Arriva North West - Winsford Depot

[knutstransport]

RE: Arriva North West - Winsford Depot
If a rumour posted on another forum is to be believed Arriva are considering pulling the plug on the 130 in October.

[St Helens Rider]

RE: Arriva North West - Winsford Depot

(09/08/2018 15:11)knutstransport Wrote:  If a rumour posted on another forum is to be believed Arriva are considering pulling the plug on the 130 in October.

Can't say I'm that surprised given that the route has suffered Arriva's usual slash & cut regime recently.

[33109]

RE: Arriva North West - Winsford Depot
I heard a couple of drivers talking about this the other day, stagecoach are rumoured to be interested in taking on the 130. Although whether they would or not I'm not sure as it's outside the TFGM area.

Arriva have been slashing services for a while now. They're rumoured too to be considering selling their UK operations. So if arriva walked out, big question for macc is who'd take over macclesfield's services?

[iMarkeh]

RE: Arriva North West - Winsford Depot

(10/08/2018 07:59)33109 Wrote:  I heard a couple of drivers talking about this the other day, stagecoach are rumoured to be interested in taking on the 130. Although whether they would or not I'm not sure as it's outside the TFGM area.

Arriva have been slashing services for a while now. They're rumoured too to be considering selling their UK operations. So if arriva walked out, big question for macc is who'd take over macclesfield's services?

Could it just be a case of lots of management buyouts? Given how much drivers are on, the management will be on a reasonably large wage. They could easily buy out but again, it would lead to dropping less profitable routes (if there are any 'marginal' routes left by the time they sell up).

[knutstransport]

RE: Arriva North West - Winsford Depot

(10/08/2018 07:59)33109 Wrote:  I heard a couple of drivers talking about this the other day, stagecoach are rumoured to be interested in taking on the 130. Although whether they would or not I'm not sure as it's outside the TFGM area.

Some points to consider:
- When Stagecoach stopped running the Wilmslow extensions of the 378 they said it was due to ENCTS reimbursement in Cheshire East being poor. I'm sure the 130 has more fare paying passengers but are there enough to make Stagecoach interested
- Stagecoach undertook the emergency 130 Su and BH contract when GHA went bust but when it went to tender properly Arriva were the only bidder, meaning Stagecoach didn't want it at the time.
- The Manchester end of the 130 does overlap with Stagecoach routes so maybe they'd be interested in part of the route but not the whole route

Quote:Arriva have been slashing services for a while now. They're rumoured too to be considering selling their UK operations. So if arriva walked out, big question for macc is who'd take over macclesfield's services?

I thought it was DB who were interested in selling Arriva opposed to Arriva being interested in selling it's UK operations.

If Arriva were to disappear from the Macclesfield area I'm sure one of the Julian Peddle's companies would step in.

[33109]

RE: Arriva North West - Winsford Depot
Knutstransport: Sorry yeah i'd got mixed up, there's been rumours flying about for a while now that DB are interested in selling up.

Which companies does julian peddle own? I know he owns D&G, can't remember who high peak are but I know they're part of centrebus. D&G might actually be a contender if they could get their act together & really pull their finger out properly as they've got routes in manchester already & wincham depot is kinda in the right spot. Then again, could selwyns be tempted into taking it on?

Word going around from a few drivers at macc who i've known over the years is their pretty fed up of arriva. Without going into too much detail, the general idea that comes across is its a sinking ship......

[knutstransport]

RE: Arriva North West - Winsford Depot

(10/08/2018 12:52)33109 Wrote:  Knutstransport: Sorry yeah i'd got mixed up, there's been rumours flying about for a while now that DB are interested in selling up.

Which companies does julian peddle own? I know he owns D&G, can't remember who high peak are but I know they're part of centrebus. D&G might actually be a contender if they could get their act together & really pull their finger out properly as they've got routes in manchester already & wincham depot is kinda in the right spot. Then again, could selwyns be tempted into taking it on?

Word going around from a few drivers at macc who i've known over the years is their pretty fed up of arriva. Without going into too much detail, the general idea that comes across is its a sinking ship......

Peddle jointly owns D&G with someone else. Peddle parts own Centrebus, with High Peak being a joint Centrebus & Wellglade operation.

Before the Cheshire East and TfGM changes happened in April I was of the opinion D&G would have been better off opening a depot in the Chelford area, which would give them easy access to Knutsford, Wilmslow, Macclesfield. However, now they've got the 89 and 288 and don't run the 99 anymore Wincham seems a more appropriate location. I'm sure someone said D&G opened the depot in Wincham because they were hoping to win some of the Cheshire West contracts in the Northwich area, something that hasn't happened.

[33109]

RE: Arriva North West - Winsford Depot
Thing is with D&G have they got enough drivers & buses to do a busy route like the 130?

A macc driver does a round trip which is around 3hrs or so. They'd do well but however things ain't exactly rosy with them either are they? A while ago a load of D&G drivers left & joined arriva.

Selwyns are getting back into doing regular bus routes now alongside their coach work. Maybe they'd be interested if TFGM & cheshire east play ball.......

Personally speaking, I'm fed up with arriva as are a lot of their passengers. Really do get the impression most people would be happy if they disappeared.

[knutstransport]

RE: Arriva North West - Winsford Depot

(10/08/2018 16:14)33109 Wrote:  Thing is with D&G have they got enough drivers & buses to do a busy route like the 130?

A macc driver does a round trip which is around 3hrs or so. They'd do well but however things ain't exactly rosy with them either are they? A while ago a load of D&G drivers left & joined arriva.

Selwyns are getting back into doing regular bus routes now alongside their coach work. Maybe they'd be interested if TFGM & cheshire east play ball.......

Personally speaking, I'm fed up with arriva as are a lot of their passengers. Really do get the impression most people would be happy if they disappeared.

I've got no idea what D&G's staffing levels are like, they've just axed a load of services so whether they were struggling to find drivers or whether that means they've got spare drivers or have made some redundant, I don't know.

If Arriva do cancel the 130 Cheshire East's first response will be to try and find another operator who will consider running it commercially, then if they do they won't do anything further even if the new operator only proposes running a 2 hourly service or an hourly service between Macclesfield and Handforth with a very limited number of services extending to Manchester.

The one good thing about Arriva is their live tracking.

[33109]

RE: Arriva North West - Winsford Depot
If it's only a 2 hourly service it'd kill it totally. The live tracking is the only good thing I can think of.