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Post by Jack on Apr 19, 2012 20:15:44 GMT
www.lefigaro.fr/flash-eco/2012/04/19/97002-20120419FILWWW00708-la-ratp-achete-une-societe-de-transports.phpThe RATP has announced the takeover of bus and coach UK HR Richmond, which operates the brands and Epsom Coaches Quality Line in London and Surrey (South London), without specifying the amount of the transaction . "With a fleet of 85 buses and 25 coaches, the company operates 14 routes on behalf of Transport for London and four bus lines in Surrey, but also services for coach recreational services and other delegates" the statement said. brand Epsom Coaches will continue to operate as an independent division of RATP group and will be led by Steve Whiteway, promoted to general manager, says the carrier. The acquisition was completed by RATP Dev, a subsidiary whose mission is to develop transportation operations and maintenance activities of the group outside the network operated in the Ile-de-France. RATP had said last week aiming to RATP Dev, located in 12 countries, a 20% growth in turnover in 2012 and a target of one billion euros at end 2013.
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Post by DT 11 on Apr 19, 2012 20:18:47 GMT
I'm Happy It will operate as an Independent division.
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Post by Jack on Apr 19, 2012 20:24:36 GMT
I'm Happy It will operate as an Independent division. It's still another British company gone
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Post by DT 11 on Apr 19, 2012 20:27:17 GMT
I'm Happy It will operate as an Independent division. It's still another British company gone Yes, Very True, It would be quite annoying if they decided to Change the branding of Quality Line.
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Post by Jack on Apr 19, 2012 20:32:23 GMT
It's still another British company gone Yes, Very True, It would be quite annoying if they decided to Change the branding of Quality Line. Maybe this sale has something to do with the new logo that the company had created before the X26 takeover? *Specualtion*
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Post by mre81 on Apr 19, 2012 21:30:19 GMT
A great shame that a very decent independant operator is subsumed by another big group. I think it was inevitable that the lure of the pound sign would win the owners over in the end, particularly after one of the group's founding fathers died. I give it 2 years max before it becomes part of London United with the inevitable plummeting quality that goes with being part of a big group. Not that LU are bad in my opinion, but you're never going to get the same quality in a big group as you do in a small operation. :-(
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Post by Hassaan on Apr 19, 2012 21:45:09 GMT
Yes, Very True, It would be quite annoying if they decided to Change the branding of Quality Line. Maybe this sale has something to do with the new logo that the company had created before the X26 takeover? *Specualtion* I wonder if starting the numbering of the buses from MCL8 (last London United one is MCL7) instead of MCL2 also has anything to do with this ( More speculation ;D)
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Post by TA1 on Apr 19, 2012 22:09:16 GMT
Maybe this sale has something to do with the new logo that the company had created before the X26 takeover? *Specualtion* I wonder if starting the numbering of the buses from MCL8 (last London United one is MCL7) instead of MCL2 also has anything to do with this ( More speculation ;D) Or better yet still Quality Line had Citaro's which where used whilst they operated route 293 which passed to metrobus in 2008 IIRC.
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Post by vjaska on Apr 19, 2012 22:51:22 GMT
Maybe this sale has something to do with the new logo that the company had created before the X26 takeover? *Specualtion* I wonder if starting the numbering of the buses from MCL8 (last London United one is MCL7) instead of MCL2 also has anything to do with this ( More speculation ;D) Quality Line had a MCL2 before when the 293 had 7 Citaros numbered MCL1-7. MCL1 is still with Quality Line for the 408. 'TA1' - the Citaros from the 293 were only loaned to Metrobus when the X26's PVR was increased until the dual door Omnicitys finished their refurb and could be transferred from CY. MCL2-7 went off lease from what I can remember.
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Post by Hassaan on Apr 19, 2012 23:46:53 GMT
I wonder if starting the numbering of the buses from MCL8 (last London United one is MCL7) instead of MCL2 also has anything to do with this ( More speculation ;D) Quality Line had a MCL2 before when the 293 had 7 Citaros numbered MCL1-7. MCL1 is still with Quality Line for the 408. 'TA1' - the Citaros from the 293 were only loaned to Metrobus when the X26's PVR was increased until the dual door Omnicitys finished their refurb and could be transferred from CY. MCL2-7 went off lease from what I can remember. What I meant was that as they no longer had MCL2-7, surely they could have reused those numbers rather than leave a gap. Although the good thing I suppose is there is no confusion with the previous examples. Which would then suggest that the fitting in with the London United sequence is a coincidence , and I'm probably just being pedantic ;D.
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Post by T.R. on Apr 19, 2012 23:46:58 GMT
I must admit, when QL beagn expanding last year (winning 411, 465, 467, K5, & X26) I had a gut instinct that someone would make a bid. (had a similar feeling with NCP/NSL) Let's hope the name stays intact for as long as possible...
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Post by snowman on Apr 20, 2012 10:48:22 GMT
There is at least 4 different French news organisations with this story now, but haven't yet seen it on a UK site.
This is sad as Quality Line have high standards.
I wonder if this will see major changes to London United's Tolworth depot or the fleet allocated there. The equipment at TV is poor compared to the recent state of art stuff installed at Epsom. My gut feeling is that changes will occur to avoid lots of dead mileage in the Epsom-Tolworth-Kingston area.
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Post by southlondonbus on Apr 20, 2012 11:15:37 GMT
Does that mean the 411 and lets say X26 could move into FW or would that be seen as mixing divisions. Same with the 418 into TV.
One thing that we could see happen is that with a base in Epsom, RAPT/LU could start to bid for routes in the Sutton area with space created at Epsom by moving routes such as the 411, 418, X26 to other depots and bid potenially for routes such as the 93, 151. It could be 1 big group (RAPT) taking on another big group (Go Ahead) in a way that QL may not have been able to take on a route with a PVR of say 14.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 20, 2012 11:53:42 GMT
Does that mean the 411 and lets say X26 could move into FW or would that be seen as mixing divisions. Same with the 418 into TV. One thing that we could see happen is that with a base in Epsom, RAPT/LU could start to bid for routes in the Sutton area with space created at Epsom by moving routes such as the 411, 418, X26 to other depots and bid potenially for routes such as the 93, 151. It could be 1 big group (RAPT) taking on another big group (Go Ahead) in a way that QL may not have been able to take on a route with a PVR of say 14. No. It'll be like Go-Ahead London and Metrobus. Completely separate, except they won't bid against each other.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 20, 2012 14:34:35 GMT
There is at least 4 different French news organisations with this story now, but haven't yet seen it on a UK site. This is sad as Quality Line have high standards. I wonder if this will see major changes to London United's Tolworth depot or the fleet allocated there. The equipment at TV is poor compared to the recent state of art stuff installed at Epsom. My gut feeling is that changes will occur to avoid lots of dead mileage in the Epsom-Tolworth-Kingston area. busandcoach are carrying the story www.busandcoach.com/newspage.aspx?id=6680&categoryid=0Kind of makes the LU commercial section redundant
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