Sounds Good?

Buses journeys in Plymouth are going to get a lot noisier over the next few years:

Local bus services in Britain will provide audible announcements and visual displays to improve accessibility for disabled passengers. Under new rules announced on Thursday, the route and direction of a service, each upcoming stop and any diversions will all be identified, the Department for Transport (DfT) said. The aids will be introduced as part of vehicle upgrades, with £4.65 million funding being made available to the nation’s smallest bus and coach companies

Alongside audio announcements and displays, it’s really important that bus companies ensure their drivers are educated on best practice such as always stopping at bus stops when they see a blind or partially sighted passenger and letting them know the number and direction of the bus

“Simple and effective audible and visible information should be a baked-in feature of a modern bus service to help people reach their destination, wherever they travel in Great Britain.”  Evening Standard

Although I would prefer quieter bus journeys myself, especially going to work in the morning, anything which helps accessibility for disabled passengers has to be a good thing and should be welcomed. I Can't imagine that its going to be cheap though fitting the equipment in all buses, as I see funding is promised for only “the smallest bus and coach companies, so I guess that rules out First, Go Ahead and Stagecoach!

The other thing is the short roll out for this scheme. The changes will be implemented over the next few years, with almost all vehicles required to comply by October 2026. That's only three and half years away.

Its an Honour

Congratulations are due:

The New Year Honours List 2023 marks the incredible public service of individuals from across the UK. Seven people from Plymouth have been awarded for their outstanding contributions in areas such as public service and community work. Being a transport blog, one of these is worthy of a mention

Richard Charles Barrington Stevens DL

Managing Director, Go South West. For services to Transport and to the community in Plymouth, Devon

In addition, Richard was also nominated for the Routeone Awards Manager Of the Year earlier this year.

Whilst led by Richard, Plymouth Citybus received the Queen's Award for Enterprise in 2020. It was honoured in the Promoting Opportunity category for its work assisting the “most vulnerable and disadvantaged” find employment.

Richard previously told PlymouthLive: “Being a good community partner means everything to me."

Transport is, he says, “the lifeblood of any community” - and key in helping people live out the different parts of their lives. “Wellbeing comes from being able to enjoy yourself in everything that you do,” said Mr Stevens, affirming Go South West’s commitment to serving its community, and ensuring that people are able to live life to the fullest for years to come.

Congratulations from all at Go-Ahead to Go South West, Managing Director Richard Stevens on being awarded an MBE in the New Year Honours for services to transport and to the community.

👏 pic.twitter.com/Shaax2SS8U

— The Go-Ahead Group (@TheGoAheadGroup) December 30, 2022

All change at the top?

Its been a busy time for the big bus groups. Stagecoach has agreed to be taken over by DWS which means that the offer from National Express has fallen by the wayside. Presumably this will mean that The Falcon will remain with Stagecoach now. Shortly before the DWS bid was accepted Stagecoach in London purchased Lea Interchange Depot and operations from Kelsian Group for £20 million. MorningStar. I thought at the time it seemed an odd time for Stagecoach to make this purchase but then we see that Kelsian had made a bid to purchase Go Ahead Group, along with another bid from Kinetic / Globalvia.

It now seems that the Kinetic / Globalvia bid is the preferred option for Go Ahead:

One of Britain’s biggest transport companies, the Go-Ahead Group, has accepted a £650m takeover bid from a consortium of the Australian bus operator Kinetic and the infrastructure specialists Globalvia.

Go-Ahead, a leading provider of UK bus services and the operator of the UK’s biggest commuter rail network, Govia Thameslink Railway, said its board unanimously recommended the offer to shareholders, after receiving two approaches from buyers.

It is the latest British transport company to become a takeover target, along with Stagecoach and FirstGroup.

Go-Ahead said the proposal was a “compelling offer”, a cash bid that values the group at 24% more than Friday’s closing price, before the approach was public

A deal would be expected to be completed in October, should shareholders accept the terms. The leadership team would remain in place and the group would stay headquartered in Newcastle and London.

