did arriva bid for diamond?

[Discodave]

Heard arriva by rumour had approched diamond is this true?

[Tony]

I doubt we will ever know, unless of course they do buy them. There have been lots of rumours, but I doubt Arriva will ever announce that they failed to buy Diamond, so a non-purchase will; just be speculation for ever more

[winston]

I would have thought that Diamond would have been top of Arriva's shopping list over Midland, Diamond would have given them potentially 3 garages (Tividale, Long Acre & Redditch) and a much larger fleet operating more commercial work than tendered. However, I can't seen Rotala parting with the WM business, the only way as I see Arriva could acquire Rotala's WM business is by making an offer for the whole group

[Wumpty]

Yes they did - and they are still keen to acquire all but Blue Diamond interests to bolster the Midland acquisition.

Arriva have a great opportunity to grow a network of Black Country routes and by chipping away for Diamond, something tells me that this isn't just hearsay ;)

[winston]

Yes they did - and they are still keen to acquire all but Blue Diamond interests to bolster the Midland acquisition.

Arriva have a great opportunity to grow a network of Black Country routes and by chipping away for Diamond, something tells me that this isn't just hearsay ;)

I just can't see Rotala letting the Black Diamond business go, Black Diamond appears to be doing better than Blue Diamond even though the Diamond business overall has shrunk considerably since being acquired from Go-Ahead Group, however Rotala do seem to have given up of late against NX & Arriva

If Arriva are only interested in the Black Country operations, its doubtful they would make a bid to acquire the whole Rotala Group either

[Wumpty]

Yes they did - and they are still keen to acquire all but Blue Diamond interests to bolster the Midland acquisition.

Arriva have a great opportunity to grow a network of Black Country routes and by chipping away for Diamond, something tells me that this isn't just hearsay ;)

I just can't see Rotala letting the Black Diamond business go, Black Diamond appears to be doing better than Blue Diamond even though the Diamond business overall has shrunk considerably since being acquired from Go-Ahead Group, however Rotala do seem to have given up of late against NX & Arriva

If Arriva are only interested in the Black Country operations, its doubtful they would make a bid to acquire the whole Rotala Group either

Like any potential acquisition negotiations, Arriva would look at the entire operation and identify what Fits their portfolio and what doesn't. It's up to both sides to find a compromise which suits both. In this case, it appears that only Black Diamond fitted, the others didn't but Rotala didn't want to sell part of the business.

[Bob]

Arriva had an opportunity for growth with the Chase acquisition, look what happened there...

[andy]

Arriva had an opportunity for growth with the Chase acquisition, look what happened there...

Bob there are quotes on another thread which I know you have read regarding territorial 'arrangements'. I have suggested it before in other threads aswell and been shouted down, but I think you'll find that when it came to Chase, that is what happened there....

[Bob]

It would have had to have been very (!) unofficial!

[Bob]

but it doesnt add up, you said previously that Arriva were desperate for exclusivity on the cannock to walsall corridor. upon the takeover they had that on route 1, all nxwm were operating ( other than the still running now peak x51s) was an allegedly loss making 351 service, that had been reduced to hourly. So arriva gave up an opportunity to expand, just to take over the operation of the loss making 351 and brand it the 2? Also, they inherited with chase a burntwood-walsall route, since discontinued, and NXWM are still operating successfully out of County there...

[andy]

It's not all about what services were on the road at the time. We don't know what moves each operator was planning at the time, NX could have been planning expansion themselves? It's difficult to know everything but I was told by people within both companies at the time. I was surprised to see names mentioned though.

[Bruce_LOA400X]

arriva need to stop, they have wrecked enough of the public transport in the UK as it is! lol

I'm using Midland as a testing ground. be interesting to see how they handle that, if they turn it around and do a better job then I might think differently.  :)

[andy]

arriva need to stop, they have wrecked enough of the public transport in the UK as it is! lol

I'm using Midland as a testing ground. be interesting to see how they handle that, if they turn it around and do a better job then I might think differently.  :)

Care to expand on that opinion?

[Bruce_LOA400X]

I shall try my best.

In Leicester, at least, Arriva have interfered with what was the basis for a good interconnecting network for Leicester. It seems on of the higher up people, who has recently moved on elsewhere, was very chop route orientated, this in itself distroyed many good routes. the guy just cancelled good routes like the old 47B to Countesthorpe Via Saffron lane, which today would be an extremely viable route and was a profitable route back when it was running. Many of the people I have spoken to from arriva off the record have all said the guy was basically a fool. he messed with frequencies when they didn't need altering and they also messed with fare structures as well.

