Diamond Bus North West

[gilesbus1]

RE: Diamond Bus North West
I think, its not impossible Rotala might exercise buying options later on, on some odd fleet members as the Craig Group did when it bought out First's Galashields depot, two coaches where acquired later, already with FirstGroup/Rotala deal this time four driver trainers have been bought outright, an odd Gemini might not be as unlikely as it sounds, as Preston's decker fleet is quite old and if the Gemini's can be brought upto spec they wouldn't be a bad buy, especially as Preston Bus now has two similar aged examples in its own fleet now. In terms of being retained in Bolton I would think they would be the last deckers to go back simply as the rental value is lower than for Enviro Enviro400's and to get high value assets off the books first is a priority, thats why Enviro400's have already started to go back and why all 14 plate examples will be gone by Christmas.

Rotala are really a heavy buyer of Wright Group products and odd other makes it sees fit to purchase from time time on lease or as secondhand acquisitions, Optare, Scania and Mercedes-Benz being the most noticeable of these, Volvo's are mostly in the main Wright bodied excluding the Centro's and the odd Volvo Coach so that is why I haven't mentioned Volvo.

The Enviro Enviro400's all should realistically go by next Autumn, I presume those that have already gone are examples that are trouble-sum or required expensive work to be carried out on them, hence why they have departed now. Most will though need to wait for the large batch of 90 Wright Streetdecks coming in next year before they return to FirstGroup. Now the additional purchases from Yourbus has allowed some to return early besides replacing the entire 14 plate batch off lease. That may cause issues with loads on the lead up to Christmas this year but in future years shouldn't be an issue as the spread of the deckers and saloons should become right next year. The Yourbus saloons is quite likely a reflection in that it is impossible to get Euro 5 or 6 deckers on the secondhand market currently appart from the occasional Coach seated MMC Enviro400, hence why these have been bought. Whether the Citaro's will remain once further newer saloons are sourced or move to Birmingham and/or Preston remains to be seen.