FirstGroup Sells North Devon Bus Operations To Stagecoach For GBP2.8M

[whole diary]

[TerminalJunkie]

From the Wall Street Journal:

LONDON (Dow Jones)--FirstGroup PLC (FGP.LN), a transport operator in the U.K. and North America, Monday said it has signed an agreement to sell its North Devon bus operations to Stagecoach Devon Limited, a unit of Stagecoach Group PLC (SGC.LN), for a gross consideration of GBP2.8 million.

MAIN FACTS:

-Included within the sale will be 30 vehicles which operate on ten routes in North Devon, together with around 100 employees and depot facility in Barnstaple.

-Agreement is subject to clearance by the Office of Fair Trading.

-Shares of FirstGroup at 1015 GMT up 2 pence, or 0.7%, at GBP2.9.

[anthony215]

I wonder what thsi will mean for First's south wales operations which they were rumoured to be looking at selling as well

[FarWestJohn]

Sadly in Cornwall First Bus are about to take over many services from Western Greyhound. Cornwall Council has given First the contract.

Seems unbelievable after all the good work Western greyhound have put in. Applies especially to the Lizard and Redruth area.

Will have to start travelling with a tool kit again if anything like last time First had these routes.

[LiskeardRich]

FarWestJohn, Western Greyhound to me have done positive to the routes, but the standard of driving is atrocious. The drivers seem to thrash the hell out of the buses constantly, causing an appaling ride quality for passengers.
My most recent one clipped a kerb at approx 30 mph throwing everyone forward. and carried on as if he had done nothing.
Then approaching a set of traffic lights he left it to the last minute before slamming on his brakes, again vaulting everyone forward.
From my experience the standard on this trip wasnt a one off neither.

[vacman]

TBH^▸ (to be honest) they're both as bad as each other but at least First drivers seem to wear some sort of uniform! most Western Greyhound drivers look like a sack of sh1t wearing jeans, T-shirts and occasionally at least one item of uniform!

[inspector_blakey]

Hmm...sounds a bit like the conductors on SEPTA's train system in Philadelphia! The guy this morning was wearing a baseball cap and casual jacket, with no sign of any visible SEPTA uniform. The only clue that he was part of the act was that he was wielding a punch and asking to see tickets

[TerminalJunkie]

OFT refers local bus merger in North Devon to the Competition Commission

http://www.oft.gov.uk/news-and-updates/press/2012/59-12

[LiskeardRich]

they allowed first d+c to take over truronian which to me is more detrimental to customers than this merger would be. so cant see a problem with it.

[TerminalJunkie]

...and now Stagecoach have thrown their toys out of the pram:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-18789904

[Southern Stag]

they allowed first d+c to take over truronian which to me is more detrimental to customers than this merger would be. so cant see a problem with it.

FDC are Truronian were never really in direct competition though, at the tendering stage, yes, but they never ran buses on the same routes, unlike in North Devon where the two are. Merging the two would leave North Devon with just Stagecoach as well, Cornwall still had Western Greyhound left to compete with FDC at the tendering stage.

[LiskeardRich]

they allowed first d+c to take over truronian which to me is more detrimental to customers than this merger would be. so cant see a problem with it.

FDC are Truronian were never really in direct competition though, at the tendering stage, yes, but they never ran buses on the same routes, unlike in North Devon where the two are. Merging the two would leave North Devon with just Stagecoach as well, Cornwall still had Western Greyhound left to compete with FDC at the tendering stage.

Although western greyhound never preciously ventured west of Truro/ Newquay, FDC and Truronian were in direct competition between Truro and Falmouth, Falmouth and Helston to name 2 routes i used both on regularly, they used different routes and villages but the start and end of routes were the same with similar journey times,

[Southern Stag]

The Truronian options between Truro and Falmouth and Falmouth and Helston were never competitive with Firsts, they were slower and less frequent. First ran the routes via the main roads and Truronian the more round the houses option. They were all council tendered services anyway, rather than in North Devon where there are more commercial routes competing with each other. Western Greyhound had bought Sunset Coaches by that point so had a base in Penzance and they were already making inroads on First there. It was only a matter of time before they expanded in to the gap between Penzance and Truro, although they have once again been gap as First regained some of the routes they'd lost previously.

[LiskeardRich]

The Truronian options between Truro and Falmouth and Falmouth and Helston were never competitive with Firsts, they were slower and less frequent. First ran the routes via the main roads and Truronian the more round the houses option.

First between Truro and Falmouth definitely didnt use the main road, the x90 which was a 2 hourly Falmouth-Newquay via Truro did, but the 88 went Falmouth - penryn - ponsanooth - perranwell - carnon downs - truro, with a end to end jouney time of 75 mins, truronian used Falmouth - penryn - mylor - devoran - truro with a end to end time of 60 mins!

[6 OF 2 redundant adjunct of unimatrix 01]

So the title of this thread should have read 'in talks over' not sold? Or have they actually sold it to stagecoach?

[Southern Stag]

First between Truro and Falmouth definitely didnt use the main road, the x90 which was a 2 hourly Falmouth-Newquay via Truro did, but the 88 went Falmouth - penryn - ponsanooth - perranwell - carnon downs - truro, with a end to end jouney time of 75 mins, truronian used Falmouth - penryn - mylor - devoran - truro with a end to end time of 60 mins!

89/90 or X89/X90 or 7/X7 depending on what iteration of the timetable they were on was the fast hourly service, taking just 40 minutes. 88 was half-hourly taking 47-50 minutes from Falmouth Moor to Truro Bus Station, 75 minutes was the time from Falmouth Moor to RCH Treliske. The 400/500 which was ran at times by First and at times by Truronian took 50 minutes but was only two-hourly. First where the main operator on the corridor