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Post by vjaska on May 25, 2021 0:52:31 GMT
No hope for Lambeth as the Ferndale Road one was shoved in despite increasing protests against it. The Railton Road & St Matthews Road ones are the ones I’d love to see gone as that would greatly improve the flow of east to west traffic I don’t mind well-planned ones but the ones currently are set in a way as if someone at tfl thought - “what’s the best way to force traffic onto already crowded roads and inconvenience people” Hope everyone enjoyed cycling this year in May I didn't know that well planned ones actually existed
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Post by capitalomnibus on May 25, 2021 10:41:48 GMT
Seems that the overall intent is to strip the business down to a core before floating what's remaining, which should include UK bus and rail. The article is behind a paywall but is relatively easy to get around with a careful timed cancellation of the loading screen. It seems to mention First, Go Ahead and Stagecoach could all be in contention for mergers following substantial decreases in market capitalisation. Notably it mentions Souter and Gloag both reducing their Stagecoach stake to 5%, suggesting that both are interested in the companies merging then going private which would be interesting. It would however almost certainly go up against many competition laws. Deutsche Bahn plots Arriva break up The break up comes amid speculation that a starting gun has been fired on a wave of dealmaking in the UK bus market
One of the world’s biggest public transport operators is to be broken up as speculation grows that Britain’s bus industry is primed for a wave of dealmaking. Arriva has been split into wanted and unwanted divisions by its German owner Deutsche Bahn following a review of the business last year, The Sunday Telegraph can disclose. Bosses are now preparing to open talks with bidders for unwanted “non-core” parts of the business. Arriva’s UK arm - which runs nearly 6,000 buses and three rail operators including London Overground, and employs more than 16,000 people - is seen as “core” and will be sold off or floated at a later date, according to industry sources. Deutsche Bahn put the wider Arriva Group up for sale more than two years ago. It operates across 14 European countries and has more than 60,000 staff. The German state rail firm was hoping to fetch £3.4bn to pay down debts. A deal with US buyout company Carlyle collapsed late in 2019, prompting bosses to switch to floating a minority stake in Amsterdam last summer. Plans to go public were put on ice as the pandemic hit. It is understood that non-core parts of Arriva will now be sold off piecemeal over the next two to three years, with core divisions such as the UK arm then either floated or sold as a group. The break up comes amid speculation that a starting gun has been fired on a wave of dealmaking in the UK bus market. Investors see the market as increasingly attractive following Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s decision to invest £3bn in buses, including a pledge to buy 4,000 zero-emissions vehicles. City sources said that a sharp decline in the value of London-listed transport companies such as FirstGroup, Stagecoach and Go-Ahead has increased the potential for operators to merge - though any such move would likely attract the attention of competition watchdogs. Sir Brian Souter and Dame Ann Gloag, the Scottish siblings who founded Stagecoach, began selling off their 27pc stake in the FTSE 250 operator at the end of last month. The pair said that they intend to reduce their combined stake to 5pc over the next decade. A source said: “They are basically saying come and give us a ring. “They are basically saying we’re not going to take [Stagecoach] private, it’s for somebody else to do.” FirstGroup is planning to use most of the proceeds from the £3.3bn sale of its US arms to pay down debts and retain cash in the hope that it can capitalise on a better outlook in the UK as Covid restrictions lift. However, the sale is facing opposition from two of the operator’s biggest investors, with a vote on the deal later this week expected to go down to the wire. The Telegraph understands that Hong Kong-based activist Oasis Management - which led a bitter campaign against the board of Premier Foods three years ago - has taken a stake in FirstGroup and also plans to vote against the FirstGroup board. A spokesman for Deutsche Bahn (DB) said: “Last year, we undertook a strategic review alongside Arriva, to ensure the company can continue to thrive and grow in the future. “This review informed the investment strategy for the mid-term, with markets evaluated as ‘core’ or ‘non-core’. UK bus and rail, as well as a number of other European markets, have been evaluated as core and there will be no change. The review was the right thing to do in the context of the global pandemic and the challenging market conditions we face. “We are in the early stages of exploring potential divestment opportunities of our non-core markets, but there are no firm plans or decisions at this time. DB’s goal remains to sell Arriva subject to favourable economic conditions.”
