JPT Bus Company

[Owl]

RE: JPT Bus Company

(09/04/2014 17:15)Polo Mint Wrote:  That's a shame, I feel they might have fared better on the 17 if they had used a different route number and perhaps terminated it somewhere else, such as Piccadilly or Albert Square or extended it to Boarshaw or Norden or somewhere without a decent link to Manchester. My memory is blurry, but didn't First only offer cheaper fares and the Hybrids (now on route 18) after they extended the route to Rochdale and increase the frequency? JPT have tried to resume the 17 as a daytime and night bus very recently as well, and judging by how empty their buses were and that they cancelled the route quickly, they must have lost a fortune.

They battled with Bluebird on the 112 and eventually lost. There was the 156 extension and the 157, but they were short lived.

Are a couple of routes really the downfall for the company? Route 118 seems pretty successful, although I am not sure that double decker's are necessary, and route 156 seems to be alright.

I'd like to have seen a Middleton to the Trafford Centre route, or a route from Middleton to Salford via Heaton Park.

Just a small correction - Bluebird sold out to Stagecoach, so technically JPT have not lost on that route, although I suspect it is only a matter of time. The 118 actually proves the point - that is a route that they identified, invested in and built up, and now the bigger competitors are copying. Unfortunately they became more interested in trying to poach business from their rivals, took their eye off the ball, and MCT are now sniffing at their tenders.

I suspect that noboby will want to buy them - there is no value in the fleet or the routes, with the exception of the 118, and if the competitors wait long enough the business will drop into their laps.