Arriva take over Midland

[Discodave]

Some cracking conspiracy theories here! I fear many of you will be disappointed. It was puzzling to see Arriva pay good money for Chase only to dispose of much of its West Midlands operations, I can't see them repeating that trick now that they have commenced tendered operations of their own in the area. They were also probably quite keen to rid themselves of any potential costly  future competition in Staffs as Midland were starting to put a handy little network together.

A little like Wardles, I think you will find that they will take quite a while to implement any serious changes and will just add to their tendered work, probably at slightly more realistic prices and under the Arriva name, which is already familiar to most people in the Walsall and Wolverhampton areas.

It did occur to me Dave that many of the staff must be ex Arriva but not all of them would have been sacked! They may have just gone there because of better shifts or other reasons. The main reason staff end up leaving in these takeover situations is because they can't keep hold of their cushy numbers...the same happened when Arriva acquired Frontline in Lichfield, many of the staff were ex MRN or Stevo's and moved on because they couldn't have their 55 hours a week over 5 days!! That said I am sure there are always a couple of tricky cases for both sides.

I must say I find it shocking so many people hate the Arriva livery now. I think it's smart and well applied, and that the buses look great in it. Granted, the original one wasn't up to much. It will be interesting to see how many of the Midland kit Arriva deem worthy of retaining and repainting.

Yes there are many reasons for leaving conditions are one I agree but the drivers I know whom are there were as I said in my previous post hounded out by dubious means and with regards to the chase takeover yes a lot of money wasted to rid a competetor agree the same mistake will not be made as they not have a good tendered foothold this time the only problem is the fleet NXWM have a lot of good new buses and I am afraid midland have a lot of tat darts and optares Arriva cannot run a good operation with old darts like Cannock in the West Midlands the ones at hill top are nice and smart a few more of them and a few nicer ones not so new for routes like the 10 possibily one of the best performers the only real keepers at Midland are the scanias and the deckers seems the VDL buses are going according to posts

[Bob]

the midland tat will fit right in with arriva some of there shit darts will probably get transferred to cannock to give the fleet there an upgrade lol! the drivers are sayin the X31 is going on 1st Sseptember yet theres a meeting with centro & staffs cc next week and no notices on the bus saying its finishing in 3 weeks what an awful way to run a bus service! it was packed on the half 10 one into brum today!

[vinh1000]

Why is it sad News?

Decent company and who knows I dont tend to like arrivas buses some of them sound like they need a service lol
Hoping things stays same ie midlands fares for example

Fares are regulated in the midlands so the usual £1.90 fare like everyone else will stay maybe Arriva will introduce a West Midlands area ticket like some of the existing ones they do now they have a larger set of services in the West Midlands

Was referring to their savers as they have cross boundary day savers ;) probably Arriva Midlands Savers Area is the equivilant

[Wolfman]

Mmmm, interesting months/years ahead regarding bus travel in Wolvo. :)

[Ash]

This could have been mentioned already but why was midland sold was it due to debt or the fact the group needed to put heavy investment into the fleet as their vehicles are aging.

[MW]

This could have been mentioned already but why was midland sold was it due to debt or the fact the group needed to put heavy investment into the fleet as their vehicles are aging.

Or Arriva may have given them a large cheque for cash.

[Tony]

This could have been mentioned already but why was midland sold was it due to debt or the fact the group needed to put heavy investment into the fleet as their vehicles are aging.

Or Arriva may have given them a large cheque for cash.

I would imagine you are correct. Basically Arriva have made an offer to the owners of D&G which is more than they valued keeping the operation so accepted golden shilling on offer.

[Ash]

This could have been mentioned already but why was midland sold was it due to debt or the fact the group needed to put heavy investment into the fleet as their vehicles are aging.

Or Arriva may have given them a large cheque for cash.

I would imagine you are correct. Basically Arriva have made an offer to the owners of D&G which is more than they valued keeping the operation so accepted golden shilling on offer.

Ok thanks for the answers and peoples views, I just thought it might have been like diamond when they were owned by go-ahead as they were sold to rotala for hardly anything because of the debts they carried and had to take on.

[MW]

This could have been mentioned already but why was midland sold was it due to debt or the fact the group needed to put heavy investment into the fleet as their vehicles are aging.

Or Arriva may have given them a large cheque for cash.

I would imagine you are correct. Basically Arriva have made an offer to the owners of D&G which is more than they valued keeping the operation so accepted golden shilling on offer.

I wonder if they have or will approach Diamond in the same way.

[Ash]

This could have been mentioned already but why was midland sold was it due to debt or the fact the group needed to put heavy investment into the fleet as their vehicles are aging.

Or Arriva may have given them a large cheque for cash.

I would imagine you are correct. Basically Arriva have made an offer to the owners of D&G which is more than they valued keeping the operation so accepted golden shilling on offer.

I wonder if they have or will approach Diamond in the same way.

It wouldnt suprise me if they did Michael but if Rotala are making a profit and finding it worth there while im sure it would take a large amount to make them sell. I think if Arriva are serious and looking to take a serious proportion of the bus market in the west midlands for me its a move they should think of or need to make and would give serious competiton to NXWM especially if investment in vehicles and services occurs.

[BN]

I think First's disposal of Kidderminster could be up Arriva's street too?

[richie]

I think First's disposal of Kidderminster could be up Arriva's street too?

With the view of expansion in the midlands they could buy it and use it as a base to move into the Stourbridge area in the south

[D10]

I think First's disposal of Kidderminster could be up Arriva's street too?

Yes, and how about Redditch too for a move into South Birmingham?

[winston]

I think First's disposal of Kidderminster could be up Arriva's street too?

Yes, and how about Redditch too for a move into South Birmingham?

There is always a possibility NX could buy First's Kiddiminster & Redditch operations in an attempt to block Arriva's advances, especially if they felt it would increase Arriva's presence & ability to compete with NXWM

[j_rp_wright]

I doubt nxwm would go back into Cannock as there services didn't make money! As for the old green bus service 10 route ( now 810) it the route has significantly changed since then, now servicing all the back streets rather than just blasting straight down the 'passenger' busy Cannock road!