First Manchester

[gilesbus1]

RE: First Manchester

(12/02/2019 10:47)Mayneway Wrote:  I think he's spoken out now because there's possibly a bit more weight to it all. Talking to a couple of First drivers yesterday who genuinely think it's in the pipeline. IF it happens it could prove very interesting.

Yes I think there is something in the pipeline with it as its the CEO of FirstGroup who's let it slip. There are all sorts of other stumbling blocks as well in this, like one off-putting situation might be the need to change livery when a combined authority would make the operator adopt theirs at a later stage all at vast cost.

The need to find a name, one of the issues in the past has been that the fleet names are too long and therefore potentially something shorter is needed the only name I could think of is Norman. North Manchester Buses, that then kind of gives the buses a personality, a human factor which is maybe one of the things whats missing (lol). :laugh1:

Also maybe other things are route branding again so people not using the bus knows where its actually going and how often it is, a lot of these losses have come since Overground and Gold Service branding have been scrapped. Route branding I think gives the appeal of ownership to Passengers e.g. its our bus and leads to it less likely to be littered with wadges of rubbish and graffiti and also the more likely passengers are to use it also on-board timetables and timetables pushed through the door might also help. Route branding in other towns and cities as helped the market grow, flat boring liveries attract no-one, and as i've said before the need to have cheaper fares on routes that shadow Metrolink, so Metrolink isn't the cheapest option any longer and also the need to speed up journeys through talks with TfGM and the local Councils about extra further bus lanes and also possible congestion charging or pollution taxes should they come back onto the table.

Then there are the vehicles in my opinion all of the 2012 and 2014 Enviro Enviro400's need to be refurbished as a matter of urgency, I can't comment on the Enviro300's because I don't generally use them because they are at Oldham. Inroads need to be made to replace the outstanding Minibuses and then start on replacing the Volvo B7RLE's all of which should be done at the rate of about 30-50 buses a year so the fleet is always fresh and always has something new to offer.

Then there is the depot situation, are all depots in the right locations and operating the right routes, for example could Bury be re-opened, to replace Manchester or might a depot in Rochdale replace part of Manchester and all of Oldham and the rest of Manchester's work go to Bolton and new routes link the bits in between or could making SOU depots again to operate routes of importance such as Vantage and the 582 say, in Leigh help, e.g smaller depot more able to look after vehicles, know vehicles, know customers, clean better and keep a good image on those routes were lots of investment have gone in.

Anyway all that is for the future but should all be interesting.