Diamond Bus North West

[Winston]

RE: Diamond Bus North West

(11/07/2019 21:47)gilesbus1 Wrote:  I am as well as it makes perfect operational sense, it makes me wonder if FirstGroup didn't buy Rusholme off Lease at some stage and now need a use for it, hence this situation, why they bought it is beyond me, perhaps of course it was going cheap, when they are a North Manchester Operator with very little in South Manchester in fact the tail end of two Vantage routes is all they have, the extra fuel costs and wage costs alone will up costs as will training costs of all the new staff they will need to take on when the Vantage staff who generally live in Bolton and Leigh leave as its too far away as a working base, plus Rusholme is in an ideal site for redevelopment, where Atherton is on an industrial estate so can't be redeveloped. If it passes back to the leasing company they will never get it again as units on there tend to be 100% occupied unusually, the unit is or was owned by S&W Garages the one time haulage maintenance company, that repainted some buses for First Manchester about 25 years ago in Tomato Soup Livery, although that premises was previously to SLT used as a car maintenance yard by the S&W Group. The proprietor of S & W was the second partner besides Martin Bott in South Lancs Travel/Green Triangle Buses.

Another thing that puzzles me is based on the fact that its a TfGM contract why they didn't enclose a depot as part of the busway scheme close to the busway, say in somewhere like Tyldesley close to the track that the operator had to utilise on winning the franchise, and that was only for the use of Vantage Buses.

As far as I'm aware Rusholme is still only leased by First Manchester, I understand the Fingland's family still own the depot.

It may make perfect operational sense for First, but as I understand it, Atherton depot will be retained for the time being under Rotala and effectively mothballed whilst they wait to see when Vantage is to be re-tendered etc