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Post by wirewiper on Jun 18, 2018 8:42:17 GMT
www.go-ahead.com/en/media/news/2018/go-ahead-welcomes-east-yorkshire-motor-services.htmlCut & Paste: 18 Jun 2018 Go-Ahead welcomes East Yorkshire Motor Services Hull-headquartered East Yorkshire Motor Services (EYMS), including Scarborough and District Motor Services, have been acquired by award-winning bus operator Go North East, part of the international transport organisation Go-Ahead Group Plc. Established in 1926 and owned and operated for the last three decades by the Shipp family, EYMS transports over 17 million passengers annually, has a workforce of 700 staff and runs over 300 buses and coaches throughout Hull, East Riding and the North Yorkshire Coast. For over 100 years, Go North East has run bus services connecting the region's towns and villages with the cities of Newcastle, Durham and Sunderland. Currently operating across Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, County Durham and into Tees Valley, it is one of 10 regional subsidiary bus companies within the Go-Ahead Group. “We are excited to welcome the EYMS team into the Go-Ahead family,” says David Brown, Group Chief Executive of Go-Ahead. “Like Go North East, the company is well established in the local communities it serves and shares the same values of excellent customer service and strong employee engagement. “Bringing companies like EYMS into the Group draws us ever-closer to our vision of a world where every journey is taken care of, while meeting our strategic objective of building a sustainable business that meets the needs of our customers and communities.” Peter Shipp, Owner and Chairman of EYMS who has been with the company for 38 years, commented: “At the age of 74 and after 56 years in the bus industry I think it is time for me to hand over the business, and I am delighted to be doing so to an organisation with such a strong reputation caring for its people, customers and communities. It has the scale required to invest in the assets, both people and buses, to take EYMS forward in a healthy and successful way.” EYMS will operate as a stand-alone company within Go North East, overseen by the Go North East executive director team.
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Post by snoggle on Jun 18, 2018 11:12:12 GMT
Oh well that's the end of EYMS then. A shame but to be expected given Mr Shipp's age. He has done extremely well to keep EYMS going and with good solid regular investment in vehicles. I expect Go Ahead will do their usual "kill everything that's remotely marginal" routine which will damage the overall network's viability. EYMS have long managed to keep various lower frequency rural and town services going but I suspect Go Ahead will not do that.
It will be interesting to see if Stagecoach view the change of ownership as an opportunity or a threat on Hull area services given they run a share of the city services.
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Post by busaholic on Jun 18, 2018 16:33:55 GMT
Oh well that's the end of EYMS then. A shame but to be expected given Mr Shipp's age. He has done extremely well to keep EYMS going and with good solid regular investment in vehicles. I expect Go Ahead will do their usual "kill everything that's remotely marginal" routine which will damage the overall network's viability. EYMS have long managed to keep various lower frequency rural and town services going but I suspect Go Ahead will not do that. It will be interesting to see if Stagecoach view the change of ownership as an opportunity or a threat on Hull area services given they run a share of the city services. If the (fairly) recent Plymouth situation is replicated (and the places share certain characteristics) then competitive urges will be kept well in check, with any that emerge probably being a case of 'going through the motions', if you get my drift. |
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Post by snoggle on Jun 18, 2018 17:03:50 GMT
Oh well that's the end of EYMS then. A shame but to be expected given Mr Shipp's age. He has done extremely well to keep EYMS going and with good solid regular investment in vehicles. I expect Go Ahead will do their usual "kill everything that's remotely marginal" routine which will damage the overall network's viability. EYMS have long managed to keep various lower frequency rural and town services going but I suspect Go Ahead will not do that. It will be interesting to see if Stagecoach view the change of ownership as an opportunity or a threat on Hull area services given they run a share of the city services. If the (fairly) recent Plymouth situation is replicated (and the places share certain characteristics) then competitive urges will be kept well in check, with any that emerge probably being a case of 'going through the motions', if you get my drift. Well yes but there are some different factors here. Go North East do have some form for treading on neighbour's toes. There were battles in Northumberland with Arriva which