GHA Group (Bryn Melyn, Vale Travel + Others)

[knutstransport]

RE: GHA Group (Bryn Melyn, Vale Travel + Others)

(26/09/2016 13:48)33109 Wrote:  stagecoach are doing brilliant with the 130 & received very high praise from passengers. 1 of their drivers mentioned he'd heard off his boss that arriva might take over the sun 130s again.

(28/09/2016 08:10)33109 Wrote:  Been told by an arriva driver this morning who's heard off his boss that stagecoach are apparently keeping the sunday 130.

So some at Stagecoach have heard Arriva have won the contract, while some at Arriva have heard that Stagecoach have retained the contract. Could it be that neither have been awarded the contract?

Does anyone know how where there were roughly the normal number of bids for the new contracts? I'm guessing if an operator like D&G had placed a bid for all the contracts and then won them all then it would be a difficult job to get sufficient resources in place in time.

Also does anyone know if D&G and High Peak ever bid for the same contracts with Julian Peddle being a director of both D&G and Centrebus?

(27/09/2016 13:32)quahogbuscompany Wrote:  but I'm led to believe the 200 and 27 contracts have been won at a minimum cost tender with a vehicle age restriction of 15 years, so I'm sure there will be no new buses forthcoming for those services.

Just looking at the Howard's fleet list the two leased Enviro 200s obviously meet that requirement. V23 HOW was originally YN51 MKZ so it might currently meet that requirement but won't in a few months time. V24 HOW was YK53 GXL so that meets the requirement for a couple of years yet. F15 HOW was BX05 FPV so that'll meet the requirement until the early part of 2020. The two Volvo B10BLEs and the Dart are well over 15 years old and I imagine any deckers or coaches wouldn't be used except in an emergency.

Obviously as mentioned the 289 is getting a new vehicle and possibly V23 HOW can continue to be used on the Cheshire West 48 route. However, unless the lease vehicles are retained or replaced that would only leave 2 vehicles suitable for the 27 and 200 routes if what you say about the 15 year restriction is true. The lease vehicles hadn't been given any branding apart from a window sticker the last time I saw them so I'm not sure if they are being retained.