For Sale

[Ash]

Some of diamond's vehicles at Tividale do have assault screens such as W335-7VGX this is due to them being used in London previously and would have been installed then. Service like the 4 and 301 that run late into the evening rarely see trouble and so probably are not needed but if I was a driver I would feel more secure with them installed no matter what service or time of day it was. 30821 a royale centro has had new fleet names applied saying just Diamond.

[Discodave]

Diamond do not reconise a union either well they did not when I was there so the union can huff and puff but will be told to bog off unless now the union can get itself reconised.

[tank90]

Just had a thought, if FMR got rid of most of its old fleet to Rotala then they wouldnt see any new investment that First might of had in the pipeline to upgrade the fleet. Just a thought.

[Steveminor]

Diamond do not reconise a union either well they did not when I was there so the union can huff and puff but will be told to bog off unless now the union can get itself reconised.

The FMR staff will go across to Diamond under TUPE. This means Diamond HAS to honour their current contracts and working terms. Not sure if this includes the union, but if it's considered part of their current working conditions then it probably does. This will open up a whole can of worms for Diamond.
It will be interesting to see if anyone takes this golden opportunity to attack Redditch, I mean if I was still in the industry I would be seriously looking at it.

[Discodave]

Diamond do not reconise a union either well they did not when I was there so the union can huff and puff but will be told to bog off unless now the union can get itself reconised.

The FMR staff will go across to Diamond under TUPE. This means Diamond HAS to honour their current contracts and working terms. Not sure if this includes the union, but if it's considered part of their current working conditions then it probably does. This will open up a whole can of worms for Diamond.
It will be interesting to see if anyone takes this golden opportunity to attack Redditch, I mean if I was still in the industry I would be seriously looking at it.

Well it may mean decent pay and a fair working week for everyone £7.00 and hour was a joke possibly £8.00 now the problem I had was being on a supposed rota (255,256,257) at the time lates I had 2, 12 hour shifts on one week so I would have made a decent pay packet but the 2 12 hour shifts were changed without my permission and given to an eastern european driver whom wanted the money and hours.  Racist or what it would have been nice to make some money myself that week.  I took the matter up with Steve Bryce at the time who sorted it by getting me paid the 12 hours insted of the shorter shift lengths.  I left on good terms after as I had got my Class 1 HGV and started a new job.  I was offered later personally to work for him at yourbus and if it was not for having my class 1 I would have gone and continued being a bus driver but I am now happy as a traffic manager and HGV driver.

[Tony]

Church Road was sold by First to King Struge (cant remember the spelling but hey ho) then Petes Leased it off KS, then Peoples express, then Go-Ahead and now Rotala. So if this goes ahead Church Road will be dumped which will leave the door open for another company.
Now as far as I know and remember from some paper work I read in 2003, at least 1 Alx 400 has to go to Redditch and 4 E300s in the number range 67631-45 tho I could be more depending on how much Redditch Borough Council (this holds more weight than the next one) and Worcestershire County Council put in to the Partnership. 67600 is not included as are 67601-04 as they are funded by Herefordshire County Council so will transfer back to Hereford or Worcester. 67600 could be one of the 36 as its not a standard length which is why Redditch has it Worcester used it and passed it back. As for the rest of the E300's it depends on whether Hereford can use them, unless the 54 and 05 plate Darts are headed to Hereford to replace some Darts there (I say that as i saw a E300 on the 31A today in Worcester) Hereford may struggle to use the E300's.
Now looking at Reddibus.com I have looked into what Darts First may want to shift off, and i got at least 22 of them ranging from N(E)/P/R/Y then add in the 5 54 plate buses I think have to go with the 36 and any Lances and DDs that could make the 36 easy.

So I reckon,
2 City
1 Olyp
1 Alx 400
4 Alx E300
22 Darts (max)
then Stepped Lances to make it up to 36.

The olny reason I can see First Turning down NXs offer is because NX wanted all 5 Alx 400's as well as 10 Presidents and then most of Redditchs E300s and then some Darts. This would leave First with alot of junk to shift. Or invest  :o.