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Post by ronnie on May 25, 2021 11:18:24 GMT
I don’t mind well-planned ones but the ones currently are set in a way as if someone at tfl thought - “what’s the best way to force traffic onto already crowded roads and inconvenience people” Hope everyone enjoyed cycling this year in May I didn't know that well planned ones actually existed One can always be optimistic!!!
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Post by busman on May 25, 2021 11:41:27 GMT
I wouldn’t say the UK bus operations will be sold soon. DB have identified Arriva’s UK arm as “core”. DB are only unloading “non-core” operations. I interpreted the article as saying that Arriva UK could be sold at some point in the future subject to favourable economic conditions. In other words, in a few years time when the UK has bounced back from COVID and the government’s bus and rail strategy is in full flow. Unless someone is willing to make DB an unbelievably good offer right now, I don’t expect Arriva UK to be sold for another 2-3 years. The bad news for passengers is that Arriva UK’s strategy until they are sold will be to increase profitability, rather than to grow market share through service delivery. Arriva UK will need to be lean with healthy margins so DB can command the highest selling price. Arriva pulling out of provincial towns like Sheerness will probably become more commonplace.
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Post by vjaska on May 25, 2021 15:03:54 GMT
There was me thinking restrictions on buses had been mostly removed barring sideways seats, rear facing seats & no standing for able people and yet the driver of 2610 today on the 45 at 15:35 this afternoon wasn't adhering to the updated policy. He pulled up to the Streatham Place stop with just 5 of us waiting (me, a woman with a crutch and her 2 kids and a middle aged woman) and refused to let us on despite their being more than 5 seats available between the top and lower decks - as a result, all 5 passengers didn't bother waiting and walked away with myself walking around to Streatham Hill and jumping on a 59. The same sort of thing also happened to my mum last week when she was on her way to work where she and a number of other people were refused entry despite being a good number of seats left to use.
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Post by galwhv69 on May 25, 2021 15:24:00 GMT
There was me thinking restrictions on buses had been mostly removed barring sideways seats, rear facing seats & no standing for able people and yet the driver of 2610 today on the 45 at 15:35 this afternoon wasn't adhering to the updated policy. He pulled up to the Streatham Place stop with just 5 of us waiting (me, a woman with a crutch and her 2 kids and a middle aged woman) and refused to let us on despite their being more than 5 seats available between the top and lower decks - as a result, all 5 passengers didn't bother waiting and walked away with myself walking around to Streatham Hill and jumping on a 59. The same sort of thing also happened to my mum last week when she was on her way to work where she and a number of other people were refused entry despite being a good number of seats left to use. Yep, srill have drivers on the 37 like that. And this also happens on buses where the vinyls haven't been removed, as the drivers claim that the limit is still 11/14/30 because the vinyls says so
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Post by vjaska on May 25, 2021 15:48:58 GMT
There was me thinking restrictions on buses had been mostly removed barring sideways seats, rear facing seats & no standing for able people and yet the driver of 2610 today on the 45 at 15:35 this afternoon wasn't adhering to the updated policy. He pulled up to the Streatham Place stop with just 5 of us waiting (me, a woman with a crutch and her 2 kids and a middle aged woman) and refused to let us on despite their being more than 5 seats available between the top and lower decks - as a result, all 5 passengers didn't bother waiting and walked away with myself walking around to Streatham Hill and jumping on a 59. The same sort of thing also happened to my mum last week when she was on her way to work where she and a number of other people were refused entry despite being a good number of seats left to use. Yep, srill have drivers on the 37 like that. And this also happens on buses where the vinyls haven't been removed, as the drivers claim that the limit is still 11/14/30 because the vinyls says so It's ridiculous, if some drivers are going to continue doing this, then what's the point of updating the policy.
