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Indeed they will

I think Ron posted a while ago that 2 Metrocity's were on the way, possibly for the 45! Be different to see a city bus in the countryside for a change!!

Yeah they are expecting two but the one ive seen is getting its final touches before delivery i presume the second one wont be far behind it

It actually really annoys me that GHA are buying all these new buses for Cheshire yet seem to be forgetting were the company originated which just gets aging buses
it quite annoys me in a way i suppose its better for all of us lot but not the passengers.

GHA probably see this market more lucrative than the welsh market at the moment , its probably a case that they want there hand in quite a lot of areas , in case reregulation comes in , in some form after the next general election.

Just did some research GHAs Metrocitys will be the second ones out of London South Wales operator N.A.T Group made a purchase of some last month and have already taken delivery of theres.

I see what your getting at but thats the point im making GHA has plenty of profitable routes in Wrexham the 5 being the main one yet that gets nothing? its just starting to look like they care more about Cheshire than Wrexham and a lot of their drivers say the same to.

It doesn't matter where they started off, the new buses will go to the most profitable routes so obviously those routes are in Cheshire, whether you agree with it or not.

Funny you should be discussing the profitability of routes such as the 5... its frequency is dropping to every twenty minutes and the Corwen extensions are being cut from 7th April. This is alongside several changes in Denbighshire. Most seem to be tweaks to timetables and re-numbering of some routes, but there are a couple of new services. GHA will also be taking over the 76 Denbigh - Ruthin from M&H Coaches.

Details here: https://www.denbighshire.gov.uk/en/resid...times.aspx

HTIOI.

(23/03/2015 22:26)LJ51 DDA Wrote: [ -> ]It actually really annoys me that GHA are buying all these new buses for Cheshire yet seem to be forgetting were the company originated which just gets aging buses
it quite annoys me in a way i suppose its better for all of us lot but not the passengers.

(24/03/2015 08:20)LJ51 DDA Wrote: [ -> ]I see what your getting at but thats the point im making GHA has plenty of profitable routes in Wrexham the 5 being the main one yet that gets nothing? its just starting to look like they care more about Cheshire than Wrexham and a lot of their drivers say the same to.

GHA have been awarded certain Cheshire East contracts with a bid saying that they would introduce new buses. That's possibly what has resulted in operators like D&G Bus losing a number of contracts and GHA gaining them. I also get the impression GHA want to return the Cheshire East council owned buses which they are using, so they need to obtain replacements to be able to do that.

GHA have received a grant to fit wi-fi to 13 buses for use in the Cheshire East council area. Other authorities can apply to central government for wi-fi grants. There are a number of routes in North Wales with wi-fi even if the T3 is the only GHA route with wi-fi. I think at present only one non-GHA route in Cheshire East is operated by buses with wi-fi (the onelink operated by D&G Bus.)

The 88 route is a local route to me. I'm very pleased with the service improvement and the new buses. However, I'm so no sure on the marketing. The route is being marketed in the same way as other premium services like Burnley & Pendle's Witchway service which is almost exclusively operated by premium buses. Yet with the 88 route it's very common for an old bog standard bus to appear. In the past week on two different days I've seen R reg Wright Renowns operating on the 88 route. Now if I normally drove in to work and one day took the 'GHA Gold' bus instead and got one of those I think I'd be sticking with the car.

Also it's not all rosy in Cheshire East. The 27 Macclesfield-Knutsford route used to have a full hourly service including a limited Sunday service with a Tatton Park extension in the Summertime and while the service provision has improved since Vale Travel first took it on there's still less services than a few years ago. While if you travel on the 27 route you'll probably get a 12 year old Dart with no wi-fi, leather seats etc. that's been introduced on a limited number of buses in Cheshire East.

Have GHA made any decision with what they are doing with YM52 TPV? (Mentioned a while back in the thread.) I know it arrived in a very poor state after Tomlinson Travel neglected it. Tomlinson Travel seem to have the approach of getting second hand buses on the cheap and not intending to keep them long term.

Also I've heard GHA have got 2 x Enviro 200s for Beartown buses, yet 3 buses are needed for all the Beartown services so does anyone know what will be the third Beartown bus?

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Photos of

YY15CNC - AD Enviro 200 to be used on the 42 Congleton to Crewe service and

YY15CMZ - AD Enviro 200 to be used on the Congleton Town service

can be found here

There is to be a public preview of the buses to be held at the Congleton Bus Station starting 11am on this Friday 27th March. It is planned that they will placed on service on Monday 30th March.

Ron