Christian Schreyer, the chief executive of Go-Ahead, said: “This is a compelling offer which combines an attractive valuation for shareholders with bright prospects for Go-Ahead’s operations and colleagues around the world.

“We have confidence in Go-Ahead’s future as an independent business but see that being part of a truly global mass transit platform will yield exciting opportunities.”

Michael Sewards, a co-CEO of Kinetic, said his firm, as Australia and New Zealand’s largest and fastest growing operators of buses, “will not only provide the necessary long-term capital but the expertise to facilitate the rapid transition of Go-Ahead’s bus fleet from diesel to zero emission technology”. Guardian

It remains to be seen what effect new ownerships will have on local operations by Stagecoach and Go Ahead once the dust settles.

Library:

DWS Bid for Stagecoach... Routeone

Stagecoach buys east London bus operations

Go Ahead Group – Statement re possible offers.

Go-Ahead accepts £650m takeover offer from Kinetic and Globalvia _ Go-Ahead _ The Guardian

 First Group optimistic of returning bus passenger volumes amid takeover offer rejection

Stagecoach National Express Merger is ON

Bus and coach group National Express has agreed an all-share takeover of rival Stagecoach in a deal that will bring together two of the UK’s biggest transport firms.

The deal, which comes after talks between the pair were first revealed in September, will create a combined firm worth around £1.9 billion with a fleet of about 40,000 vehicles and a workforce of around 70,000 people.

Under the terms of the tie-up, National Express shareholders would own around 75% of the combined group and Stagecoach shareholders around 25%.

The deal, which will be voted on by shareholders, values Stagecoach at around £437 million.

The firms revealed that around 50 roles are expected to be cut under plans to slash annual costs by at least £45 million following the merger.

This is an exciting opportunity to bring together two of the UK's iconic transport brands to create a strong, diverse business

The jobs are set to go across the head offices, IT and corporate departments of the two firms, as well as some overlapping senior management positions.

But they stressed there would be no front-line job losses, such as among drivers, or depot closures due to the deal.

In a bid to ease any potential regulatory competition concerns, Stagecoach also announced deals to offload the marketing, retail and customer service operations of Megabus UK and the Falcon South-West coach service, as well as its 35% stake in the Scottish Citylink Coaches joint venture.

Stagecoach chairman Ray O’Toole will become the chairman of the merged group, while National Express chief executive Ignacio Garat will keep the same role at the merged firm.

The merger comes as both firms have been hit hard by the pandemic, with passenger numbers slumping due to lockdowns, remote working and a switch away from public transport.

Government support to help transport firms through the crisis is also due to end soon.

It follows a previous attempt at a merger in 2009, when National Express rejected a £1.7 billion merger deal mooted by Stagecoach.

The former attempt at a merger between the two would have seen Stagecoach own the majority of the combined group, with National Express left with up to 40%.

Mr Garat said: “The proposed combination of National Express and Stagecoach, and the unique strengths of both companies and their teams, will create a leading multi-modal passenger transport business in the UK.”

Martin Griffiths, chief executive of Stagecoach, added: “This is an exciting opportunity to bring together two of the UK’s iconic transport brands to create a strong, diverse business that is well-placed to grow the market for greener and smarter public transport for the benefit of all stakeholders.”

National Express has bus and coach networks across the UK and Spain, while it also runs school bus services in America and a rail franchise in Germany.

But Stagecoach is UK focused and is Britain’s biggest bus and coach operator.

National Express said the deal will allow it to use Stagecoach’s depot network to run and maintain its coach operations while also allowing it to expand its new growth initiatives – such as private coach hire, corporate shuttle and accessible transport – across Stagecoach’s UK operations

Stagecoach Recommended All-Share Combination

as mentioned above Stagecoach have announced the sale of Megabus AND the South West Falcon operation to Comfort Delgro Group (CDG)

“Stagecoach developed the Megabus brand in 2003, as we saw real potential in the long-distance inter-city coach market in the UK. In 2005,our belief in this market saw us create a joint venture with CDG to run the Scottish Citylink business and we further expanded our inter-citycoach business with the development of our bespoke Falcon service in the South West of England serving Bristol Airport. Through this transaction, Stagecoach ensures that those business will continue to thrive under the ownership of the world renowned CDG brand".

