South Yorkshire bus franchising gets go ahead

[TheGrandWazoo]

i think there are plenty of examples of commercial services that have gone for the first of those two options.

Hasn't Stagecoach got rid of their "Stageocach Gold" concept?

When Stagecoach rebranded in 2020, Gold ceased to be actively promoted (except on the X17 in Derbyshire) as many of the features that had been considered new and premium in 2008 (i.e. leather seats, wifi, USBs etc) had been incorporated into the standard spec.

You do know that council tax isn't the only revenue stream for councils? And as I mentioned, there is a fairly significant stream of commuters out of Sheffield in to Chesterfield and northern Derbyshire, plus tourist services to the Hope Valley, Chatsworth etc that won't be part of the franchised network.

I think @RT4038 was referring to SY taxpayers in general. The point still stands - unless there really are significant commuter flows (and I'm not convinced that it's not a massive imbalance) then it would be odd for an SY mayor to use their electorates funds on commuters from another locality that doesn't vote for them. It's not a case of being mean minded - it's just experience.

 

[Teapot42]

These seems to be a roundabout way of saying that residents in the surrounding, wealthier and more pleasant, County areas are doing the Metropolitan Area a big favour by living there and commuting

You do seem to have an odd chip on your shoulder about Chesterfield - and you can only describe it as wealthier and more pleasant if you are comparing it to somewhere like Gleadless.

It's nothing to do with us 'doing you a favour' - it's simple economics. At the moment it's viable to use the bus for leisure and commuting in to Sheffield. If an artificial barrier is erected then those economics will change and over time flows will reduce or switch modes. That's going to reduce spend in Sheffield and / or increase demand on the road network if people seek alternatives.

Maybe the fact a private company has offered a ticket which has enabled this flow to develop has highlighted the demand is there, and further highlights how artificial the border actually is.

I am sure SYMCA will do the sums and balance - but the bills have to be paid and surrounding area passengers will have to pay their share ( in fares and/ or subsidies).

I'm not sure we are actually arguing too far apart here. I'm not expecting to be able to travel from Walton to Crookes for the same price as you'd travel from Grenoside. I do hope though there is some integration of fares possible so we aren't having to pay £3 for a relatively short journey within Sheffield on top of the cost of getting in from Chesterfield.

Or worse, that SYMCA force their own fares on services operating on a permit so a Stagecoach day ticket isn't valid on them in to Sheffield so we have to pay to get in to Chesterfield, then pay again for the X17 and a third time for the local trip within Sheffield.

I fully recognise we won't get in to and around the whole SYMCA area for £6.50 as we do now. But I hope there is something like an SYMCA+ ticket for say £8 which covers SYMCA and non-constituent members, or even allows travel within a decent distance of Sheffield centre and out to Meadowhall.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 23 Mar 2026 ==

When Stagecoach rebranded in 2020, Gold ceased to be actively promoted (except on the X17 in Derbyshire) as many of the features that had been considered new and premium in 2008 (i.e. leather seats, wifi, USBs etc) had been incorporated into the standard spec.

The seats on the X17 Gold buses were certainly a lot higher spec than those on the new E400EVs though. I've seen many complaints that they are not comfortable for long distance trips and my limited experience would back that up.

Gold did originally also feature dedicated drivers for the routes, something which seemed to get dropped fairly quickly from the X17.

I think @RT4038 was referring to SY taxpayers in general. The point still stands - unless there really are significant commuter flows (and I'm not convinced that it's not a massive imbalance) then it would be odd for an SY mayor to use their electorates funds on commuters from another locality that doesn't vote for them. It's not a case of being mean minded - it's just experience.

It would be interesting to know the passenger numbers. It feels to me like the provision is as much Sheffield-centric as Chesterfield. There are several X17s which leave early and close together to provide journeys out from Sheffield and Barnsley. Loadings towards Chesterfield (and back out in the evening) see decent from what I've observed, but that hasn't been a large sample.

I guess also my argument is more towards the business owners who could lose out by reduced access to employees and customers.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

It feels to me like the provision is as much Sheffield-centric as Chesterfield. There are several X17s which leave early and close together to provide journeys out from Sheffield and Barnsley. Loadings towards Chesterfield (and back out in the evening) see decent from what I've observed, but that hasn't been a large sample.

There are 8 departures arriving in Sheffield before 0900; more tellingly, there are 4 arriving in Chesterfield with no arrival between 0719 and 0814. Whilst the service pattern is undoubtedly influenced by the use of Chesterfield depot and a very elongated route, I'd be surprised if the gravitational pull isn't massively skewed towards the large city!

