Forum | Merseyside Dennis Dart Website
First Manchester - Printable Version

+- Forum | Merseyside Dennis Dart Website (http://dartslf.com/forum)
+-- Forum: Buses (/forumdisplay.php?fid=1)
+--- Forum: Local Bus Scene: North West and Wales (/forumdisplay.php?fid=2)
+--- Thread: First Manchester (/showthread.php?tid=366)

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384 385 386 387 388 389 390 391 392 393 394 395 396 397 398 399 400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 411 412 413 414 415 416 417 418 419 420 421 422 423 424 425 426 427 428 429 430 431 432 433 434 435 436 437 438 439 440 441 442 443 444 445 446 447 448 449 450 451 452 453 454 455 456 457 458 459 460 461 462 463 464 465 466 467 468 469 470 471 472 473 474 475 476 477 478 479 480 481 482 483 484 485 486 487 488 489 490 491 492 493 494 495 496 497 498 499 500 501 502 503 504 505 506 507 508 509 510 511 512 513 514 515 516 517 518 519 520 521 522 523 524 525 526 527 528 529 530 531 532 533 534 535 536 537 538 539 540 541 542 543 544 545 546 547 548 549 550 551 552 553 554 555 556 557 558 559 560 561 562 563 564 565 566 567 568 569 570 571 572 573 574 575 576 577 578 579 580 581 582 583 584 585 586 587 588 589 590 591 592 593 594 595 596 597 598 599 600 601 602 603 604 605 606 607 608 609 610 611 612 613 614 615 616 617 618 619 620 621 622 623 624 625 626 627 628 629 630 631 632 633 634 635 636 637 638 639 640 641 642 643 644 645 646 647 648 649 650 651 652 653 654 655 656 657 658 659 660 661 662 663 664 665 666 667 668 669 670 671 672 673 674 675 676 677 678 679 680 681 682 683 684 685 686 687 688 689 690 691 692 693 694 695 696 697 698 699 700 701 702 703 704 705 706 707 708 709 710 711 712 713 714 715 716 717 718 719 720 721 722 723 724 725 726 727 728 729 730 731

RE: First Manchester - Metroline1511 - 24/11/2018 04:11

First withdrawing the main 42 service between Piccadilly and East Didsbury is quite a climbdown from when it ran every 7-8 minutes. After Rusholme closes, I think First will eventually withdraw route 41, but would probably keep route 53 as Queen's Road is a convenient garage to run it from.

RE: First Manchester - Mayneway - 24/11/2018 05:45

(24/11/2018 04:11)Metroline1511 Wrote:  First withdrawing the main 42 service between Piccadilly and East Didsbury is quite a climbdown from when it ran every 7-8 minutes. After Rusholme closes, I think First will eventually withdraw route 41, but would probably keep route 53 as Queen's Road is a convenient garage to run it from.

Just goes to show how they have waisted money. Can't remember how much they paid for Finglands but what a pointless excercise if years later they just give up.

RE: First Manchester - Mrboo - 24/11/2018 07:37

(24/11/2018 05:45)Mayneway Wrote:  Just goes to show how they have waisted money. Can't remember how much they paid for Finglands but what a pointless excercise if years later they just give up.

£50,000 so was not really big money.

RE: First Manchester - Brickmill - 24/11/2018 16:29

(24/11/2018 05:45)Mayneway Wrote:  Just goes to show how they have waisted money. Can't remember how much they paid for Finglands but what a pointless exercise if years later they just give up.

Looking back, I suspect they bought it partly because "they could". ie. Stagecoach certainly couldn't and I'm guessing Arriva either couldn't financially or were "warned off"by the CMA/OFT. The latter doesn't make much sense though as even then, they had a declining prescence in South Manchester, but it seemed strange that (allegedly) it was Arriva NOT Stagecoach that officially objected to the CMA/OFT about First buying Finglands. First for their part would say, "well, if we hadn't bought it, it would have closed down making 90 (iirc) people redundant and handing a monopoly to Stagecoach anyway". The only other logical buyer would have been Bullocks, but they may have felt it was too much to take on and were happy with the security of running only contracted or otherwise supported services.

RE: First Manchester - Brickmill - 24/11/2018 16:38

(21/11/2018 21:56)darylyates17 Wrote:  So are the Hybrid Versas leaving with the full electric Versas staying with the Solo Hybrids?

As you should have seen, I effectively asked the same question in message #6298, but the truth is that (still) nobody seems to know. There have been no updates since my question, other than someone saying some of the Versas were being worked on at Stagecoach Hyde Road. Remember, Stagecoach Group have the contract to refurbish them, so there is no suggestion any will go to them. Indeed, I don't think Stagecoach Manchester have any relevant contracts left, after losing the Stockport ones.

RE: First Manchester - Mayneway - 24/11/2018 22:07

(24/11/2018 16:29)Brickmill Wrote:  Looking back, I suspect they bought it partly because "they could". ie. Stagecoach certainly couldn't and I'm guessing Arriva either couldn't financially or were "warned off"by the CMA/OFT. The latter doesn't make much sense though as even then, they had a declining prescence in South Manchester, but it seemed strange that (allegedly) it was Arriva NOT Stagecoach that officially objected to the CMA/OFT about First buying Finglands. First for their part would say, "well, if we hadn't bought it, it would have closed down making 90 (iirc) people redundant and handing a monopoly to Stagecoach anyway". The only other logical buyer would have been Bullocks, but they may have felt it was too much to take on and were happy with the security of running only contracted or otherwise supported services.

But in theory nobody had to buy it. Look what happened with eyms trying to sell their Whittle operation. A buyer couldn't be found and Peter Ship ended up closing the operation down. I suspect had First not shown such an interest in Finglands it would have gone the same way, First could have registered the Finglands services and run them from Queens road saving cash and resources.

RE: First Manchester - Mayneway - 24/11/2018 22:09

(24/11/2018 07:37)Mrboo Wrote:  £50,000 so was not really big money.

But it's £50,000 that has effectively been frittered down the drain.

RE: First Manchester - Mayneway - 24/11/2018 22:11

(24/11/2018 16:38)Brickmill Wrote:  As you should have seen, I effectively asked the same question in message #6298, but the truth is that (still) nobody seems to know. There have been no updates since my question, other than someone saying some of the Versas were being worked on at Stagecoach Hyde Road. Remember, Stagecoach Group have the contract to refurbish them, so there is no suggestion any will go to them. Indeed, I don't think Stagecoach Manchester have any relevant contracts left, after losing the Stockport ones.

I don't think Stagecoach would want them anyway. Stagecoach see the maintiance contract with optare at Trafford park as 'very frustrating' so I would imagine these will end up with MCT unless tfgm attempt another oldham or Rochdale metroshuttle type thing again.

RE: First Manchester - Citibus - 25/11/2018 15:05

33677 SN12AEY Enviro 400 was involved in a minor crash on 36 this morning in Farnworth

[Image: DswxvTfWoAEg0Be.jpg]

[Image: DswxvdTWoAErK1c.jpg]


from GMP Traffic Twitter

RE: First Manchester - Brickmill - 25/11/2018 16:22

(25/11/2018 15:05)Citibus Wrote:  33677 SN12AEY Enviro 400 was involved in a minor crash on 36 this morning in Farnworth

Looks a bit more than minor, though presumably no one was injured and no question it was a genuine accident with both drivers above suspicion. Otherwise, why is the road open. If that happened on the east side of GM, the Police would close the entire road for hours on end.