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Post by wirewiper on Dec 4, 2023 9:39:32 GMT
In a rather surprising move, the independent Derbyshire operator Hulley's of Baslow has bought Go-Coach of Swanley and all its operations.
A letter from Go-Coach's Owner, Austin Blackburn, to Go-Coach staff confirms that the sale went ahead on 1st December. Austin Blackburn is remaining with the combined organisation and will be Engineering Manager for both Hulley's and Go-Coach.
Austin Blackburn has been keen to cut down his workload (he estimates he has worked around 70 hours a week for many years), and has no family succession for the Go-Coach business, so was keen that it should be sold to another independent with the same kind of philosophy, rather than one of the larger groups.
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Post by danorak on Dec 4, 2023 13:29:46 GMT
I was at Austin's excellent presentation to LOTS the other week. While it is a surprise that this has happened now, it seemed clear to me that the path ahead for Go-coach in its current form was always going to be tricky, not least the challenges posed by decarbonisation. I had always had a inkling that what-was-Abellio might pick it up.
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Post by greenboy on Dec 4, 2023 13:42:30 GMT
I was at Austin's excellent presentation to LOTS the other week. While it is a surprise that this has happened now, it seemed clear to me that the path ahead for Go-coach in its current form was always going to be tricky, not least the challenges posed by decarbonisation. I had always had a inkling that what-was-Abellio might pick it up. I heard Austin speak at last years Detling bus rally and it did seem something like this was in the offing. |
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Post by cardinal on Dec 4, 2023 15:54:46 GMT
I wish them the best. And it’s very pleasing to see the owner of a company explain why selling to a “group” was not the right thing to do. Kent county council I hope, will look at working more with smaller companies as Surrey do with Falcon to
improve routes. Arriva don’t do the Kent area any justice, especially in the Swanley and Dartford at area. So I do hope to see some continued proportionate growth , like the new 3 reestablishing a bus link between Orpington and Sevenoaks.
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Post by busman on Dec 4, 2023 17:23:25 GMT
In a rather surprising move, the independent Derbyshire operator Hulley's of Baslow has bought Go-Coach of Swanley and all its operations. A letter from Go-Coach's Owner, Austin Blackburn, to Go-Coach staff confirms that the sale went ahead on 1st December. Austin Blackburn is remaining with the combined organisation and will be Engineering Manager for both Hulley's and Go-Coach. Austin Blackburn has been keen to cut down his workload (he estimates he has worked around 70 hours a week for many years), and has no family succession for the Go-Coach business, so was keen that it should be sold to another independent with the same kind of philosophy, rather than one of the larger groups. Fair play to Mr. Blackburn, Go Coach seems like a very well run outfit. Hopefully the new owners continue along the same path. |
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Post by imarkeh on Dec 4, 2023 23:40:26 GMT
Fair play to Mr. Blackburn, Go Coach seems like a very well run outfit. Hopefully the new owners continue along the same path. GoCoach is only 'well ran' if you are an enthusiast. In terms of how good it is for encouraging people onto buses, they couldn't be much further from it. Routes only run a few hours of the day so that they can prioritise schools. Schools and service aren't mixed generally so whereas some routes could have a full day service with the bus just starting, finishing or diverting to a school as required, instead area suffer large gaps in the timetable. Then on routes like the 3 where the school and core services are supposedly mixed, the fares for the school run are ridiculous and so normal people are priced off the normal bus so that GoCoach can rip off all of the school kids instead. They have excessive amounts of dead mileage as they refuse to run dead mileage trips meaning many areas suffer a poorer service than they need to have. Many of the early morning/late afternoon trips could be provided as dead mileage runs and then people get a better service, GoCoach gets Bus Service Operator Grant for that mileage and they reduce dead mileage. Any fares taken is a bonus, but no. Thou shall not give a better service to local people. They pushed a DRT scheme rather than providing timetabled buses, we all know how well that turns out for everyone else. Far too much trying to blur the lines between their bus and taxi divisions. Very similar to Hulleys, the only people who like them are bus veg. It's an enthusiast ran business for enthusiasts. Providing a proper bus service for people to use comes about 5th in the priorities. Shocking firm and it won't get any better under Hulleys given the shambolic management up there at the minute. Oh well, I guess Austin will be happy being a big engineering manager. After all, being the engineering manager of two different operations 150+ miles between them, definitely can't go wrong that can it? He could be an engineering manager for GoCoach and a bus operator in Lille and still have less mileage between the operations! We all slate Arriva for how big of an operating area that their management cover but this takes the biscuit. |