Over the Last 12 years I would say that there has been a definitive lack of investment by arriva into the Operations they hold within Leicester, We recently received 8 optare versas (initially) around this time last year, for use on the 58/A services as there were severe issues with crowding on darts and disabled access. These buses end up on the 104 and other routes when darts are still on the 58/A. to me that is a waste of money and the guy who allocates the vehicles needs to smell some coffee. If you buy a batch of buses for a particular route for a specific purpose then use the bloody things for that purpose! lol

Through the grapevine, I have also heard that the Traffic commissioner is starting to monitor Arrive services in Leicester due to them constantly not running to the timetables registered to the routes. This in itself may lead to a serious investigation. Tied into that is the reliability of the buses in the first place, I can name one particular vehicle which has broken down about 4 times in two weeks, which is pretty bad. It's not a new bus and it isn't an old bus, it's refurbished and there should be no reason for breakdowns if regular maintenance is properly carried out. I am in two minds to contact the Commissioner about this issue as I care about the safety aspects of this.

I am going to watch the Midland takeover closely, I want to track their progress and see how they do, from the information I have, the midland routes are not particularly buses. Hopefully Arriva can turn this around and create a positive profitiable service in that area as well as raising the maintenance standards of the vehicles currently in that part of the fleet. If Arriva fail to do this then it is a sign of things to come.

I also believe that with Arriva being owned by Deutsche Bahn, that thay are not fully committed 100% to investing into the bus section of the business, I also believe that Deutsche Bahn might run this section into the ground or destroy it rather than sell it off.

and that's all I think.....  :P 

EDIT: that's another thing, I think arriva have gone a bit OTT with this low floor business, we have a good 4 years left to have low floor fleets, they removed Leicester step entrance vehicles, messed with some allocations and boom, we are struggling for buses right now. Also if our vehicles were so bad then why are Arriva NE still using M GRY batch Scanias?

[Discodave]

I shall try my best.

In Leicester, at least, Arriva have interfered with what was the basis for a good interconnecting network for Leicester. It seems on of the higher up people, who has recently moved on elsewhere, was very chop route orientated, this in itself distroyed many good routes. the guy just cancelled good routes like the old 47B to Countesthorpe Via Saffron lane, which today would be an extremely viable route and was a profitable route back when it was running. Many of the people I have spoken to from arriva off the record have all said the guy was basically a fool. he messed with frequencies when they didn't need altering and they also messed with fare structures as well.

Over the Last 12 years I would say that there has been a definitive lack of investment by arriva into the Operations they hold within Leicester, We recently received 8 optare versas (initially) around this time last year, for use on the 58/A services as there were severe issues with crowding on darts and disabled access. These buses end up on the 104 and other routes when darts are still on the 58/A. to me that is a waste of money and the guy who allocates the vehicles needs to smell some coffee. If you buy a batch of buses for a particular route for a specific purpose then use the bloody things for that purpose! lol

Through the grapevine, I have also heard that the Traffic commissioner is starting to monitor Arrive services in Leicester due to them constantly not running to the timetables registered to the routes. This in itself may lead to a serious investigation. Tied into that is the reliability of the buses in the first place, I can name one particular vehicle which has broken down about 4 times in two weeks, which is pretty bad. It's not a new bus and it isn't an old bus, it's refurbished and there should be no reason for breakdowns if regular maintenance is properly carried out. I am in two minds to contact the Commissioner about this issue as I care about the safety aspects of this.

I am going to watch the Midland takeover closely, I want to track their progress and see how they do, from the information I have, the midland routes are not particularly buses. Hopefully Arriva can turn this around and create a positive profitiable service in that area as well as raising the maintenance standards of the vehicles currently in that part of the fleet. If Arriva fail to do this then it is a sign of things to come.

I also believe that with Arriva being owned by Deutsche Bahn, that thay are not fully committed 100% to investing into the bus section of the business, I also believe that Deutsche Bahn might run this section into the ground or destroy it rather than sell it off.

and that's all I think.....  :P 

EDIT: that's another thing, I think arriva have gone a bit OTT with this low floor business, we have a good 4 years left to have low floor fleets, they removed Leicester step entrance vehicles, messed with some allocations and boom, we are struggling for buses right now. Also if our vehicles were so bad then why are Arriva NE still using M GRY batch Scanias?

Its about bloody time arriva were hauled over the coals by the TC there buses are just as crap over in Cannock the 560 they run never comes or if forever running private somewhere and don't get me started on maintance same you described has been going on in Cannock for years I drove a lot of there so called buses I had a propshaft drop off one in Brownhills and the fitter told me could I drive it back how thick can you get if you need any evidence for your report to the TC contact me personally via the site will give you alternative details so no things get put on here.