First Group: General Discussion

[Robertj21a]

I don't think any Eclipses have moved to Potteries though they have just received 9 Streetlites (lucky them....) from First Manchester.

 

[LAIRA]

63107+63108 now reported, photographed as being in Leicester

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

63107+63108 now reported, photographed as being in Leicester

Believe 63106 also reported there

I don't think any Eclipses have moved to Potteries though they have just received 9 Streetlites (lucky them....) from First Manchester.

Helping clear some of the elderly stuff out you’d expect

Reports attributed to Nigel Eggleton suggest that Leicester is getting some B9s (ex Leeds????) to displace 4 B7TLs to Worcester. Worcester losing long StreetLites to Leicester, replaced by Citaros (from Slough?) so looks like they’re getting sorted for Leicester CAZ.

Lots of fleet moves about. However, I’d not seen anything about Essex Eclipses in Potteries so wanted to check with Dragon East that I was interpreting his post correctly.

 

[freetoview33]

As said there were detailed plans in place for fleet moves but Manchester has put pay to that so everything has changed again!

 

[Robertj21a]

Believe 63106 also reported there



Helping clear some of the elderly stuff out you’d expect

Reports attributed to Nigel Eggleton suggest that Leicester is getting some B9s (ex Leeds????) to displace 4 B7TLs to Worcester. Worcester losing long StreetLites to Leicester, replaced by Citaros (from Slough?) so looks like they’re getting sorted for Leicester CAZ.

Lots of fleet moves about. However, I’d not seen anything about Essex Eclipses in Potteries so wanted to check with Dragon East that I was interpreting his post correctly.

That sounds about right. Citaros will be from Slough.

63106-63108 at Leicester, the other 9 at Potteries.

 

[cnjb8]

That sounds about right. Citaros will be from Slough.

63106-63108 at Leicester, the other 9 at Potteries.

What's replacing the Citaros at Slough?

 

[winston270twm]

As said there were detailed plans in place for fleet moves but Manchester has put pay to that so everything has changed again!

How has Manchester put pay to fleet moves? Surely the fact that Rotala at least haven't taken all of the Bolton fleet on hire (with non purchased) has allowed for additional cascades out, plus the services cuts at Oldham have further allowed for extra Streetlite cascades.

 

[ChrisPJ]

Is Oldham, to paraphrase a famous Tim O Toole quote, basically in closedown mode now?

 

[Whiteway215]

That sounds about right. Citaros will be from Slough.

63106-63108 at Leicester, the other 9 at Potteries.

Would the Potteries acquisitions be 63111-8/46.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Would the Potteries acquisitions be 63111-8/46.

Those have been quoted elsewhere.

 

[Robertj21a]

Would the Potteries acquisitions be 63111-8/46.

Yes, correct.

 

[KendalKing]

How has Manchester put pay to fleet moves? Surely the fact that Rotala at least haven't taken all of the Bolton fleet on hire (with non purchased) has allowed for additional cascades out, plus the services cuts at Oldham have further allowed for extra Streetlite cascades.

The StreetLites at Oldham have been replaced by Eclipse bodied B7RLE's.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

The StreetLites at Oldham have been replaced by Eclipse bodied B7RLE's.

Some Max versions have but there have been short ones released via service reductions?

 

[tbtc]

Some Max versions have but there have been short ones released via service reductions?

Talking of service reductions, we've some in South Yorkshire next month (traditional "start of September", new school year... using the reduced service levels during the school holidays to disguise the true nature of the overall cuts) - it seems to be enough to get rid of the remaining B7Ls and Tridents/Presidents (all ex-London double deckers in the FSY fleet are essentially the same to, so I lose track of which are which).

It wouldn't be First SY if they didn't cut services every few years as a way of permitting the worst buses in the fleet to be scrapped (though I've heard that in other operations they actually buy *new* buses to allow the oldest ones to be scrapped or cascaded away?)

 

[Whiteway215]

The StreetLites at Oldham have been replaced by Eclipse bodied B7RLE's.

Would these be the Bolton ones 69527-31/7-9??
Any news on further moves of Bolton B9s 37417-9/22/5-31/4/5/47/56/71/546/7/51/4?

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Would these be the Bolton ones 69527-31/7-9??
Any news on further moves of Bolton B9s 37417-9/22/5-31/4/5/47/56/71/546/7/51/4?

I think it’s 69527-31. The other three are for the V3 peak journeys.

 

[Alexbus12]

I think it’s 69527-31. The other three are for the V3 peak journeys.