As for Rotala/Diamond Removing First from Redditch by other means this could be difficult as FMR has a presence where it matters County Hall so this was the only way they were ever going to get more services in Redditch unless FMR didnt bid.

makes for good reading, well the names at the bottom do,
http://www.reddibus.com/images/Rotala%20Plc%20Acquisition%20Announcement%2024th%20January%202013.pdf

Not a bad guess, Rotala have now supplied me with the vehicles included in the sale, they are
R610YCR
R220MSA
P402MLA
P403MLA
P404MLA
P405MLA
P406MLA
R445CCV
N341EUY
VX54MUC
VX54MUO
VX54MUP
R457CAH
N475JUG
N478JUG
M238MRW
M239MRW
M244MRW
M255MRW
N963SOS
V857HBY
V860HBY
V862HBY
V877HBY
T881KLF
V882HBY
T884KLF
T885KLF
V886HBY
V894HLH
VX54MSU
VX54MSY
VX54MTE
M246MRW
K123URP
K126URP

[winston]

Church Road was sold by First to King Struge (cant remember the spelling but hey ho) then Petes Leased it off KS, then Peoples express, then Go-Ahead and now Rotala. So if this goes ahead Church Road will be dumped which will leave the door open for another company.
Now as far as I know and remember from some paper work I read in 2003, at least 1 Alx 400 has to go to Redditch and 4 E300s in the number range 67631-45 tho I could be more depending on how much Redditch Borough Council (this holds more weight than the next one) and Worcestershire County Council put in to the Partnership. 67600 is not included as are 67601-04 as they are funded by Herefordshire County Council so will transfer back to Hereford or Worcester. 67600 could be one of the 36 as its not a standard length which is why Redditch has it Worcester used it and passed it back. As for the rest of the E300's it depends on whether Hereford can use them, unless the 54 and 05 plate Darts are headed to Hereford to replace some Darts there (I say that as i saw a E300 on the 31A today in Worcester) Hereford may struggle to use the E300's.
Now looking at Reddibus.com I have looked into what Darts First may want to shift off, and i got at least 22 of them ranging from N(E)/P/R/Y then add in the 5 54 plate buses I think have to go with the 36 and any Lances and DDs that could make the 36 easy.

So I reckon,
2 City
1 Olyp
1 Alx 400
4 Alx E300
22 Darts (max)
then Stepped Lances to make it up to 36.

The olny reason I can see First Turning down NXs offer is because NX wanted all 5 Alx 400's as well as 10 Presidents and then most of Redditchs E300s and then some Darts. This would leave First with alot of junk to shift. Or invest  :o.

As for Rotala/Diamond Removing First from Redditch by other means this could be difficult as FMR has a presence where it matters County Hall so this was the only way they were ever going to get more services in Redditch unless FMR didnt bid.

makes for good reading, well the names at the bottom do,
http://www.reddibus.com/images/Rotala%20Plc%20Acquisition%20Announcement%2024th%20January%202013.pdf

Not a bad guess, Rotala have now supplied me with the vehicles included in the sale, they are
R610YCR
R220MSA
P402MLA
P403MLA
P404MLA
P405MLA
P406MLA
R445CCV
N341EUY
VX54MUC
VX54MUO
VX54MUP
R457CAH
N475JUG
N478JUG
M238MRW
M239MRW
M244MRW
M255MRW
N963SOS
V857HBY
V860HBY
V862HBY
V877HBY
T881KLF
V882HBY
T884KLF
T885KLF
V886HBY
V894HLH
VX54MSU
VX54MSY
VX54MTE
M246MRW
K123URP
K126URP

Rotala are buying quite an elderly fleet, obviously they have numerous Dart SLFs of their own surplus to requirement, but nothing that much newer than what they are buying off First. They should take the remaining 04 plate B7RLE off the for sale list & put those in to Redditch or Kiddi to replace a number of step entrance Lance

[Tony]

The Lances and darts P402-6MLA/R445CCV are all due to be withdrawn almost immediately and replaced by a selection of vehicles from the existing fleet, but not any of the 'withdrawn' vehicles. Eight of the ex Dunn-Line darts are expected to move, along with some Solos from London, the Nifty50 Centros and a selection of other odd vehicles.

The full list is not finalised yet so I won't put it on here yet, but I presume the transfer of the nifty50s means the 50 service may transfer to Redditch, although they are listed as being in Blue Diamond livery so may be repainted before moving

[winston]

The Lances and darts P402-6MLA/R445CCV are all due to be withdrawn almost immediately and replaced by a selection of vehicles from the existing fleet, but not any of the 'withdrawn' vehicles. Eight of the ex Dunn-Line darts are expected to move, along with some Solos from London, the Nifty50 Centros and a selection of other odd vehicles.

The full list is not finalised yet so I won't put it on here yet, but I presume the transfer of the nifty50s means the 50 service may transfer to Redditch, although they are listed as being in Blue Diamond livery so may be repainted before moving

Tony,

Any hint of Rotala ordering any new vehicles for Redditch or the West Midlands?