culminated in a transfer of depots as I'm sure you're aware. I hadn't twigged earlier but Martijn Gilbert will be in control of both GNE and EYMS when he takes up his new post. He may be tempted to "push the boundaries" a bit to "make a mark". You have to be a bit careful when the person being pushed is Stagecoach. Generally GNE aren't a bad operator but they have the benefit of still reasonable levels of demand in the North East. There was a news feature the other day about Hull where Tory councillors are demanding a review of bus lanes because ridership on buses has dropped by 775k in recent years. Motorists also want the lanes banned. So there's a bit of a challenge there as well. If Hull is in decline then either GNE push hard to grow ridership or they rationalise to stem losses and lose marginal work. GNE have been doing more of the latter in the North East in recent times which reflects the tough conditions they face. I am afraid I am sceptical about this take over largely because of the shoddy handling (IMO, of course) of the Anglia and Oxford area businesses that Go Ahead took on. Anglian and Konectbus are a shadow of their original selves and Hedingham / Carters are not exactly thriving. Similar issues can be seen with Carousel and Thames Travel too. I agree they don't appear to have been too much of a horror show in Plymouth given First's poor showing there. It remains to be seen how the Swindon operation does - I haven't kept track with that one. It really does depend on what margins the EYMS operation generates. If they are close to stock market expectations then pressure to screw costs down and put fares up at EYMS may be low but if EYMS has become a low margin business then I can see problems ahead despite all the fine words you always get in takeover announcements. I believe Peter Shipp has been critical for a long time about poor industry performance and lack of political support to solve congestion issues. |
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Post by busaholic on Jun 18, 2018 17:43:10 GMT
If the (fairly) recent Plymouth situation is replicated (and the places share certain characteristics) then competitive urges will be kept well in check, with any that emerge probably being a case of 'going through the motions', if you get my drift. Well yes but there are some different factors here. Go North East do have some form for treading on neighbour's toes. There were battles in Northumberland with Arriva which culminated in a transfer of depots as I'm sure you're aware. I hadn't twigged earlier but Martijn Gilbert will be in control of both GNE and EYMS when he takes up his new post. He may be tempted to "push the boundaries" a bit to "make a mark". You have to be a bit careful when the person being pushed is Stagecoach. Generally GNE aren't a bad operator but they have the benefit of still reasonable levels of demand in the North East. There was a news feature the other day about Hull where Tory councillors are demanding a review of bus lanes because ridership on buses has dropped by 775k in recent years. Motorists also want the lanes banned. So there's a bit of a challenge there as well. If Hull is in decline then either GNE push hard to grow ridership or they rationalise to stem losses and lose marginal work. GNE have been doing more of the latter in the North East in recent times which reflects the tough conditions they face. I am afraid I am sceptical about this take over largely because of the shoddy handling (IMO, of course) of the Anglia and Oxford area businesses that Go Ahead took on. Anglian and Konectbus are a shadow of their original selves and Hedingham / Carters are not exactly thriving. Similar issues can be seen with Carousel and Thames Travel too. I agree they don't appear to have been too much of a horror show in Plymouth given First's poor showing there. It remains to be seen how the Swindon operation does - I haven't kept track with that one. It really does depend on what margins the EYMS operation generates. If they are close to stock market expectations then pressure to screw costs down and put fares up at EYMS may be low but if EYMS has become a low margin business then I can see problems ahead despite all the fine words you always get in takeover announcements. I believe Peter Shipp has been critical for a long time about poor industry performance and lack of political support to solve congestion issues. I don't pretend to know very much about the areas you speak of, and my travelling days (never very extensive) have become virtually non-existent. I'd just add, though, that in Anglia Stagecoach haven't had such a good record in recent times with, unusually for them, a probable large overspend on an acquisition. The Go-Ahead Plymouth operation certainly seems to be well-regarded locally, but after the council's lack of investment that wouldn't be hard.
Does the EYMS takeover signify the last takeover of a former NBC company that could reasonably be described as being in its original form? I wouldn't describe Trent thus, but others might, I suppose.
