For Sale

[Justin Tyme]

I can't help thinking that First Midland Red / Wyvern ought to be a viable unit.  After all, Stagecoach has been very successful in Warwickshire.

I agree with Winston that, to coin a phrase, the whole of First Midland Red is greater than the sum of its parts.  Hereford is more detached, but the towns of Kidderminster, Bromsgrove, Redditch and Worcester all have close ties with each other.  It makes sense to leave them together.  It is questionable whether just Redditch and Kidderminster would be any better off under new ownership, unless a particularly enterprising operator came along, and Worcester on its own would not have the mass to be anything other than a remote First outpost.

Actually, Hereford could be an attractive proposition to sell.  Herefordshire Council was (and may still be) quite pro-bus, and with a number of operators in the area there probably would be no OFT issues.  It could even appeal to Stagecoach, who run into Hereford on two routes and have a garage not that far away in Ross-on-Wye.

But I wouldn't like to speculate on what *will* happen, if anything!

[winston]

I can't help thinking that First Midland Red / Wyvern ought to be a viable unit.  After all, Stagecoach has been very successful in Warwickshire.

I agree with Winston that, to coin a phrase, the whole of First Midland Red is greater than the sum of its parts.  Hereford is more detached, but the towns of Kidderminster, Bromsgrove, Redditch and Worcester all have close ties with each other.  It makes sense to leave them together.  It is questionable whether just Redditch and Kidderminster would be any better off under new ownership, unless a particularly enterprising operator came along, and Worcester on its own would not have the mass to be anything other than a remote First outpost.

Actually, Hereford could be an attractive proposition to sell.  Herefordshire Council was (and may still be) quite pro-bus, and with a number of operators in the area there probably would be no OFT issues.  It could even appeal to Stagecoach, who run into Hereford on two routes and have a garage not that far away in Ross-on-Wye.

But I wouldn't like to speculate on what *will* happen, if anything!

I think Wyvern is a viable unit, but only as a whole to a new operator. First have done little to develop/invest in the unit, its been managed from head offices miles away with little if any knowledge of the local area and its just seen cuts after cuts, the fleet has also shrunk considerably over the years..... Worcester has seen fewer cuts, but even so has also seen little fleet investment since the arrival of Enviro 300's back in 2004/5. WR has since seen the arrival of Volvo B7RLE/Wright from Leicester/Northampton & Volvo B7RLE/Plaxton Centro more recently ex Veolia Cyrmu even those are now 7 & 5 years old respectively 

[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

First Group interim results are due to be announced 2nd Nov, hopefully we will hear some further news on UK bus disposals on the same day

[jc]

Everything seems to have shut up ... there was a rumour of NX pulling out of the deal at the last minute but ...

[winston]

Everything seems to have shut up ... there was a rumour of NX pulling out of the deal at the last minute but ...

I'd still like to see NX take on at least RH & KR operations, maybe NX threatened to pull out of the deal at the last minute to see if they could persuade First to part with HD & WR as well. If they could get the whole of Wyvern, this has far more potential than just RH & KR...... hopefully the 2nd Nov will reveal more.......

[winston]

Everything seems to have shut up ... there was a rumour of NX pulling out of the deal at the last minute but ...

It seems NX may have also been in the frame for Wigan operations as well as KR & RH, however this has been posted on the First Groups Fans Yahoo Group by Eric Yip which kind of ties in with what JC has suggested above about sales being called off at the last minute, it sounds as though it may be First Group rather than NX calling the deals off.....

"I believe Rock Ferry & Chester are no longer on the list. General consensus is that if someone were to come along with the right amount of pound notes for whatever depot then group would sell the said depot regardless as to whether it was on the list or not...

Since the collapse of the West Coast franchise bid I have been told that many sales have been called off... Rumour has it that the National Express Group were to take Wigan but the sale was cancelled at the last minute and do not know which party called it off & why... "

Eric

[winston]

Everything seems to have shut up ... there was a rumour of NX pulling out of the deal at the last minute but ...

I'd still like to see NX take on at least RH & KR operations, maybe NX threatened to pull out of the deal at the last minute to see if they could persuade First to part with HD & WR as well. If they could get the whole of Wyvern, this has far more potential than just RH & KR...... hopefully the 2nd Nov will reveal more.......

First Group interim results are actually due 7th Nov, IG markets is showing the date incorrectly......

[winston]

Announced this morning Wigan has been sold to Stagecoach for £12 Million

[woody38]

here is a link about it
http://busandcoach.com/newspage.aspx?id=7256&categoryid=0

[winston]

here is a link about it
http://busandcoach.com/newspage.aspx?id=7256&categoryid=0

Would have been nice to see NX move in to a new area, but I guess Stagecoach was always favourite.....

It does look as though Chester & Birkenhead may have been taken off the for sale list, as I would have thought that those operations would have been of most interest to Stagecoach, which you'd have thought would have been acquired as a job lot

[Rob H]

Announced this morning Wigan has been sold to Stagecoach for £12 Million

Any news on RH & KR or will we have to wait until the 7th :)

[winston]

Announced this morning Wigan has been sold to Stagecoach for £12 Million

Any news on RH & KR or will we have to wait until the 7th :)

Nothing, all has gone quiet. I hope if there is any truth in it that they could persuade First to part with the whole of Wyvern

There's rumours on the Scottish Bus Yahoo Group that NX are interested in First Scotland East's Livingstone & Larbert depots. But they don't fit the usual high frequency / urban route criteria but they are not a million miles away from Dundee. If NX do want to expand its UK bus business options are pretty limited....

[sconehead85]

Im surprised no one has mentioned this but First has sold Wigan depot to Stagecoach but this will become part of Stagecoach Manchester despite being closer to Merseyside/South Lancs region.

Wigan has quite a mix of vehicles, some of which may not last long with Stagecoach.  Those I expect to not be moved I will mark with an *.

9  Dennis Arrow*, 9 Volvo Olympian, 10 Volvo B9TL (16950-9 ?)

20 Volvo B10BLE, 14 Volvo B7RLE, 20 Optare Excels (Firsts final such buses)*,  5 Optare Versa and 18 Iveco Scolabus.

Apart from the B7/B9s and the Optare Versas the fleet is middle aged.  I doubt if SC will take the Arrows, if these are schoolbuses its possible ex London Tridents may replace these. The Optare Excels could be replaced by Volvo B10Ls 21066-75 and others from within Stagecoach fleet.

sconehead85

[winston]

We did, it's about 5 messages above in this thread

Im surprised no one has mentioned this but First has sold Wigan depot to Stagecoach but this will become part of Stagecoach Manchester despite being closer to Merseyside/South Lancs region.

Wigan has quite a mix of vehicles, some of which may not last long with Stagecoach.  Those I expect to not be moved I will mark with an *.

9  Dennis Arrow*, 9 Volvo Olympian, 10 Volvo B9TL (16950-9 ?)

20 Volvo B10BLE, 14 Volvo B7RLE, 20 Optare Excels (Firsts final such buses)*,  5 Optare Versa and 18 Iveco Scolabus.

Apart from the B7/B9s and the Optare Versas the fleet is middle aged.  I doubt if SC will take the Arrows, if these are schoolbuses its possible ex London Tridents may replace these. The Optare Excels could be replaced by Volvo B10Ls 21066-75 and others from within Stagecoach fleet.

sconehead85

[sconehead85]

JINGS CRIVENS GADZOOKS! Apologies Winston.  I must have scrolled past.

sconehead85