[Ash]

If the 50 does transfer to Redditch it's leaving even fewer services operating out of Long Acre unless a Birmingham Black diamond service transfers over such as the 56. I wonder in the future if Long Acre will close and everything transfer to Tividale but surprised to see the 50 service moving to red diamond.

[Tony]

The Lances and darts P402-6MLA/R445CCV are all due to be withdrawn almost immediately and replaced by a selection of vehicles from the existing fleet, but not any of the 'withdrawn' vehicles. Eight of the ex Dunn-Line darts are expected to move, along with some Solos from London, the Nifty50 Centros and a selection of other odd vehicles.

The full list is not finalised yet so I won't put it on here yet, but I presume the transfer of the nifty50s means the 50 service may transfer to Redditch, although they are listed as being in Blue Diamond livery so may be repainted before moving

Tony,

Any hint of Rotala ordering any new vehicles for Redditch or the West Midlands?

The email I have received today doesn't mention anything and the attached fleetlist doesn't mention any more vehicles expected to join the group new or otherwise, although I think a couple more second hand solos might be in there somewhere when I do a full vehicle by vehicle check.

[winston]

If the 50 does transfer to Redditch it's leaving even fewer services operating out of Long Acre unless a Birmingham Black diamond service transfers over such as the 56. I wonder in the future if Long Acre will close and everything transfer to Tividale but surprised to see the 50 service moving to red diamond.

There's not going to be a lot left at Long Acre, may be they'll downgrade it to just a coach base / for storing the withdrawn buses / engineering facility & HQ and transfer the remainder of the Blue Diamond fleet to Tividale to reduce overheads. Tividale should be able to accommodate the fleet if the withdrawn vehicles in the overflow bus park are moved elsewhere

[PM]

By my calculations, the average vehicle age of these buses is nearly 15 years which doesnt seem fantastic. Do we think that a rotala will order any new buses/cascade any other ones from diamond/preston/wessex. If the 50 is transferred over, do we think it would make sense to try to operate at least some journeys at the peaks as X50s to redditch to reduce dead mileage. Also, do we think that was why first got rid of the 143 so as they only had one bristol road service the 144 and knew they wouldnt compete with a new owner. I personally think rotala should close long acre as with the loss of natex contracts, the 10, now the 50 theres not going to be much left there any more-surely better so split remaining services between redditch-only one site needed-and tividale. Then much reduced overheads

[winston]

By my calculations, the average vehicle age of these buses is nearly 15 years which doesnt seem fantastic. Do we think that a rotala will order any new buses/cascade any other ones from diamond/preston/wessex. If the 50 is transferred over, do we think it would make sense to try to operate at least some journeys at the peaks as X50s to redditch to reduce dead mileage. Also, do we think that was why first got rid of the 143 so as they only had one bristol road service the 144 and knew they wouldnt compete with a new owner. I personally think rotala should close long acre as with the loss of natex contracts, the 10, now the 50 theres not going to be much left there any more-surely better so split remaining services between redditch-only one site needed-and tividale. Then much reduced overheads

The age of the First fleet being acquired is obviously one reason why Rotala managed to get RH & KR for a mere £1.5 Million. I'll be surprised if Rotala buy more than a handful of new buses for the Redditch operation over the next year or so, they may acquire further newer secondhand vehicles.

If Rotala cascade newer buses out of Black Diamond, that fleet will suffer further

[PM]

By my calculations, the average vehicle age of these buses is nearly 15 years which doesnt seem fantastic. Do we think that a rotala will order any new buses/cascade any other ones from diamond/preston/wessex. If the 50 is transferred over, do we think it would make sense to try to operate at least some journeys at the peaks as X50s to redditch to reduce dead mileage. Also, do we think that was why first got rid of the 143 so as they only had one bristol road service the 144 and knew they wouldnt compete with a new owner. I personally think rotala should close long acre as with the loss of natex contracts, the 10, now the 50 theres not going to be much left there any more-surely better so split remaining services between redditch-only one site needed-and tividale. Then much reduced overheads

The age of the First fleet being acquired is obviously one reason why Rotala managed to get RH & KR for a mere £1.5 Million. I'll be surprised if Rotala buy more than a handful of new buses for the Redditch operation over the next year or so, they may acquire further newer secondhand vehicles.

If Rotala cascade newer buses out of Black Diamond, that fleet will suffer further

I was thinking cascade wessex red buses to diamond as wessex seems to justify investment in new vehicles and then transfer diamond darts to redditch would be a solution.