Stagecoach Disposals

So – what do people think? What changes if any do people think we will see over the coming months once all of this is sorted?

Shearings Holidays

After todays sad news there can only be one choice of Two for Today

BK11COJ January 2012

BF10VCO, MX04AEU and MX06ANR April 2010

Will we see any of these on Plymouth?

ABERDEEN-based transport giant FirstGroup today announced a massive £70 million order for 425 new fuel efficient vehicles for its bus division in the UK.

First’s order, which includes six electric vehicles, represents the biggest ever investment in new buses in the UK, for services outside London, and brings the company’s total investment in 2,000 new vehicles to around £310million over four years.

All but six of First’s new buses will be manufactured in the UK with Ballymena based Wrightbus winning the largest contract. First has placed an order for 301 Wrightbus vehicles including 274 of its “StreetLite Micro Hybrid” buses, one of the most fuel efficient buses on the market.

A spokesman for the international transport group said: “First and Wrightbus have worked in partnership throughout 2013 to test, trial and develop the Micro Hybrid buses. They are diesel vehicles which incorporate an innovative new on board hybrid system improving fuel efficiency by around ten per cent. FirstGroup will be the first company to operate these new buses.”

Giles Fearnley, managing director of First UK Bus, said: “This is the biggest order on record for services entirely outside London. We operate in 40 of the UK’s largest towns and cities and our investment will help support the communities we serve.

“This order is great news for our customers and underlines our commitment to growing our business and encouraging more people to use our services and use them more often.”

He continued: “Our groundbreaking partnership with Wrightbus will deliver unsurpassed levels of fuel efficiency, which, until recently few within in the bus industry would have believed possible. In 2013 we laid down the gauntlet to bus manufacturers to work with us to minimise fuel consumption.

 “Wrightbus embraced that challenge and together we’ve developed its StreetLite Micro Hybrid product. I am immensely proud of our collective achievements and we’re very much looking forward to being the first operator to take delivery of these revolutionary new vehicles.”

As part of the new order Falkirk based ADL has secured a contract for 97 new vehicles including 60 double-deckers. Leeds company Optare will manufacture 21, including six electric vehicles, and Volvo Group UK will build six coaches."

Stagecoach Norfolk Green

Industry News

Stagecoach Group plc ("Stagecoach") is pleased to announce that Stagecoach Bus Holdings Ltd has completed the acquisition of Go West
Travel Ltd, trading as Norfolk Green, an independent bus operator in the east of England. London Stock Exchange

I know its not local news, but the announcement by Stagecoach that they have purchased Norfolk Green has come as a surprise to many. Norfolk Green are a well know high quality operation which continues to win awards. For many years it seemed that the Independent Operator of the Year award was a contest between Norfolk Green and our own Western Greyhound.

This news also shows how there are still a few quality operations out there for which the big groups are still happy to reach into their pockets and purchase.

Industry News: First continue to sell

First Group have announced the sale of another part of their ‘empire’….

As part of the Group's stated strategy to reposition its UK Bus division to focus on those areas that offer the greatest potential for growth, we are pleased to announce the sale of our Birkenhead and Chester bus businesses to Stagecoach Group plc for a consideration of GBP4.5m. On completion of the sale our Birkenhead and Chester bus depots as well as a leased outstation in Wrexham and around 110 vehicles and approximately 290 employees will transfer to Stagecoach. 
 
