Diamond Bus North West

[Jack]

RE: Diamond Bus North West
It was definitely Coachmasters/First deckers that i'm thinking of! Early 2000s, maybe earlier?

[WhiteVanMan]

RE: Diamond Bus North West

(05/07/2019 19:30)johnluke Wrote:  I remember the the company but cant just remember the name.that did a route over the 582.the buses were yellow..not south lancs travel.. first ended up buying them I think they ran over to rochdale also

I can remember a company called TimeLine, which was taken-over by First, but I can't remember which routes their operated.

[gilesbus1]

RE: Diamond Bus North West
Timeline came off Shearings Bus Operations and operated there former services at Wigan, Bolton, Altrincham, Manchester, St Helens and Telford, it was later divided up and the Shifnal Depot (Telford Opps) went to Arriva Midlands, the Altrincham, Manchester and St Helens opp's to Arriva North West, and the Wigan and Bolton Opps to First Manchester.

One of the routes Timeline did was a set of Bolton local routes for which they had low floor single-deckers from a much earlier generation of Volvo B10L's/Alexander Ultra and Optare Excels, they also operated a number of tenders using Mercedes-Benz Minibuses and 1 batch of ex Shearings Leyland Tiger's largely operated other commercial stuff, and also services between Newton-le-Willows and Wigan and St Helens and Bolton via Leigh - service 51. The 51 never really carried many passengers in its central section between Atherton and Newton-le-Willows and was really a loss leader and was partially because it ran indirectly replacing a former GM Buses Service in operating via the large Hag Fold Council Estate at Atherton and also by-passed Atherton Town Centre to the South by going via Hamilton Street (Now none Bus) , therefore not an attractive option between Leigh and Bolton.

The 456 spoken about before was an off peak operation as Rochdale based Coachmasters had won all the Wigan school contracts from FirstGroup at that time so it was a way of positioning buses in Wigan for the school contracts avoiding dead mileage. Of Course First Manchester bought out that operation and subsequently opened its school unit at the Former Joy Mining Works at Seaman Way in Ince in order to take on all the school work, former Coachmasters staff were Shipped to Ince from Rochdale on a daily basis in a Coachmaster's vehicle outstationed from Ince at the former Pioneer Depot on Miall Street in Rochdale which simultaneously was brought into usage as a Bus Depot to service Rochdale Local Services once operated by Pioneer plus additional town services registered, in what was a Former Bee Line Buzz Company Depot that GM North had bought but mothballed.

[johnluke]

RE: Diamond Bus North West
Yea coachmaster is the one..first actually used the vehicles for bolton wanderers work ..they were stored in a yard in hindley green

[Metroline1511]

RE: Diamond Bus North West

(30/06/2019 17:55)gilesbus1 Wrote:  55 plate Volvo B7RLE/Wright Eclipse Urban 30855 has moved also into Atherton it came in last week, presume another bound for Bolton.

Arriva has a number of companies interested in buying the whole fleet namely Brookfield Asset Management, Carlyle Group, Keolis and Apollo Global Management. So unless any of them are using it as a torch to raise funds by splitting the business up doubt Rotala would get it, also any take-over of Bolton may lead to an MMC investigation of Rotala as it would then have 90% of what is in Bolton and Atherton. Suspect Wythenshawe would be more likely.

If Rotala do purchase Arriva Wythenshawe they could reallocate some south Manchester & Trafford routes there, releasing dead mileage compared to running these from Eccles.

[Metroline1511]

RE: Diamond Bus North West

(05/07/2019 17:01)gilesbus1 Wrote:  I think the 559 option is probably a better one, that could give new business in Westhoughton and give an alternative to Stagecoach between Bolton and Westhoughton, and also the market to St Helens is also potentially good and underutilised.

I think in terms of the 582 it would be OK to extend to Warrington say on an hourly frequency via Lowton and Newton but no more than that, I cannot see Warrington's Own Buses coming into Bolton to compete with Rotala, so doub't they would worry about the 22 and 22A. Stagecoach however may be another matter and one were care is needed, before stepping onto routes in Wigan, however maybe if Stagecoach don't like franchising they might sell there Wigan operation onwards as its weak in potential to the main Manchester market, in order to concentrate on that, Rotala could be a buyer there eventually and also could stengthen and link operations by adding in a bid for the routes that link Wigan and Preston and Bolton, Chorley and Preston as well, thus linking up the Preston operations on as well, but all that is a big if.

You could then do a round trip from Manchester to Preston via Rotala Diamond buses, and back via Transdev buses.

[johnluke]

RE: Diamond Bus North West
I could virtually guarantee that ....its not an if..its a when the franchises come in stagecoach will drop all their manchester operations ..souter dont like being told what to do....he will be fighting on many fronts soon as many of the Scottish local councils are after starting new municipal bus companies now that the Scottish bill has changed

[Rodney259]

RE: Diamond Bus North West

(06/07/2019 15:26)johnluke Wrote:  I could virtually guarantee that ....its not an if..its a when the franchises come in stagecoach will drop all their manchester operations ..souter dont like being told what to do....he will be fighting on many fronts soon as many of the Scottish local councils are after starting new municipal bus companies now that the Scottish bill has changed

Strange as he is one of the SNP’s biggest supporters! Doubt he will give up without a fight regarding expropriation of assets. Also, if Burnham insists in a Manchester corporate identity who is going to pay for repainting 2000 buses? Glad I’m not a Manchester Council taxpayer ????

[Y458 KNF]

RE: Diamond Bus North West
I wonder what vehicles Rotala will lease from First when they take over Bolton? I assume it will be part of Diamond

[gilesbus1]

RE: Diamond Bus North West

(06/07/2019 17:16)darylyates17 Wrote:  I wonder what vehicles Rotala will lease from First when they take over Bolton? I assume it will be part of Diamond

Have been told most will be deckers as that is what Diamond Bus are of course short off. Some vehicles will go back before Christmas though. In Future its likely vehicles will be Wright Streetdecks and Wright Streetlites, with maybe the odd other vehicle for specific routes or to meet delivery dates. A batch of Volvo B7RLE's is currently under prep between usage at Atherton and Preston and should move to Bolton, there is also said to be a Volvo B9TL but that has yet to be seen unless its at Eccles or deep in Preston.

The new buses will be very welcome at Bolton as they haven't other than Vantage vehicles had any new buses since the early 2010's. £33m has been set aside.