7-9 are also at Oldham. Oldham are running the spare Vantage boards, which include running 36279/80. Used on normal services when not on Vantage

 

[KendalKing]

Any news on further moves of Bolton B9s 37417-9/22/5-31/4/5/47/56/71/546/7/51/4?

All of these are now at Oldham.

 

[mic]

anyone know what has happened to 30945 it was reported to be going to be reinstated at Oldham it had an annual test done and been retaxed but no sign of it

 

[bristolbuses]

anyone know what has happened to 30945 it was reported to be going to be reinstated at Oldham it had an annual test done and been retaxed but no sign of it

It is currently at Lawerence Hill depot in Bristol, transferred a few weeks ago along with 30936.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

anyone know what has happened to 30945 it was reported to be going to be reinstated at Oldham it had an annual test done and been retaxed but no sign of it

And as was mentioned... https://www.flickr.com/photos/77751183@N07/48490722932/in/photolist-2gSXCx7-2grxeZi-2gkfrik

 

[Whiteway215]

And as was mentioned... https://www.flickr.com/photos/77751183@N07/48490722932/in/photolist-2gSXCx7-2grxeZi-2gkfrik

Is that the collision damaged 32090 in the lineup to the left of the picture?

 

[Surreyman]

From "Transport Xtra"

"FirstGroup has dropped plans to sell its Oldham bus depot, its last remaining depot in Greater Manchester.

First sold the Manchester Queens Road depot to Go-Ahead this spring (LTT 01 Mar) and has announced the sale of its Bolton depot to Rotala (LTT 05 Jul). First Bus managing director Giles Fearnley told LTT the Oldham depot had been up for sale, too, but no acceptable offer had been made".

 

[Anthony ross]

From "Transport Xtra"

"FirstGroup has dropped plans to sell its Oldham bus depot, its last remaining depot in Greater Manchester.

First sold the Manchester Queens Road depot to Go-Ahead this spring (LTT 01 Mar) and has announced the sale of its Bolton depot to Rotala (LTT 05 Jul). First Bus managing director Giles Fearnley told LTT the Oldham depot had been up for sale, too, but no acceptable offer had been made".

Interesting turnaround

 

[In Focus]

No

From "Transport Xtra"

"FirstGroup has dropped plans to sell its Oldham bus depot, its last remaining depot in Greater Manchester.

First sold the Manchester Queens Road depot to Go-Ahead this spring (LTT 01 Mar) and has announced the sale of its Bolton depot to Rotala (LTT 05 Jul). First Bus managing director Giles Fearnley told LTT the Oldham depot had been up for sale, too, but no acceptable offer had been made".

Now may be a good time to buy shares ,currently at 127 can only see them going up in the short term.

 

[Mal]

From "Transport Xtra"

"FirstGroup has dropped plans to sell its Oldham bus depot, its last remaining depot in Greater Manchester.

First sold the Manchester Queens Road depot to Go-Ahead this spring (LTT 01 Mar) and has announced the sale of its Bolton depot to Rotala (LTT 05 Jul). First Bus managing director Giles Fearnley told LTT the Oldham depot had been up for sale, too, but no acceptable offer had been made".

The way I see it, is if a better offer came from other interested Groups or companies, then First would go for it.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

The way I see it, is if a better offer came from other interested Groups or companies, then First would go for it.

I believe that there was an interested party (not one with existing interests in the area) but that negotiations concluded some time ago without agreement.

 

[Robertj21a]

The way I see it, is if a better offer came from other interested Groups or companies, then First would go for it.

This is what makes the statement meaningless. First have said, for a very long time, that they will consider offers for any part of the UK Bus operation. Just saying that they've dropped their plans for Oldham simply means that it's still the same as it's always been - available for sale.
I assume the reason that it's not selling is that First value it more than anyone else does (!), or there's still a Pensions issue, or quite simply, nobody sees the Oldham operation as particularly attractive anyway.

 

[Rod Harrison]

I wonder if they will continue to give up routes like 415, 149 and Ashton routes and then sell the main routes separately? Maybe the 59, 81, 409, 181/182 and 350 would be attractive to the other three Manchester operatives.

 

[ivanhoe]

Initially you think you would make money in Oldham. However, doing a bit of research, the nature of Oldham has changed dramatically . It has lost so much Industry that it appears to have the appearance of a dormitory town which is only 6 miles from Manchester.
The tram would have taken up much of the business westwards to Manchester. It kind of leaves the scraps for the bus Industry. Bearing in mind then, that a lot of its business after 9.30 will be concessionary travel which we all know, doesn't cover the bills, if it is the dominant fare. I can therefore see problems ahead in trying to achieve a favourable sale.