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Post by snoggle on Jun 18, 2018 17:53:10 GMT
Does the EYMS takeover signify the last takeover of a former NBC company that could reasonably be described as being in its original form? I wouldn't describe Trent thus, but others might, I suppose. I believe it probably is although I would include Trent as still independently owned and not part of a recognised industry group either quoted on the Stock Market or owned by a foreign government. I know Wellglade Group own several businesses but they are still geographically limited to Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and South Yorkshire. |
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Post by busaholic on Jun 18, 2018 19:59:57 GMT
Does the EYMS takeover signify the last takeover of a former NBC company that could reasonably be described as being in its original form? I wouldn't describe Trent thus, but others might, I suppose. I believe it probably is although I would include Trent as still independently owned and not part of a recognised industry group either quoted on the Stock Market or owned by a foreign government. I know Wellglade Group own several businesses but they are still geographically limited to Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and South Yorkshire. I take your point, and it will be a sad day if (more probably, when) Trent bow to the seemingly inevitable. In the meantime, long live EYMS. On a personal note, I regret not taking up the undergraduate place I was offered at Hull University, preferring the belated offer I received from Bristol as seemingly a 'better' university. I liked what I saw of Hull, and Beverley, on my one trip there in connection with the offer. Maybe I'll go back one day. |
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Post by ohdear on Jun 18, 2018 22:50:31 GMT
"You have to be a bit careful when the person being pushed is Stagecoach"
I do not think Lynxbus in Kings Lynn would agree with that as they found them a push over. |
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Post by snoggle on Jun 18, 2018 23:19:11 GMT
"You have to be a bit careful when the person being pushed is Stagecoach"
I do not think Lynxbus in Kings Lynn would agree with that as they found them a push over. Well yes there is always an exception. I think the purchase of Norfolk Green was a tad "sentimental" for Stagecoach given Mr Colson had formerly worked for Stagecoach. It was also a tad remote from other operations so was probably cursed by a lack of management attention when previously Norfolk Green thrived precisely because it was locally managed. Let's be honest it's not the world's best operating territory and Norfolk Green did very well but whether they'd have coped with the loss of tendered service income is anyone's guess. There are not that many instances of Stagecoach backing off from acquisitions in the UK - Glasgow is one and, of course, East London was another. There have been rather more on the continent including Hong Kong, Africa, Portugal and elsewhere. Stagecoach do, though, have a pretty dreadful reputation because of the aggression displayed in the early days - Keswick bus station blockade, sale of Hampshire Bus properties netting more than they paid for the company, Darlington and other places. Let's put it this way - if you walked up and started competing against Stagecoach Busways routes in South Shields or Newcastle or in Manchester or in parts of their Scottish heartland how long do you think you'd last? Not very long would be my view. |
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Post by ohdear on Jun 19, 2018 11:39:19 GMT
Yes but it must be remembered that Norfolk Green got where they were by doing more or less the same to Eastern Counties that Lynx did to Stagecoach.
Norfolk Greens last year showed a profit of around £1m
The only competition NG gave to Eastern Counties was their Coasthopper service running fast between KL and Hunstanton.
Lynx introduced a daytime service on the main Hunstanton route ignoring the Castle Rising loop, which incidentally does not now have a through service, and the Sandringham loop.
They then proceeded to undercut Stagecoach and other companies on council tenders, in fact winning the lot.
Lynx of course have done this before via one of their directors Julian Patterson when owning Konnect.
However in the case of Lynx I cannot see Go Ahead coming and putting more millions in his pocket.
I would not mind if any of this brought improvements but it has brought a reduction in services, increase in fares and higher taxpayer subsidies.
Bit off topic so better leave it there.
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Post by ohdear on Jun 20, 2018 8:38:14 GMT
With regard to Peter Shipp, I do think his age with showing with some of his comments.
I remember him appearing on local television to show off some ADL 200 MMCs built in Scarborough he had bought.
He was commenting how he was supporting local industries of which the people not in the know would think was very good of him.
However round the side of the garage, out of sight of the cameras, were new buses with Egyptian bodywork rather than ones that could have been built up the road in Scarborough.
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Post by vjaska on Jun 20, 2018 11:12:23 GMT
With regard to Peter Shipp, I do think his age with showing with some of his comments. I remember him appearing on local television to show off some ADL 200 MMCs built in Scarborough he had bought. He was commenting how he was supporting local industries of which the people not in the know would think was very good of him. However round the side of the garage, out of sight of the cameras, were new buses with Egyptian bodywork rather than ones that could have been built up the road in Scarborough. That doesn't mean he has to solely buy from a British bus builder - the vast majority of the EYMS fleet is British built and clearly he was offered a good deal on the MCV Evoseti. It always great to see operations try out foreign manufacturers. |
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Post by tony4387 on Jun 20, 2018 21:15:52 GMT
I wonder if East Yorkshire will remain with there current fleet number system or if they will be numbered into the GNE fleet number system
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Post by MetrolineGA1511 on Jun 23, 2018 22:26:58 GMT
Does the EYMS takeover signify the last takeover of a former NBC company that could reasonably be described as being in its original form? I wouldn't describe Trent thus, but others might, I suppose. I believe it probably is although I would include Trent as still independently owned and not part of a recognised industry group either quoted on the Stock Market or owned by a foreign government. I know Wellglade Group own several businesses but they are still geographically limited to Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and South Yorkshire. I think so too. I understand that all ex-NBC companies, excluding small parts that have effectively been added to municipal operators, are effectively now in these 12 hands:- Stagecoach First DB-Arriva Go-Ahead National Express Transdev Wellglade CentreBus Rotala Uno Midland Classic West Coast Motors |
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Post by MoEnviro on Mar 4, 2019 17:29:50 GMT
Looks like we may be seeing a new Go-Ahead inspired East Yorkshire livery unveiled tomorrow
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