Most of First London Operations Sold

[Gillmoss 0324]

RE: Most of First London Operations Sold
Not surprised by the sale but I’m surprised Westbourne Park hasn’t gone to Metroline with the majority of First’s West London operations unless they’re trying to avoid complications with the competition authorities. Transit Systems Group are an interesting newcomer to London/UK and I wonder whether they’ll be around in the long run. When Macquarrie took over Stagecoach London it sort of seemed they were looking to sell the operation on so perhaps this may be the case here with perhaps the East London operations going to Stagecoach and Westbourne Park eventually going to someone like Abellio or London United (RATP)?

I don’t think First will cascade much (if any) of the ex-London stuff to it’s provincial operations as there’s only a few Trident/Presidents left and most other midi’s and decker’s are fairly modern. The B7/Gemini’s are a possibility however they were only refurbished 18-12 months ago and may be kept to see out the contracts held for routes 28/31/328 that they mainly operate on – especially if the awful Borismaster goes on those routes.

Be interesting to see if First decide to any more operational sell off’s as Essex, Slough/Berkshire, Leicester/Northants, Devon and maybe one or two others could be on the agenda to go before this ‘restructuring’ is complete. Maybe even First could be swallowed up in the near future too?