26/11/2023, 10:26
Despite franchising in Bolton, Vision Bus still run route 480. Maybe it is included in the stage 2 franchise, along with their route 94?
26/11/2023, 10:26
27/11/2023, 03:42
(26/11/2023 10:26)Metroline1511 Wrote: [ -> ]Despite franchising in Bolton, Vision Bus still run route 480. Maybe it is included in the stage 2 franchise, along with their route 94?
Correct. It is decided by the registered origin of the route. The 480 is a Bury route (I.E is registered as Bury-Bolton. Bury to Bolton is the outbound trip, with a round trip running Bury-Bolton-Bury as oppose to Bolton-Bury-Bolton), so is included in Tranche 2.
In the same way, the 37 is a Bolton route (Bolton-Piccadilly-Bolton) so is in Tranche 1, but the 38 is a Manchester (Tranche 3) route as it runs Piccadilly-Logistics North-Piccadilly.
Vision Bus will lose both the 480 and the 94 Bury routes in March when the Tranche 2 franchise starts. They will then have no general service routes in Greater Manchester. They will still have the Bee Network School franchise that they started operating in September and will still run these from Blackrod depot (which will also remain the registered business address). They will also, of course, still operate the service routes in Burnley/Nelson/Colne/Preston from the yard they rent in Accrington, with management, admin and maintenance being done at Blackrod.
This includes the route 64 which they have recently taken over to add to the 113 and the former Transdev Ribble Country routes that they took over earlier this year.