First Manchester

[Metroline1511]

RE: First Manchester

(02/06/2019 19:04)gilesbus1 Wrote:  I think this with Vantage is quite strange maybe someone who works for TfGM can enlighten us to what the rules are.

Is it that if a depot is sold separately, the Vantage contract cannot transfer and has to be re-tendered, or is it that if FirstGroup buses is sold as one bulk lot then its not in breach and it continues unchanged to whoever the new owner is as continuation of business? So as if Winston says Mr Souter forms Souter holdings and buys all FirstGroup bus operations out then that company would have the franchise under existing conditions? or would that also be a breach on contract and therefore need rescinding?

Of course another option could be placing it under the Metrolink operation and them operating it from one of there sites or another temporary site under TfGM control in a caretaker role until a new tender was validated?

It isunfortunate that TfGM could not agree a pragmatic compromise. In London, when First sold up the new owners simply kept the contracts until due for retender, admittedly with mixed results when the time came. It's a pity that TfGM did not let "New Bolton" or whoever run the Vantage routes until they secured a new contract, whether "New Bolton" or a 3rd part operator (such as Stagecoach who would probably not have been allowed to buy First Bolton en masse).