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Post by Lewis J.N. on May 1, 2018 22:01:08 GMT
I've read on another forum that Rotala have been granted a facility by their bank for expansion purposes- certainly not enough to purchase First, but maybe enough to go for operations in one or two areas. Help us all
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Post by vjaska on May 1, 2018 23:14:45 GMT
I thought the lol gave it away - the OG stands for original gangster and the FAM part is a slang term for the word mate. Oh I know what FAM is, I still don’t get the rest of the joke though 😉 I still find it funny that one of the 57’a allocation has the reg LX09FAM, I’ve been trying to get on that for a while now In the original post by wirewiper, there was this line - "I doubt the MMC would allow a Stagecoach South West takeover". I played on what MMC was by saying it was a vehicle and that it would patrol the border given the original line said a doubt the MMC would allow a takeover.
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Post by wirewiper on May 2, 2018 6:32:36 GMT
Rydhsys rag Kernow lemmyn !
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Post by twobellstogo on May 2, 2018 8:08:43 GMT
Rydhsys rag Kernow lemmyn ! Having translated that from Cornish Gaelic I think many of Cornwall's First operations are vulnerable to not being replaced at all if First leave the area.
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Post by twobellstogo on May 2, 2018 8:14:18 GMT
Not really sure where to put this but I’ll put it here. It looks as if First are really starting to struggle now: www.passengertransport.co.uk/2018/04/firstgroup-break-up-likely-after-apollo-bid/It would be a shame if First were to abandon the Eastern Counties, they’ve put so much work into it, with fleet modernisation and depot expansions etc. Stagecoach have already abandoned Norwich, we don’t need another one as well. If there is a buyout of First by asset strippers then I think every operation in the country is at risk. The substantial problem, though, is that competition issues will make if difficult for some groups to take over parts of the First empire. Who on earth could take over in Glasgow, Manchester or Sheffield given the size of the operations there? Bristol could be interesting given there are no large groups nearby and Bristol is potentially very lucrative territory. The far bigger problem is the rail business given the DfT are very unlikely to allow a bunch of venture capitalists anywhere near a rail franchise. This means some very large and important franchises would have to be removed from a "taken over" First group. This would imperil large scale investments in rolling stock and service improvements. Also Chris Grayling will not want three franchises brought "in house" - very much against his political philosophy. Agree with the above. Thoughts about some of the larger operations : I know Arriva got burned in Glasgow before, but perhaps they might be a good choice to give Scotland another go? Perhaps National Express might want to try to replicate their success in the West Midlands elsewhere?
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Post by rj131 on May 2, 2018 8:41:20 GMT
Oh I know what FAM is, I still don’t get the rest of the joke though 😉 I still find it funny that one of the 57’a allocation has the reg LX09FAM, I’ve been trying to get on that for a while now In the original post by wirewiper , there was this line - "I doubt the MMC would allow a Stagecoach South West takeover". I played on what MMC was by saying it was a vehicle and that it would patrol the border given the original line said a doubt the MMC would allow a takeover. Aaaaahh I understand now, I rather slaughtered the joke there didn’t I
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Post by VWH1414 on May 2, 2018 15:20:19 GMT
If there is a buyout of First by asset strippers then I think every operation in the country is at risk. The substantial problem, though, is that competition issues will make if difficult for some groups to take over parts of the First empire. Who on earth could take over in Glasgow, Manchester or Sheffield given the size of the operations there? Bristol could be interesting given there are no large groups nearby and Bristol is potentially very lucrative territory. The far bigger problem is the rail business given the DfT are very unlikely to allow a bunch of venture capitalists anywhere near a rail franchise. This means some very large and important franchises would have to be removed from a "taken over" First group. This would imperil large scale investments in rolling stock and service improvements. Also Chris Grayling will not want three franchises brought "in house" - very much against his political philosophy. Agree with the above. Thoughts about some of the larger operations : I know Arriva got burned in Glasgow before, but perhaps they might be a good choice to give Scotland another go? Perhaps National Express might want to try to replicate their success in the West Midlands elsewhere? With their Scottish work I can see either Lothian or McGills potentially taking that over, McGills having taken over Arriva when they left the area and having also expanded a lot in recent years
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Post by VWH1414 on May 2, 2018 15:21:30 GMT
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Post by ThinLizzy on May 2, 2018 16:16:19 GMT
Agree with the above. Thoughts about some of the larger operations : I know Arriva got burned in Glasgow before, but perhaps they might be a good choice to give Scotland another go? Perhaps National Express might want to try to replicate their success in the West Midlands elsewhere? With their Scottish work I can see either Lothian or McGills potentially taking that over, McGills having taken over Arriva when they left the area and having also expanded a lot in recent years I'm not sure about Lothian expanding as far as Glasgow but they may be interested in the remaining Midland Bluebird operations with an expansion of their "Lothain County" operations. Similarly, maybe McGills would be interested in parts of First Glasgow. Who knows, maybe an outside bet for potential buyer could be Transit Systems
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Post by tony4387 on May 2, 2018 20:11:33 GMT
some how I don’t see transit systems making any bids Anything just the same as I can’t see Abellio making Any bids
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Post by ThinLizzy on May 3, 2018 9:59:44 GMT
some how I don’t see transit systems making any bids Anything just the same as I can’t see Abellio making Any bids Transit Systems could make a bid for the something a bit smaller, maybe to complement the Go Whippet operation. Aside from Tower Transit and Australia they also have a presence in Singapore and Chillie so are a business looking for expansion opportunities
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Post by wirewiper on May 3, 2018 11:17:03 GMT
Greater Manchester could be very interesting if First decides to dispose of its bus operations there. If the next Government is Labour or a Labour-led Coalition (and I suspect there will be another General Election within a year) I could see Andy Burnham making a bid to take the First operations in-house and either operate them directly, or as a franchise.
South Yorkshire is also interesting in that First and Stagecoach buses in Sheffield now operate under a voluntary partnership with a common branding "Buses for Sheffield", which also includes Sheffield City Council and South Yorkshire PTE. Again, would South Yorkshire move towards franchising? Would the local Council elections today, in which Greens and LibDems could slaughter Labour due to anger in the City over the felling of street trees, affect the situation?
I predict Bristol & area will be a straightforward buyout, with Stagecoach and Rotala the front-runners although Go-Ahead could surprise us.
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Post by MetrolineGA1511 on May 5, 2018 22:31:58 GMT
I suspect First (or whoever buys it out) will also divest itself of its isolated Dorset operations from Weymouth and Bridport. I doubt the MMC would allow a Stagecoach South West takeover. That's not to say that Stagecoach would not set up an outstation in West Dorset and extend their routes 4 (Exeter-Axminster) and 9a (Exeter-Lyme Regis) into the County. Most likely contender would be the Go-Ahead Group, as an adjunct to More Bus under the Go South Coast umbrella. However it is also possible that Transdev RATP would be interested in running it as an offshoot of their Bournemouth-based Yellow Buses operation. Exeter routes 4 and 9a include parts of the Jurassic Coast route and could restore a through link to Dorchester & Weymouth. Transdev could buy some of First North Manchester operations, such as Bolton & Oldham. This would be a good fit after Transdev bought Rosso a few months ago.
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Post by MetrolineGA1511 on May 5, 2018 22:35:33 GMT
I've read on another forum that Rotala have been granted a facility by their bank for expansion purposes- certainly not enough to purchase First, but maybe enough to go for operations in one or two areas. Examples could be Bolton (where they took over a recently dropped route by First) and Bristol (where they already own Wessex Bus).
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Post by joefrombow on Feb 5, 2019 7:13:25 GMT
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