GHA Group (Bryn Melyn, Vale Travel + Others)

[knutstransport]

RE: GHA Group (Bryn Melyn, Vale Travel + Others)

(04/08/2016 21:55)Mayneway Wrote:  It would seem the guy behind the unofficial 'GHA complaints' page on Facebook is adamant the collapse of GHA is a minor hick up and all drivers and ancillary staff have been told that GHA will be back very soon LOL!

Sadly myself and several others have been blocked from the page because we pointed out that it wouldn't be that easy for directors to just pick up and start again.

GHA have a number of registered company names. Usually when that is the case it's easy for a restructured smaller company to be formed if the original company goes in to administration. However, there's one major snag with it in that the administrators ended all operations and made most staff redundant - that isn't what administrators would normally do if they think there is the chance of a smaller operation surviving. The only way I can see GHA resurrecting is as a small coach hire company which has an operating licence allowing it to take on a limited number of public bus routes. However, even if that did happen someone who had connection to the old GHA could resurrect GHA and it would be mini GHA without the old board and management.

[33109]

RE: GHA Group (Bryn Melyn, Vale Travel + Others)
Sorry but I really can't see this happening, GHA screwed up MONUMENTALLY. Can you really see any of the councils wanting to re-award them any contracts ever again in the future after leaving them & all their passengers in the lurch. I think not somehow.

The councils & not forgetting the passengers need a reliable bus service, not 1 run by a company who couldn't be arsed showing up half the time & treated their staff like dirt! It seems though that in the wrexham area at least d jones & son have taken on some of the ex GHA drivers which is some good news.

[Mayneway]

RE: GHA Group (Bryn Melyn, Vale Travel + Others)

(05/08/2016 08:53)33109 Wrote:  Sorry but I really can't see this happening, GHA screwed up MONUMENTALLY. Can you really see any of the councils wanting to re-award them any contracts ever again in the future after leaving them & all their passengers in the lurch. I think not somehow.

The councils & not forgetting the passengers need a reliable bus service, not 1 run by a company who couldn't be arsed showing up half the time & treated their staff like dirt! It seems though that in the wrexham area at least d jones & son have taken on some of the ex GHA drivers which is some good news.

Couldn't agree more. I think the debts are too big to reserect it in any form. Had they wound up the company themselves then there's always the possibility of something rising from the ashes - just look at Classic bus North west, but when a company has officially been wound up by HMRC I think it's fair to say there dead and burried.

[Olympian]

RE: GHA Group (Bryn Melyn, Vale Travel + Others)

(05/08/2016 08:53)33109 Wrote:  Sorry but I really can't see this happening, GHA screwed up MONUMENTALLY. Can you really see any of the councils wanting to re-award them any contracts ever again in the future after leaving them & all their passengers in the lurch. I think not somehow.

The councils & not forgetting the passengers need a reliable bus service, not 1 run by a company who couldn't be arsed showing up half the time & treated their staff like dirt! It seems though that in the wrexham area at least d jones & son have taken on some of the ex GHA drivers which is some good news.

I think Cheshire East would have them back in a flash if it kept the price of contracts down.
The council never really seemed to bother about the unreliability despite it going on for several months. I know several people who used the 42 & 78 services & complained to the council about buses repeatedly not running but nothing seemed to come of it. Some councils reaward contracts to other operators where poor performance is an issue but it doesn't seem as if Cheshire East had any urgency to do that.

Perhaps connected with that, an arriva driver has also told me that they are annoyed that a member of the Councils Transport unit has already criticised, on social media, arriva's performance on one of the replacement contracts despite having never made any public criticism of the frequent GHA failings on the same service in the past.
Cost obviously outweighs quality in Cheshire East.

[33109]

RE: GHA Group (Bryn Melyn, Vale Travel + Others)
Olympian - 100% agree fella , if it's cheap enough they'll award it anybody. Slagging off arriva is bang out of line, they're a much more professional operator than GHA were in their lifetime.

Seems there's a few 2 faced people working for cheshire east these days.

[motormayhem1]

RE: GHA Group (Bryn Melyn, Vale Travel + Others)
Thats very true olympian , most probally slagging them off cause its costing them more for arriva to run the service due to arriva having bigger overheads and cost comes before quality with a lot of councils and transport organisations like merseytravel as i was getting told by a wheel chair user yeasterday in st helens that he went for the last bus home but never told what day and the bus never turned up and when he phoned the company that operated it they said that the bus got its window smashed and when asked will they be sending another bus out to replace it the reply was no , and unfortunately that was a tendered service and he had to get a black cab which charged him £10+ for a journey that would normally be free with his pass and said he lodged a complaint with merseytravel but they wasn't really intrested.

[Metroline1511]

RE: GHA Group (Bryn Melyn, Vale Travel + Others)
As Lloyds are purchasing Enviro200s evidently from dealer stock for route T3, I wonder what will happen to GHA Scania-Enviro400s that operated on this route for a year? (Apologies if this has already been reported).

[knutstransport]

RE: GHA Group (Bryn Melyn, Vale Travel + Others)
Apparently Arriva looked at taking on the 64 reg Enviro 200s but after looking at the servicing record they rejected them. If that happened with buses which are 2 years old then finding new operators to take on the GHA fleet could be challenging.

One of those buses was reportedly seen heading towards Cannock the other day!

[knutstransport]

RE: GHA Group (Bryn Melyn, Vale Travel + Others)

(05/08/2016 20:37)Olympian Wrote:  Perhaps connected with that, an arriva driver has also told me that they are annoyed that a member of the Councils Transport unit has already criticised, on social media, arriva's performance on one of the replacement contracts despite having never made any public criticism of the frequent GHA failings on the same service in the past.
Cost obviously outweighs quality in Cheshire East.

Given Arriva are operating the same frequency using the same number of buses on most of the Cheshire East routes they've taken over maybe that person thinks Arriva's higher costs covers putting a bus-helicopter on the service which can take off and fly over any traffic jams?

What Cheshire East/TSS need to realise is D&G Bus keep operating costs as low as possible without compromising the service offered, if anyone offers to run the service for significantly less than D&G Bus they will more than likely compromise the service offered.

[knutstransport]

RE: GHA Group (Bryn Melyn, Vale Travel + Others)

(05/08/2016 07:30)33109 Wrote:  It's well & truly properly dead & buried. On another note, driver mate of mine from arriva mac says they're keeping the 87 contract until october.

Also apparently that's when they get a pay cut so arriva might keep it if they can run it on the cheap. Drivers seem to actually enjoy the route as it's sumat different but only allocated 30 mins each way macc-congleton which is a bit tight timetable wise.

One other thing to note is Arriva now have the Northern rail franchise and the CMA are looking at whether there's a lack of competition with Arriva also operating bus services. I think it's unlikely Arriva will lose the rail franchise but the CMA could force them to give up some bus routes which duplicate rail services. Congleton to Macclesfield is an instance where there are multiple options, which are all Arriva operated, so if the CMA isn't happy with that the 87 passing to another operator might be the best option for Arriva.