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Post by twobellstogo on Dec 5, 2023 6:03:49 GMT
Fair play to Mr. Blackburn, Go Coach seems like a very well run outfit. Hopefully the new owners continue along the same path. GoCoach is only 'well ran' if you are an enthusiast. In terms of how good it is for encouraging people onto buses, they couldn't be much further from it. Routes only run a few hours of the day so that they can prioritise schools. Schools and service aren't mixed generally so whereas some routes could have a full day service with the bus just starting, finishing or diverting to a school as required, instead area suffer large gaps in the timetable. Then on routes like the 3 where the school and core services are supposedly mixed, the fares for the school run are ridiculous and so normal people are priced off the normal bus so that GoCoach can rip off all of the school kids instead. They have excessive amounts of dead mileage as they refuse to run dead mileage trips meaning many areas suffer a poorer service than they need to have. Many of the early morning/late afternoon trips could be provided as dead mileage runs and then people get a better service, GoCoach gets Bus Service Operator Grant for that mileage and they reduce dead mileage. Any fares taken is a bonus, but no. Thou shall not give a better service to local people. They pushed a DRT scheme rather than providing timetabled buses, we all know how well that turns out for everyone else. Far too much trying to blur the lines between their bus and taxi divisions. Very similar to Hulleys, the only people who like them are bus veg. It's an enthusiast ran business for enthusiasts. Providing a proper bus service for people to use comes about 5th in the priorities. Shocking firm and it won't get any better under Hulleys given the shambolic management up there at the minute. Oh well, I guess Austin will be happy being a big engineering manager. After all, being the engineering manager of two different operations 150+ miles between them, definitely can't go wrong that can it? He could be an engineering manager for GoCoach and a bus operator in Lille and still have less mileage between the operations! We all slate Arriva for how big of an operating area that their management cover but this takes the biscuit. I’ve never quite understood Go-Coach’s timetabling - often timetables for routes that end mid-afternoon with no obvious alternatives beyond. Sevenoaks isn’t great bus operating territory, granted, but I think more could be done to encourage use. I tried Go-Coach’s DRT system twice one day - the first time was an utter failure so I walked to my destination and the second time it was quicker to walk to the main road and get an Arriva 402 than wait for the DRT. Go-Coach would be better off binning the DRT and introducing regular (say hourly) services on a set network in Sevenoaks. DRT in my experience cannot be trusted. I equally don’t think though, in Go-Coach’s defence, that they are helped by Kent County Council, who are not the most bus friendly council out there. |
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Post by SILENCED on Dec 5, 2023 10:13:21 GMT
In a rather surprising move, the independent Derbyshire operator Hulley's of Baslow has bought Go-Coach of Swanley and all its operations. A letter from Go-Coach's Owner, Austin Blackburn, to Go-Coach staff confirms that the sale went ahead on 1st December. Austin Blackburn is remaining with the combined organisation and will be Engineering Manager for both Hulley's and Go-Coach. Austin Blackburn has been keen to cut down his workload (he estimates he has worked around 70 hours a week for many years), and has no family succession for the Go-Coach business, so was keen that it should be sold to another independent with the same kind of philosophy, rather than one of the larger groups. Fair play to Mr. Blackburn, Go Coach seems like a very well run outfit. Hopefully the new owners continue along the same path. Judging by the company's thread on the West Yorkshire Travel forum, the current owner of Hulleys has destroyed and trashed the good reputation Hulley's once had in a short period of time, with his staff not very complementary of him. |
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Post by MetrolineGA1511 on Dec 9, 2023 9:18:04 GMT
In a rather surprising move, the independent Derbyshire operator Hulley's of Baslow has bought Go-Coach of Swanley and all its operations. A letter from Go-Coach's Owner, Austin Blackburn, to Go-Coach staff confirms that the sale went ahead on 1st December. Austin Blackburn is remaining with the combined organisation and will be Engineering Manager for both Hulley's and Go-Coach. Austin Blackburn has been keen to cut down his workload (he estimates he has worked around 70 hours a week for many years), and has no family succession for the Go-Coach business, so was keen that it should be sold to another independent with the same kind of philosophy, rather than one of the larger groups.In the medium term I think this new expanded Hulley's, including Go Coach, could be acquired by Rotala Group. They have other secondary operations in the Midlands and just outside London. |
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