Diamond Bus North West

[iMarkeh]

RE: Diamond Bus North West

(16/06/2020 19:07)Mayneway Wrote:  Forget the MCT emergency tenders.
Diamond successfully tendered to operate the 217 and at the time it was announced it was quoted they were very keen to pick up work in the Ashton/Oldham/Stockport areas.
One of my ex colleagues who’s now at Diamond reckons they are very keen to retain as much of the MCT work as possible but with 50 min dead runs to and from Bolton depot I would think there would be a reshuffle with more of Eccles work going up Bolton and Eccles running new work up this way.

Winning the 217 wasn't necessarily them trying to expand into new areas on a proper scale. Rotala often seem to bid for all routes just in case. Even if you put in silly high figures because of the distance from the depot, Rotala might have been the only bidder or they just happened to be lower than those closer. High figures on the tender also means if you win, you might get a lot more profit from it even though you have the extra distance.

Diamond will want to keep some tenders if they can because it's work. What bus company doesn't want extra work. They will likely bid for all but some will be put in for at such high cost that they are unlikely to win. Whatever they keep from MCT though, they might be able to better manage among the depots they have to reduce the dead millage. Also, some of the night buses are easier to cover without the PVR increase.

We will have to wait and see and while I think they will retain MCT work, I believe it will be with the view of just winning a tender like they do in West Midlands rather than with a view of expanding the network (despite that being a consequence of the former, it's not a main aim) and taking over areas.