Steve_B
Member
The E400's are still in Bournemouth but might be moving to another bus operator early next week for storage
The caption suggests the images and video were taken around 7 months ago.There are also at least 4 Wright Geminis shown in the video - are they at Mistral's premises or still in Bournmeouth?
If Yellow Coaches try to grab some Bournemouth Transport Ltd work, I assume thats quite legal. Think its called phoenix trading.Thanks Richard. I didn't get the 'Grizzly Network' reference (on the map PDF) when I first saw it, but of course it makes sense now! With that and the other 'GB' references on the PDF timetables I suspect we've seen a little bit 'behind the curtain' on Morebus's project to prepare for the collapse of Yellow Buses, including I dare say the project name!
The timing of the announcement on Friday afternoon re the tendered routes (18, 33 and 36) also makes sense - Morebus were literally waiting to see if they could sign up enough ex-YB drivers so they could staff those services.
Thanks also for the clarity regarding the two companies, Bournemouth Transport Ltd trading as Yellow Buses and Yellow Coaches Ltd. Interesting that the Megabus M3 work sat within Yellow Coaches, whilst the NatEx work sat within YB - but maybe it had to be that way to fulfil NatEx requirements that a contractor cannot also compete with the NX network?
Lastly as you suggest, it seems in the future the most likely operators of yellow liveried bus vehicles on the streets of Bournemouth are going to be Yellow Coaches. Whether they can resuscitate the Yellow Buses name is another matter - I'd think they might have to buy the brand it from the administrators. Regardless, Yellow Coaches not going to be in the business of providing a bus network (though it's possible they could run a tendered service, or at least provide some procurement competition for the council.)
Re Grizzly Network, were More planning to use Buster Bear if they had bought the rights to Yellow Buses?Thanks Richard. I didn't get the 'Grizzly Network' reference (on the map PDF) when I first saw it, but of course it makes sense now! With that and the other 'GB' references on the PDF timetables I suspect we've seen a little bit 'behind the curtain' on Morebus's project to prepare for the collapse of Yellow Buses, including I dare say the project name!
Deckers have been running around on m1/m2 for much of the summer I think, I can't comment on that being a change in preparation for this or not though.Seem to be a lot of deckers on the m1/m2 as well, including at least six of the new 22-plate Uni buses.
They've been common since the idiotic decision to replace the B7RLE fleet on the m1/m2 with ridiculous e200 MMCs.Double deckers are quite common on m1/m2 outside school and university term time - been normal practice for some years
Double deckers are quite common on m1/m2 outside school and university term time - been normal practice for some years
Indeed. Yellow Bus's collapse has given Go South Coast an influx of trained drivers that they desperately needed. They were borrowing drivers from other GA companies (particularly London) and getting c100 trained drivers, even if they don't all stick, has solved that problem.They've been common since the idiotic decision to replace the B7RLE fleet on the m1/m2 with ridiculous e200 MMCs.
They're also used when available to mitigate the effects of the extensive number of lost journeys on m1/m2 currently.
I think Andrew Wickham and his management team are to be congratulated on how they have handled this.
So with Morebus now running most of YB’s former routes in the exact same number as they did, is the company planning to undergo a full recast/rationalisation of bus services within the Bournemouth & Poole conurbation in the short to medium term? I wonder if some routes in Poole will begin to receive suffixes to keep as many easy to remember single digit routes as possible (for example, renumbering the Poole - Wimborne 4 as the 3a to allow the higher number to be retained for the Bournemouth - Castlepoint route), while ensuring that no number is repeated twice within the conurbation on separate corridors.
The whole exercise is a text book example of dealing with the unusual circumstances faced by the Go South Coast team. Bournemouth’s residents and former Yellow Buses staff are very lucky to have had the Go South Coast team’s unwavering commitment to make the new arrangements work with little or no disruption.
It will be interesting to see which numbers are used. The only ones between 1 and 20 which aren’t taken by Morebus are 7*, 12 and 19, so they might have to resort to using prefixes, suffixes or less memorable higher numbers.I would imagine a service revision is quite likely later on this year.
They will have to balance demand with the number of staff available, and perhaps eliminate over provision of services on sections of route where there was direct competition with Yellow Buses.
I’ve never liked the fleetname “more”, what is it supposed to signify?There will be the six vehicles running the New Forest Tour from September 19. Wonder where they will go. One of the blue tour buses was in Swanage earlier this year, and a Bluestar bus in Lymington depot recently. I've seen Morebus buses on Bluestar 6. Once there was a Southern Vectis bus based at Lymington.
It would be nice if the Bournemouth buses could be rebranded, say Bournemouth Reds, and agree that it is strange, Bournemouth holds childhood memories of a school exchange, we came down from London to Southbourne, the Bournemouth children had a holiday in London, and Bournemouth's buses were always yellow
The originally had some branding on the buses along the lines of "more frequent", "more comfortable" etc etc, that's all been dropped now but I think the brand stays on because it's well recognised now.I’ve never liked the fleetname “more”, what is it supposed to signify?
When the More brand was introduced in 2004, it was confined to the high frequency m1/m2 routes which were launched at the same time. It wasn’t until 2012 when the Dorset side of Wilts & Dorset was rebranded to More to distinguish it from its Salisbury operations.The originally had some branding on the buses along the lines of "more frequent", "more comfortable" etc etc, that's all been dropped now but I think the brand stays on because it's well recognised now.
Yesterday there was a sign saying "more seats upstairs" on one of the buses, must have been from the same time!The originally had some branding on the buses along the lines of "more frequent", "more comfortable" etc etc, that's all been dropped now but I think the brand stays on because it's well recognised now.
Please Sir, I want more!!Although there are more More buses in Bournemouth than last week, there are fewer buses there in total compared to last week.
The downside for the YB staff is that TUPE does not apply in these circumstances, although their drivers have been encouraged to join Morebus with a £3,000 "golden hello".
why is there only one CMA? Surely there should be two of them in competition!
I think Andrew Wickham and his management team are to be congratulated on how they have handled this. As other posters have stated, Go South Coast started planning for this several weeks ago.
It's also very fortunate that the schools/colleges are out and as has been mentioned many times, new E400MMC for Unibus had just been delivered.
Wouldn't have thought they would have a problem acquiring extra vehicles for September, if not from within Go Ahead group, then I am sure the likes of Ensign could provide long or short term vehicles.
With both Yellow Bus & HCT - Yorkshire closing down, there will be plenty of vehicles available, I see the 'owned' part of Yellow buses fleet is now being auctioned on-line.I would have thought the ex Johnsons leased Enviro 400mmcs that YB had and are now for sale would be of interest bearing in mind they are a type extensively used by More and are already in the right location.
All of the yellow routes 13,m1,m2 u1,u2,u3,u4 and I belive some 16/17.Is anyone able to list what routes are now run from Go South Coast’s Bournemouth depot?
Thanks.