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Post by galwhv69 on May 25, 2021 16:18:39 GMT
Yep, srill have drivers on the 37 like that. And this also happens on buses where the vinyls haven't been removed, as the drivers claim that the limit is still 11/14/30 because the vinyls says so It's ridiculous, if some drivers are going to continue doing this, then what's the point of updating the policy. Exactly, lack of uniformity these days, from capacity limits, to blinds and buses themselves
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Post by Dillon95 on May 25, 2021 18:48:28 GMT
There was me thinking restrictions on buses had been mostly removed barring sideways seats, rear facing seats & no standing for able people and yet the driver of 2610 today on the 45 at 15:35 this afternoon wasn't adhering to the updated policy. He pulled up to the Streatham Place stop with just 5 of us waiting (me, a woman with a crutch and her 2 kids and a middle aged woman) and refused to let us on despite their being more than 5 seats available between the top and lower decks - as a result, all 5 passengers didn't bother waiting and walked away with myself walking around to Streatham Hill and jumping on a 59. The same sort of thing also happened to my mum last week when she was on her way to work where she and a number of other people were refused entry despite being a good number of seats left to use. Sounds like he is following his own set of rules.
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Post by COBO on May 26, 2021 16:19:09 GMT
I had a weird dream 😴 I had a dream that there’s was a route in Northolt that operated by London General it ran between Northolt and Waterloo. It went via the backstreets of Northolt and I don’t know where it went after that. It used DOEs and WVLs. Then I woke up to realise it was just a dream and there was no route in Northolt operated by London General. Oh how disappointed I was.
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Post by 6HP502C on May 28, 2021 1:16:57 GMT
I had a weird dream 😴 I had a dream that there’s was a route in Northolt that operated by London General it ran between Northolt and Waterloo. It went via the backstreets of Northolt and I don’t know where it went after that. It used DOEs and WVLs. Then I woke up to realise it was just a dream and there was no route in Northolt operated by London General. Oh how disappointed I was. There used to be buses in Northolt that looked a lot like DOEs on the N7!
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Post by COBO on May 28, 2021 1:20:02 GMT
I had a weird dream 😴 I had a dream that there’s was a route in Northolt that operated by London General it ran between Northolt and Waterloo. It went via the backstreets of Northolt and I don’t know where it went after that. It used DOEs and WVLs. Then I woke up to realise it was just a dream and there was no route in Northolt operated by London General. Oh how disappointed I was. There used to be buses in Northolt that looked a lot like DOEs on the N7! Yeah the SELs aka East Lanc Olympus bodied Scania’s. While the DOEs are Optare Olympus bodied Dennis Tridents. Same body different chasis.
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Post by kmkcheng on May 28, 2021 5:57:33 GMT
I had a weird dream 😴 I had a dream that there’s was a route in Northolt that operated by London General it ran between Northolt and Waterloo. It went via the backstreets of Northolt and I don’t know where it went after that. It used DOEs and WVLs. Then I woke up to realise it was just a dream and there was no route in Northolt operated by London General. Oh how disappointed I was. Many years ago, London General did have the N11 which ran not too far away from Northolt in the Perivale area through those back streets via the 297 route when the N11 used to run to Wembley Central. I believe they may have been WVLs as well
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Post by M1104 on May 28, 2021 12:17:22 GMT
I had a weird dream 😴 I had a dream that there’s was a route in Northolt that operated by London General it ran between Northolt and Waterloo. It went via the backstreets of Northolt and I don’t know where it went after that. It used DOEs and WVLs. Then I woke up to realise it was just a dream and there was no route in Northolt operated by London General. Oh how disappointed I was. Many years ago, London General did have the N11 which ran not too far away from Northolt in the Perivale area through those back streets via the 297 route when the N11 used to run to Wembley Central. I believe they may have been WVLs as well They were indeed WVLs
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Post by VMH2537 on May 28, 2021 16:37:28 GMT
Absolote nightmare, stuck on the 299 between Muswell Hill and Bounds Green for half an hour because of all the LTNs that caused all of the congestion from the diverted routes.
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