Manchester bus franchising

[Barney]

RE: Manchester bus franchising

(24/02/2023 10:11)childwallblues Wrote:  When franchising commences will firms like Arriva who lose their services in Bolton transfer the buses to the new franchishee or move them somewhere else within their empire?

I think that has yet to be determined. Stagecoach, who fought in the courts to prevent franchising, has lost a lot of work in Wigan and have a number of options. It either transfers its fleet to other parts of its empire, sells it to the successful franchisee or another operator or scraps buses that have several years' life left in them. Presumably, these options also apply to Arriva and other unsuccessful bidders.

A similar but not exact scenario occurred recently when Yellow Buses in Bournemouth went into administration and ceased trading. It had a modern fleet and, as far as I am aware, most have subsequently seen service elsewhere.

I believe that, in the fullness of time, TfGM plans to have a standardised fleet of EV vehicles and this process has already begun with recent orders to be operated by the successful franchisees.