Commenting Giles Fearnley, First's Managing Director, UK Bus said: 
 
"Birkenhead and Chester are businesses where we have previously seen lower than average margins and they are not core to our operations. They fit better with Stagecoach's existing portfolio in the area and also allow us to realise efficiencies in support costs. The sale of these operations marks further progress in disposing of selected assets and businesses as we review the scope and scale of our portfolio and reposition it for the longer term. We are 
progressing our detailed programme to recover performance and equip our UK Bus business to achieve sustainable revenue and patronage growth." 
Source

Stagecoach Group plc ("Stagecoach") is pleased to announce that Glenvale Transport Ltd, a wholly owned indirect subsidiary of Stagecoach, has agreed to acquire certain businesses and assets of subsidiaries of FirstGroup plc ("First") for a consideration of £4.5 million.

The businesses being acquired operate commercial and tendered bus services in Chester, Wrexham and Birkenhead, employing approximately 290 people. In the 12 months to 31 March 2012, the business had revenues of £11.9 million, EBITDA of around £1.7 million and an operating profit of around £0.6 million. The purchase includes around 110 vehicles, as well as the owned depot site at New Chester Road, Rock Ferry, Birkenhead; the owned depot facility at Liverpool Road, Chester; and a leased out-station facility at Rhosddu Industrial Estate, Rhosddu, Wrexham. The acquisition will allow Stagecoach to expand its successful bus operations in the North West where our Merseyside and South Lancashire business already operates more than 300 buses and employs more than 900 staff.

 

Stagecoach Group plc

Creative Commons licensed flickr photo shared by Dannys Bus Photos

The big sell off

Industry News: Stagecoach Group plc

Acquisition of Wigan bus operations from First Manchester Limited

Stagecoach Group plc ("Stagecoach") is pleased to announce that Greater Manchester Buses East Limited, a wholly owned indirect subsidiary of Stagecoach, has agreed to acquire the Wigan bus business and assets from First Manchester Limited ("First") for a consideration of £12 million. The business being acquired operates commercial bus services and a small number of school contracts, employing approximately 300 people. In the 12 months to 31 March 2012, the business had revenues of £13.2 million, EBITDA of £2.2 million and an operating profit of £1.5 million.

The purchase includes the owned Locket Road depot in Wigan, as well as some leased premises in Wigan bus station, staff facilities and approximately 120 vehicles. Around 20 of the vehicles are owned by Transport for Greater Manchester, mostly as part of school contract operations. The acquisition will allow Stagecoach to expand its successful bus operations in the Greater Manchester region, where it already operates around 630 buses and employs 1,850 staff.

The Wigan operations will become part of Stagecoach Manchester, which carries nearly 100 million passengers a year and is led by Managing Director Chris Bowles. Staff will transfer to Stagecoach's Greater Manchester Buses East Limited business under TUPE arrangements. Stagecoach expects the acquisition to be completed in early December 2012.

Les Warneford, Managing Director of Stagecoach UK Bus, said: "We have a strong track-record of attracting more people to bus travel and these new operations will expand our successful high-quality operations in other parts of Greater Manchester. "We will continue to focus on providing customers with the best value fares of any major bus operator in the UK, investing in our networks  and delivering punctual and reliable services. "Our people are central to our growth plans and we look forward to welcoming our new employees to the company."

ENDS

Stagecoach News Release

It seems the big sell off has started. It remains to be seen what goes next…

A sore thumb?

Since the end of March, shares in the four listed UK bus operators – FirstGroup, Go-Ahead , Stagecoach and National Express – are down by an average 17 per cent compared with little change in the FTSE All-Share. Understandably, FirstGroup sticks out like a sore thumb - plunging by a third - and the future for its bus division does, indeed, look bleak.

Thats the stark assessment from Investors Chronicle in an in-depth look at investing in the current UK Bus Sector

Ahead of the recent round of trading updates from the sector, there was a real fear that FirstGroup's problems were symptomatic of a wider industry decline Yet trading statements from rival companies suggest FirstGroup's issues are actually rooted in its own business and existed before current chief executive Tim O'Toole took over from 21-year veteran Sir Moir Lockhead 18 months ago. Questions are now being asked, and unfavourable comparisons made, with strong management teams at rivals Stagecoach and Go-Ahead.

