to places like FMRW where the are route with low bridges but need a double decker. i can think of at least on route the 51 in Redditch reduce the frecquency by having a bendi and it would work well as Red Diamond have a every 15mins on the same route and FMRW every 7/8Mins. and im sure Worcester may have a few which a bendi or two would help. It just plan mis management and not 1 thinking and 2 not knowing what the right hand was doing from the left hand which is a shame really as if FMRW had kept its self running well it would be raking it in for First.

[winston]

Well I think its mad personally but hey ho would would a user know. I think First are hitting the rocks big time; they have got so out of touch and know dont know what or where to go and do next.
Any way getting back now not seeing the point i was trying to make but hey ho it is late, but First havent moved with the times and kept things up to date, ie the ex stock from london. Im sure the bendis could have come to places like FMRW where the are route with low bridges but need a double decker. i can think of at least on route the 51 in Redditch reduce the frecquency by having a bendi and it would work well as Red Diamond have a every 15mins on the same route and FMRW every 7/8Mins. and im sure Worcester may have a few which a bendi or two would help. It just plan mis management and not 1 thinking and 2 not knowing what the right hand was doing from the left hand which is a shame really as if FMRW had kept its self running well it would be raking it in for First.

Bendi Buses have been used in Redditch years ago in the form of MAN's with DAB bodywork, I remember travelling on them as a kid with my Nan who lived in Redditch at the time, and they were used on what is now known as the 57/58. First's philosophy has been to manage decline through raising fares whilst concentrating new vehicle investment on the area where most money can made instead of investing in the underperforming areas, not least managing the businesses from miles away by people who don't know the areas. This is why the First Empire has been crumbling for the past few years......

http://www.reddibus.com/Bendi-bus.htm

[tank90]

Oh knew about the MAN's some liked them others werent so keen it wasnt just the R7 and R8 that they saw service on they did have a spin on the R5 (55) and R6 (56) and then moved to Chase. but no i dont think it would have hurt first to have put a few bendi mercs in to FMRW fleet when Boris had his way in London as the 51 would have benifted and the 44 but thats hind sight which is a wounderful thing.
But I think First has lost the ball on everything due to them not looking at what they had got and said ok we can make this work by just having the units carry on under the brand and come together to buy buses in bulk and have a common name with say for Manchester First Manchester and so on. But instead they wanted everything the same with no care to where they could have made money due to depots being close to bigger city areas ei redditch kidder being close to brum and making in roads in to balance the books up more. And then also looking how you can increase things like cap and frequency or just one of them but i think they have messed up everywhere not just here but in Cornwall London Southampton Machester Leeds York all over the shop. This i think is due to not letting the regoins manage them selves more and not get the message to everyone in the company as First are Worcestershire County Councils favs I cant see a new company havong much luck with them to be honest as Heron Lodge got close with WCC. but im sure we ll see what will happen in the next few weeks as to whether this is First making sounds to boost moral in the depots or just away of moving vechicals around so FMRW RH WR KD dont moan to much and if it is that then i feel for Northampton but then again they could have tried it too to see if it would have worked.

[winston]

There is planned to be an official announcement on the 16th October ... 67312 and 67256 have been moved to Worcester ready for scrap as they are not part of the deal with 67245 and 67247 looking set to follow. Apparently things are to be run seperate from NXWM ... Please can i keep my E300s?  :-[

Looks as though is going to be November at the earliest before we know who has bought what...... looks as though one announcement re UK bus disposals is on the cards

http://www.transportxtra.com/magazines/local_transport_today/news/?id=32376&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

[tank90]

Well I might add that Arriva looking back might also have the commissioner bods on there back for RH and KR as they could look at RH and KR as in the Greater Midlands Area and say that they already run a sizable chunk of services in the Greater Midlands area. Greater Midlands being Ex Midland Red North Ex Midland Fox and Midland. So I do think that it could spark NX to say well hang on that isnt cricket Arriva now have a monopoly on Services in the North East and West of us. But thats me being hopefull they dont as I'd like to see FMWR sold as a block so we have half a chance of getting to were we need to as Worcester is so set on having everything that Worcestershire needs and Redditch and Kidder are in Worcestershire after all and do need good links to services that get you to Worcester. Redditch has the rougher deal in that the 350 is few and far between and you have silly times for it, so that only leaves the X3 143 145 to Bromsgrove and then the 144 to Worcester as the best way to Worcester from Redditch.

[winston]

Personally, I think it would be much more beneficial for First Group to dispose of Wyvern complete rather than just KR & RH operations, many of the various garages routes overlap and by selling off only some operations this will effectively break up the current route network. Retaining HD with approx only 20 vehicles seems a pointless exercise as that is now only a small operation, so they may as well chuck that in to the for sale pot along with KR & RH. But even retaining Worcester as a standalone operation, although we assume WR to be fairly profitable, I don't see that First have the scale there to make it worthwhile and it's never likely to generate/grow the turnover/profit as quickly as a turnaround of some of the former PTE operations that First own such as Glasgow, Manchester, West & South Yorkshire which are much larger. So why not sell off some smaller more profitable operations that will achieve higher sale prices to help turnaround the fortunes of the more profitable/larger scale UK bus divisions and reduce group debt as a whole.