First Manchester

[gilesbus1]

RE: First Manchester
Lets not get into the argument of public or private ownership, as this appears elsewhere on the forum. The main point that I am making is that Stagecoach is/has said in the past that it will do as it did in Tyne & Wear and take legal action to try to protect its business, there may be a financial implication to this, which Stagecoach would be awarded as may others, the point I am making is that FirstGroup would also be entitled to a payout if it remains an operator as its business has aready suffered as a result of Andy Burnham's plans and will suffer further, in my mind that is what FirstGroup is after the payout, as it could be £millions and thus would also bail out what is a loss making business and make a healthy exit plan if it has no assets at Oldham to sell on.

As it is Oldham depot was marked for a regeneration scheme, even if its off the table now, future plans will probably emerge as the fact someone has highlighted it as an area for redeveloping, more than likely means someone else will, the fleet isn't worth much as its clocking up miles, and also the routes aren't worth much as they will be franchised out in any case.

Thus FirstGroup needs to gain something before it leaves and its best option is to obtain compensation money, or so it would seem, if Mr Burnham decides not to take that route then they can sell the business on in some form.

Another company who might explore compensation is Arriva as it may struggle to hold onto everything it has except cross boundary services into Merseyside and Cheshire and even Merseyside's Mayor Steve Rotherham is now following the same path or looking to follow the same path so in the longer term too as a small player in Greater Manchester those could be lost as well, although obviously it would be a major player in the Merseyside Market.

For the small players there is really little to gain as there business's currently are largely based on tenders largely including school contract work, so they will be no better or less off from either system, only Jim Stones was left who might have suffered by tenders but he is giving up in any case and he doesn't have enough commercial to merit any sort of major compensation payout.