The same certainly can't be said for Stagecoach. Britain's most profitable bus company has just said every one of its divisions is "well placed" to at least maintain operating profit in 2013.

Go-Ahead's bus business is also performing well with regional bus revenue up 4 per cent in the three months to March. That growth was matched by the regulated London routes where Go-Ahead is the largest operator. And, crucially, most of its 2,600 regional buses service "more vibrant" urban areas of the south-east.

But FirstGroup's problems aren't just about geography, they're about pricing too, and the company has always been an expensive operator. The backlash from passengers forced O’Toole to admit "the old-time religion (raising prices) definitely doesn't work". The new management team at UK Bus have much to do.

Things might have been different had the exorbitant cost of motoring not forced growing numbers of drivers on to public transport. Rising petrol prices, insurance, road tax and repairs increased the expense of driving to work by 21 per cent last year, according to Green Flag, and fuel costs have risen to a record high. They go up by another 3p a litre in August, which puts dearer bus fares into some kind of perspective

The full article can be read on the link above as it goes into a lot more detail on the current investors market for the bus sector.

In a nutshell Stagecgoach Good, Go Ahead OK, First Group Bad.

First Group have a lot of work to do. They know that and have made a start in some places. Southampton is one area which investors will be watching closely to see if changes being made there are successful and, more importantly, can be replicated in other areas across the country.

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Elsewhere on the net

After years of debate, proposal and counter proposal, the Croxley Rail Link has been approved by whoever has to approve such things. Thus it comes to pass that a bit of London's Undergound network is proposed for closure. Public Transport Experience

Something of a rarity AEC double-deckers had never been a common sight in Plymouth Busworld Photography

Only very occasionally do we use this blog to showcase work we have undertaken for our clients. This post is one such occasion and it looks briefly at the positioning, creative approach and execution of our campaign to raise awareness of changes to the First bus network in Southampton. MHD Moving People

Dad’s Digital Diary–The Tarka Line TGP

Unfortunately it seems that A-Line's latest addition to the fleet will be a short lived one PTOTPA

Dawlish Coaches RIP

©Ian Kirby 3rd November 2007

The Directors of Dawlish Coaches Limited convened a Board Meeting today Tuesday 10 August 2010 with a resolution to place the Company into Creditors Voluntary Liquidation as from 1 September 2010 and have instructed Messrs Begbies Traynor to assist the Directors in placing the Company into Liquidation.

This is the sad notice which now appears on the Dawlish Coaches web site. Dawlish Coaches are regular visitors to Plymouth especially when operating for Majestic Tours. 37 members of staff including drivers have been made redundant as a result. I hope that they manage to pick up new employment before too long.

Dawlish Coaches liquidated.

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Omnibuses: 1400 complaints

Unlucky 13

The days of council owned municipal bus companies seem even more numbered than ever. This past week has seen two more once proud civic fleets start the journey into private hands.
Blackburn has announced it is ready to sell its fleet to Transdev under the control of its Blazefield subsidary. Transdev recently took over control of Bournemouth, the last municipal operator to fall into private hands.
Also this week Chester council has announced it is to sell its fleet too. Chester Bus is in need of serious investment in its fleet which is one of the reasons given for its sale. Both companies have tried very hard to make a sucess of their operations with rebranding and trying hard to push their services.
What does this have to do with Plymouth? Well, in one sense nothing at all. On the other hand it does make a future sale of Plymouth Citybus seem even more inevitable. At the beginning of this week there are just 15 municipal owned bus companies left. With Blackburn and Chester most likely to have been sold by the end of this year, that just leaves 13 left. If I was a betting man (and I am not!) I might be very tempted to put my money on Stagecoach in Plymouth within the next couple of years? They certainly seem determined to reach out into new parts of Devon at the moment so the appetite is there...