First Manchester

[Southernsofty]

RE: First Manchester
[quote='Polo Mint' pid='41494' dateline='1375367337']

Finglands seem to have a different business model than First, they seem to be [b]cheep and cheerful[b]offering low fares to students with old Olympians.

Different in First being 'expensive and miserable' maybe?

[jimbo]

RE: First Manchester
Exactly. Stagecoach are in the black, if they really wanted to they could run First off rhe uni runs and out of moston.

[polarbear]

RE: First Manchester

Quote:The Finglands fleet is old except a few Enviro300/ B9 Gemini's. I wonder if First will ship in some new stock to re-fleet them.

Apparently not. The price paid is a mere £50000 and does not include any of the present vehicles. Some may be used on a short term basis I believe but as I understand it, First will be bringing their own fleet in pretty quickly.

[YSV-205]

RE: First Manchester

(01/08/2013 20:21)polarbear Wrote:  

Quote:The Finglands fleet is old except a few Enviro300/ B9 Gemini's. I wonder if First will ship in some new stock to re-fleet them.

Apparently not. The price paid is a mere £50000 and does not include any of the present vehicles. Some may be used on a short term basis I believe but as I understand it, First will be bringing their own fleet in pretty quickly.

So I assume that all Finglands buses will go back to EYMS. The last ones to go to Finglands from EYMS were those old darts back in March or April 2012. Finglands do seem to operate the oldest buses in South Manchester (except for the Magicbus). Mind you there aren't too many "smaller" bus operators left in South Manchester.

[jimbo]

RE: First Manchester
Yeah, im guessing first will just send their olympians to do the uni runs... Im justnhoping theyre smart and do the same as stagecoach do with magicbus, and have a seperate brand, as if their prices are not low like finglands or magicbus, they will soon die off

[YSV-205]

RE: First Manchester

(02/08/2013 09:31)jimbo Wrote:  Yeah, im guessing first will just send their olympians to do the uni runs... Im justnhoping theyre smart and do the same as stagecoach do with magicbus, and have a seperate brand, as if their prices are not low like finglands or magicbus, they will soon die off

That sounds like a great idea. First do seem to be "resting" their Olympians at various depots. How many do they have in the fleet across the Greater Manchester region that could be used? The Finglands garage is a surprisingly decent size.

[mic]

RE: First Manchester

(02/08/2013 09:57)YSV-205 Wrote:  

(02/08/2013 09:31)jimbo Wrote:  Yeah, im guessing first will just send their olympians to do the uni runs... Im justnhoping theyre smart and do the same as stagecoach do with magicbus, and have a seperate brand, as if their prices are not low like finglands or magicbus, they will soon die off

That sounds like a great idea. First do seem to be "resting" their Olympians at various depots. How many do they have in the fleet across the Greater Manchester region that could be used? The Finglands garage is a surprisingly decent size.

34097 is at Bolton in a withdrawn state

also all the 10000 to 14 Batch stored at Cherry Row in Leeds have gone from there

[WWH44L]

RE: First Manchester

(02/08/2013 09:57)YSV-205 Wrote:  

(02/08/2013 09:31)jimbo Wrote:  Yeah, im guessing first will just send their olympians to do the uni runs... Im justnhoping theyre smart and do the same as stagecoach do with magicbus, and have a seperate brand, as if their prices are not low like finglands or magicbus, they will soon die off

That sounds like a great idea. First do seem to be "resting" their Olympians at various depots. How many do they have in the fleet across the Greater Manchester region that could be used? The Finglands garage is a surprisingly decent size.

I don't think their current Olympians will be used as they seem to be on the way out. Bury's are being replaced with B7TLs from SY, BN have 4, QS 2 and OM 11. They have been buying some decent secondhand stuff from Ensign recentley so who knows... Interesting times to say the least...

[Polo Mint]

RE: First Manchester
Ye I was thinking that Finglands operate low fares with old buses so if first put new Gemini's on the route and raise prices to match the rest of the network then people may use Magic Bus instead. But then people may be annoyed that the ex-Finglands routes get lower prices and it may tarnish the brand.

Olympians could be used temporary, but perhaps some ALX400/Tridents could be moved in from other divisions in a cheapo brand like Magic Bus?

[jimbo]

RE: First Manchester
Im hoping for a cheapo brand, would make the most sense..