Stagecoach MCSL - Chester & Wirral Depots

[clarkethomas94]

RE: Stagecoach Chester & Wirral
Hi guys. The city sightseeing service will be stopped at the end of the season as we know. This is probably due to stagecoach breaching the city sightseeing franchise. City sightseeing buses are bought from ensign. stagecoach however have transfered there buses from london. So city sightseeing obviously arent happy so stagecoach are going to run the tour themselves. This is ok, however it doesnt stop city sightseeing bringing in another tour to the city. So it to me looks a risky move by stagecoach. It depends if city sightseeing decide to compete.

[Arriva3137]

RE: Stagecoach Chester & Wirral
36804/5 are branded for the 16, SN56 AYG is branded too as well as former gillmoss PX55 EDF for the 53!

[cumbria0902150]

RE: Stagecoach Chester & Wirral

(27/08/2013 17:28)clarkethomas94 Wrote:  Hi guys. The city sightseeing service will be stopped at the end of the season as we know. This is probably due to stagecoach breaching the city sightseeing franchise. City sightseeing buses are bought from ensign. stagecoach however have transfered there buses from london. So city sightseeing obviously arent happy so stagecoach are going to run the tour themselves. This is ok, however it doesnt stop city sightseeing bringing in another tour to the city. So it to me looks a risky move by stagecoach. It depends if city sightseeing decide to compete.

Or not. It's entirely Stagecoach's decision.
Franchise operators can use their own vehicles refurbished to City Sightseeing specification, there's no requirement to have vehicles from Ensign at all. Chester is the only Sightseeing tour that Stagecoach operate using leased vehicles from Ensign, due to First leasing the Leylands rather than using their own. All other Stagecoach franchises use Stagecoach's own vehicles. Ensign were previously the UK "co-ordinator" for City Sightseeing but I believe they no longer are.
City Sightseeing don't operate any buses in the UK, and they don't contract work either. Bus operators choose to pay City Sightseeing for use of the brand and for the online sales & marketing on an open top service they operate, so City Sightseeing won't compete, however another operator may decide to start an open top service and then pay to take up a City Sightseeing franchise. The fee to City Sightseeing has to be paid regardless of service income.
Stagecoach are trying to improve the networks to turn around the finances of Chester & Wirral, paying a management fee to CS when they can do the work themselves at lower cost wouldn't really help. I'm not 100% sure on ticketing, but if it's a case of Sightseeing tickets only valid for travel at the moment then it'd open the service up for Stagecoach to accept local daily and weekly tickets, which would be a much better value option for passengers, and potentially increase usage. It works fine on the 2 services in the Lakes.

[Garsty]

RE: Stagecoach Chester & Wirral
No doubt the contract was due for renewal and Stagecoach didn't want to renew (for the reasons stated above). By using the 'City Sightseeing' brand (owned by a Spanish company now), it is purely a franchise such as Pizza Hut etc.

I doubt there would be the demand for another operator to take up the franchise.

Ensign Bus probably kept the vehicle leasing aspects and as the vehicles come off lease (such as Chester's) they are being sold on as they will be owned by Ensign and not City Sightseeing, such as the two from Chester currently for sale.

[YN05 WKE]

RE: Stagecoach Chester & Wirral
can anyone confirm which Darts are moving from Gillmoss to Birkenhead and Chester and what will they be replacing

also anyone know whats happened to Chesters Volvo B7BLE that had the roof pod above cab as not seen it in months

[mbonwick]

RE: Stagecoach Chester & Wirral

(27/08/2013 19:28)Garsty Wrote:  No doubt the contract was due for renewal and Stagecoach didn't want to renew (for the reasons stated above). By using the 'City Sightseeing' brand (owned by a Spanish company now), it is purely a franchise such as Pizza Hut etc.

I doubt there would be the demand for another operator to take up the franchise.

Ensign Bus probably kept the vehicle leasing aspects and as the vehicles come off lease (such as Chester's) they are being sold on as they will be owned by Ensign and not City Sightseeing, such as the two from Chester currently for sale.

It's not a contract, its a franchise. As such, its Stagecoach opting out rather than not renewing.

The vehicle leases are with Ensign as a dealer, and are separate from the City Sightseeing brand. Hence why they're still with Ensign.

[chester285]

RE: Stagecoach Chester & Wirral
Anybody any ideas as to the where abouts of
YJ53 HVC not seen it around for a while

[mbonwick]

RE: Stagecoach Chester & Wirral

(27/08/2013 21:38)E208 WBG Wrote:  can anyone confirm which Darts are moving from Gillmoss to Birkenhead and Chester and what will they be replacing

No idea, I've not seen the fleetcard yet. Would imagine they'll replace the last remaining old Scanias or complement the existing darts at Chester, depending on what the new PVR there is.

[R879 HRF]

RE: Stagecoach Chester & Wirral
21255(yj53hvc) the eclipse with room pod is in the back of rock ferry. It's been here for a few months. Out of use.

[326VFM]

RE: Stagecoach Chester & Wirral

(28/08/2013 12:11)R874 ERE Wrote:  21255(yj53hvc) the eclipse with room pod is in the back of rock ferry. It's been here for a few months. Out of use.

Out of use Why?