He/Viscount were not going bust and he was clear on this subject to a number of people that mentioned it... He had nearly a £150,000 profit, but the lies and stress he was going through with his wife and other family members made him surrender
His accounts published on companies house show that at 31 Dec 2024 he had assets of £19,693 up £5800 from Dec 2023.
That is what he told me and a number of passengers on Friday who mentioned the rumour being spread by another operator and I have no reason to doubt Mr Merryweather's word on the matter
The communication I saw from him made reference to turnover (ie revenue), not profit. I know this is verging on semantics but still worth clarifying.
For comparison I had a look at a 1978 United timetable which showed 9/10 journeys between Scarborough and Pickering except from late June to second week in September when there were 13 journeys. East Yorkshire operate 9 journeys so is comparable though the route taken may be different. This would suggest to me that there is insufficient demand especially outside the main holiday period for an hourly service along this corridor.
I see... Well he said profit on the day, though maybe his mind wasn't on the correct word to use and was concentrating on closing things up quietly and with dignity.
Two things here.
I have no skin in the game, although it's always sad to see an independent go, but I observe that the plug has been pulled with less than a weeks notice which is (as already noted) not following regulations, has likely let passengers down who have made plans around the advertised service and, most importantly, likely put people out of work with essentially zero notice. None of that is likely to endere anyone, whatever the circumstances.
I have no knowledge of the company or area but is there any evidence that he has left any private hire booking without transport. It was originally suggested that he would be subcontracting or arranging alternative suppliers for such jobs (which seems to be a somewhat routine occurrence in any case where companies are offered more work than they can handle).
People outside the firm I can not speak for, but he has said in his official statement that he tried his best to get jobs for those that wanted to transfer to other companies or find them other work... Got to give him credit for that
If enough people aren't going to actually use a frequent bus service, or there simply isn't sufficient people in the locality to support higher frequencies, then put simply, no. An operator running a route commercially can't afford to make a continual loss on it for obvious reasons, and a council supporting a more frequent timetable with high levels of subsidy per passenger journey wouldn't be a justifiable use of taxpayer money.
There seems to be a generation of toxic bus enthusiasts coming through
When you set up any kind of business it comes with the risk of negative customer reviews and just negative feedback and criticism in general it’s not just in the bus and coach industry, but to be good at what you do you have to be willing to accept this negativity and deal with it in a professional way, something the owner here cannot do. Over the years he’s become somewhat of a pantomime ‘baddy’ with his toxic ways on social media and I think a lot of people play on that will pick up on every little thing.
As @KHCT alludes to above, North Yorkshire County Council has a very low reimbursement rate to operators for concessionary pass use.
But surly Nathan, having worked in the industry for many years would have known this when registering the service.
It's roughly 18 miles. I think some people are underestimating the pull of Scarborough here. It has a General Hospital, as well as multiple big supermarkets (ALDI, LIDL, TESCO, Sainsbury’s) providing a greater variety than Pickering or Malton. Scarborough also has Sixth Form Colleges for students, many of whom will want to travel by bus and not necessarily during peak times due to flexibility of their timetable. Regionally, Scarborough is an important town for those in the surrounding rural areas as far out as Pickering. That's before you bring in any sort of tourist attractions in Scarborough.
This is what Nathan put in the Bustimes discord the other day.
There is no reason why North Yorkshire Council could not pay East Yorkshire to provide additional journeys on this route. At one time this could have been done through a de-minimus payment but think Councils can now do this using BSIP monies. However, NYC have never exactly been known for their pro public transport policy so cannot see it happening anytime soon.
East Yorkshire does receive subsidy for the 28 from North Yorkshire Council, I believe for the Sunday service and for journeys between Pickering & Kirkbymoorside.
As I have previously said, Viscount only started running the X28 and the 126 school service in September 2025, prior to that it was just vintage hire, so whatever their financial situation was in 2023 or 2024 is completely irrelevant to how viable their stage carriage and school services were.
By the same token, we shouldn't overestimating the potential market either. Pickering is a small, and affluent, market town. The villages in between are Thornton le Dale (already served by the 840), Snainton and Ebberston - there's not that many chimney pots on that route until you reach East Ayton and Scarborough 'burbs. Thirsk to York is a similar distance - Thirsk and Sowerby (as they're one place really) is a bit larger than Pickering but the real difference is places like Easingwold and Skelton can help push up patronage to sustain an hourly frequency.
North Yorkshire does have some BSIP funds available (I think) and perhaps this is one area where they might step in. That said, services in the county are so thin once you leave Scarborough, York and Harrogate areas that the money might have to stretch a long way. NY has never been very pro-bus
Villages along the A170 from Irton to Pickering (inclusive) have a population of about 15k, and then about a further 7.5k in villages from Middleton along to Helmsley (inclusive), making about 22.5k people living along the route of the 28 beyond Seamer. That compares favourably with the A19 corridor, which has about 21.5k people living in towns and villages from Skelton along to Thirsk and Sowerby, which gets an hourly service plus additional journeys on the 29 (to Skelton), 31X (to Easingwold) and 80 (to Shipton) and other journeys to Easingwold along the B1363 corridor on the 40, and then there's a regular train service from Thirsk to York on top.
If you’re talking about to Helmsley, then that’s a totally different argument. It’s another 40 mins and more resources to serve a similar population.
The 30 takes 3 buses to serve that population.
Thirsk/Sowerby & Easingwold do not have an hourly express service to York. The 30X is bi-hourly, alternating with the 30 that also serves Alne & Tollerton.
The 40 provides an hourly service along the B1363. If you miss a 30/30X, it's quicker to get the next 40 if going to Easingwold. Unfortunately, a lot of journeys on the 29, 31X & 80 end up operating within a few minutes of a 30/30X anyway (but not all) so don't always add extra capacity.
Well yes, but Pickering has no hospital or College. It has a LIDL, which is right opposite where the 28 stops, along with a small Coop. Scarborough is a good place for those along the A170 to go instead of York as its closer and will usually have less traffic than York, whilst having the essentials. Coastliner caters well to Pickering-York demand with an hourly service Monday-Saturday.
I'm not certain about the relevance of an express? The fact that when comparing two corridors that head down a major A road, Thirsk to York is slightly further than Pickering to Scarborough. Thirsk is a similar if slightly larger town yet it can sustain an hourly service because the villages en route (even if they aren't all served on the same journey), and especially Easingwold, are large enough to sustain that broadly hourly frequency.
People don't generally travel for an hour to do their grocery shopping. Whilst Pickering doesn't have a hospital (though Malton has) nor the college, clearly demand is enough. The 28 simply doesn't have the base population that enables a commercial hourly service; now whether NYC want to spend some of their BSIP funds is the question.
Is it just open parking? East Yorkshire haven't had a depot in the area for 30 years or so