Stagecoach continue to make big gains of contracts across Devon and increasingly into Cornwall.
Jobs have been put a risk after First Bus lost the contract to operate Cornwall College routes.
From July 4, First Bus will no longer operate the Cornwall College contract which operated 19 routes.
In a statement issued to the Packet, First Bus said: “From July 4th First Bus will no longer operate the Cornwall College contract, following an unsuccessful retender. We are still assessing the impact of this change, and as such it is too early to comment.
“Our priority is our people, and we are supporting them as we look at our options. They will be the first to know of next steps.”
In a letter sent to employees, First Bus said the contract had been due to expire at the end of 24/25 of the academic year and they put in a bid re-tender.
Unfortunately they received notification that, while they achieved the highest score for the qualitive element, we were unsuccessful securing the contract.
The services impacted are BC26, BC25, BC22, BC23, BC24, DC01, DC02, DC3, DC4, DC05, DC06, DC07, DC08, DC09, EDCO, ST01, ST02, ST03 and CPR1.
The final date of the operation is expected to be July 4.
In the letter the company said the college contract was heavily loss making.
“The college contract was heavily loss making especially as our industry continues to see escalation in operating costs above the headline inflation figure,” it said.
“Although we are disappointed to be unsuccessful in the retender, this does give us an option to look at other areas of the Cornish network we can invest in – such as further opportunities through Flixbus.”
They say they are assessing the impact of the tender result it is possible that affected employees may transfer over to a new employer under TUPE, Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006.
The company says it is in conversation with its union reps and will be looking at options to retain staff in employment, whether that’s in the south west or elsewhere in the company or under the new contractor. It says it will consult with employees when they know.
“We understand this is disappointing news and that some of you may be worried about how this impacts you,” said the letter.
Its not just First Group – Go Ahead have also lost out with the Callywith contracts also moving to Stagecoach from July – Plymouth Citybus have already put in the cancellation notices for the services from 8th July.
Did see from someone at stagecoach from there works app there an announcement next week. Don't know if this is when truro and penwith college announce who got there network from September but they have decided like callywith for safeguarding to have there routes as closed door contracts rather then part of a open network
ReplyDeleteInteresting. The bidding for Truro and Penwith closed on May 7th so could indeed mean Stagecoach have won this too!? If so they are certainly building a presence in Cornwall! Who knows they may even bid for Cornwall council contracts off Go Ahead in 2027?
DeleteCallywith going closed door is a pain as they fill gaps in services and routes and were quicker than other services.
DeleteWithout a doubt SC are lining themselves up for a punt at the Cornwall work when it comes to retender.
DeleteAll of these college buses have no strategic base in the Cointy currently, nor additional work. So at present they will run from Plymouth and Tavi with dead miles to get to/from where they are going.
Stagecoach will absolutely be bidding for the Cornwall work. PCB will lose out when this comes to retender too, the question is simply by how much?
My prediction is regardless of whom wins cornwall tenders in 27, Stagecoach will take over from First in Cornwall like they did 10 years ago in Plymouth thus giving them bases in Cornwall
DeleteI dont think it would be a surprise if First did sell up to Stagecoach.
DeleteWhilst I wouldn't be surprised if Stagecoach did take over Cornwall operations from GA and First. I also wouldn't be surprised if First managed to turn themselves around in the next 4 or 5 years. With massive amounts of electric buses coming into the First empire there will be a lot of redundant nearly new Enviros and Streetdecks that could be heading to Cornwall in the next few years.
DeleteFirst will have plenty of midlife buses they could send down to Cornwall - but if they dont have the work they wont need to!
DeleteGraham they've just won the retendered Truro Park and Ride and also still run the majority of commercial services in Cornwall. We've seen this all before when Western Greyhound poached a load of services off First, we all thought First would close leaving only Greyhound. Look what happened then.
DeleteThe infux of electric buses isn't additional to the normal fleet, replacements though, it's only a (small) part of it, although allocations do tend to be concentrated thanks to Zebra. The big groups are still way behind in buying the numbers of buses that were bought before Covid; in the period during and after the pandemic they bought very, very few. When were the last new buses Citybus bought? Stagecoach Devon have only had 20 Solos in six years. It's a similar story everywhere in the provinces. For example, Brighton didn't get any new buses after the end of 2020. They used to buy 25-30 a year. 88 Enviro400s in the last two years still leaves them behind. Fleets don't have nearly new 5 year old buses to transfer like they used to, because they didn't buy them back in 2020/21.
Delete@G In influx of electric buses initially replaces older vehicles but First have already stated by 2035 they want the entire operation to be using EVs only that means all of the fleet will be electric in 10 years time. Since cities and large towns will get that investment first I can see a lot of brand new or nearly new vehicles moving down to Cornwall.
DeleteSo the work was loss making but they bid for it again? Something smells fishy to me as I can't see Cornwall Council upping the support payments by much.
ReplyDeleteWell for a start it’s nothing to do with Cornwall Council - and if they’ve become loss making over the course of the contract then of course they’re going to bid at a higher rate for the new contracts - the contracts have expired, not been surrendered
Delete- clearly Stagecoach believe they can price them more competitively - and if you looked at the start and finish locations of the contracts you’d see why!
They will initially have an outstation in Bodmin
DeleteWhen were the contracts awarded? A lot of contracts are based on pre-2022 economic assumptions which could not have forseen the economic effects of the Ukraine War and the hike in energy prices, hyper-inflation at over 20% (the highest for 40 years and something many will not have experienced before) and the disastrous economic impacts of the short-lived Liz Truss premiership.
DeleteIs it known yet who have been the winners from the retendering of the Cornwall Council schools work?
ReplyDeleteCpr1 is pendeen-pool campus be intresting to see how this is worked
ReplyDeleteAre extra buses going to be sent down here from another area to enable this??
ReplyDelete