I guess also my argument is more towards the business owners who could lose out by reduced access to employees and customers.

Those business owners may miss out on a few bus users but will incur higher business rates across the board. Business owners seldom want more costs!

 

[Teapot42]

There are 8 departures arriving in Sheffield before 0900; more tellingly, there are 4 arriving in Chesterfield with no arrival between 0719 and 0814. Whilst the service pattern is undoubtedly influenced by the use of Chesterfield depot and a very elongated route, I'd be surprised if the gravitational pull isn't massively skewed towards the large city!

We are guessing without some access to inside knowledge. To me, a lot of the early departures seem to be down to the need to get buses in to Sheffield and on to Barnsley for peak-time workings.

The fact there are two departures from Sheffield within 25 minutes at 6:16, 6:40, suggests there is enough demand outbound.

Factory jobs often start at 7 or 7:30, office jobs tend to be 8:30 or 9, so that gap isn't so unusual. There is also a decent amount of industry and office work north of Chesterfield so judging by arrival time in to Chesterfield town centre isn't necessarily accurate.

It is fair to say that the majority is in to Sheffield, but I think the minority is larger than most people might assume.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

We are guessing without some access to inside knowledge. To me, a lot of the early departures seem to be down to the need to get buses in to Sheffield and on to Barnsley for peak-time workings.

The fact there are two departures from Sheffield within 25 minutes at 6:16, 6:40, suggests there is enough demand outbound.

Factory jobs often start at 7 or 7:30, office jobs tend to be 8:30 or 9, so that gap isn't so unusual. There is also a decent amount of industry and office work north of Chesterfield so judging by arrival time in to Chesterfield town centre isn't necessarily accurate.

It is fair to say that the majority is in to Sheffield, but I think the minority is larger than most people might assume.

As I said, there is an imbalance caused by the fact that Chesterfield operate the route and the length of the route, so I agree with your comment and that there is a flow towards Chesterfield.

However, I'd be fairly confident that the gravitational pull will be greater towards Sheffield in the main and that most people likely to be affected will be outside South Yorkshire, much as whilst there might be a number of souls travelling towards Bolsover first thing in the morning, the flow will be weighted towards Chessie.

 

[Teapot42]

However, I'd be fairly confident that the gravitational pull will be greater towards Sheffield in the main and that most people likely to be affected will be outside South Yorkshire

Agreed, so the question will become how many SYMCA residents the Major is prepared to inconvenience.

I really hope it doesn't come to a fight over who suffers the most harm and some compromise can be reached where minimal fare increases for those outside the core SYMCA area are achieved.

 

[RT4038]

You do seem to have an odd chip on your shoulder about Chesterfield - and you can only describe it as wealthier and more pleasant if you are comparing it to somewhere like Gleadless.

It's nothing to do with us 'doing you a favour' - it's simple economics. At the moment it's viable to use the bus for leisure and commuting in to Sheffield. If an artificial barrier is erected then those economics will change and over time flows will reduce or switch modes. That's going to reduce spend in Sheffield and / or increase demand on the road network if people seek alternatives.

Maybe the fact a private company has offered a ticket which has enabled this flow to develop has highlighted the demand is there, and further highlights how artificial the border actually is.

I have no chips about Chesterfield - my county of residence has very similar issues with a Metropolitan County next door (with a lengthier border than Derbyshire with SYMCA). All the same arguments. The £3 fare cap is currently depressing fares - it think it is highly unlikely that a £6.50 day ticket for that kind of distance would survive its withdrawal. There won't be many passengers for whom a fare hike (depending how much it is, of course) would result in switching to cars, and yes, over time flows would reduce or switch as people make decisions about affordability. One thing is certain, the Metropolitan County is looking after their residents / taxpayers in all of this, and a small increase in road traffic will not unduly worry them over the cost of subsidising 'out of county' passengers.

I'm not sure we are actually arguing too far apart here. I'm not expecting to be able to travel from Walton to Crookes for the same price as you'd travel from Grenoside. I do hope though there is some integration of fares possible so we aren't having to pay £3 for a relatively short journey within Sheffield on top of the cost of getting in from Chesterfield.

Or worse, that SYMCA force their own fares on services operating on a permit so a Stagecoach day ticket isn't valid on them in to Sheffield so we have to pay to get in to Chesterfield, then pay again for the X17 and a third time for the local trip within Sheffield.

I fully recognise we won't get in to and around the whole SYMCA area for £6.50 as we do now. But I hope there is something like an SYMCA+ ticket for say £8 which covers SYMCA and non-constituent members, or even allows travel within a decent distance of Sheffield centre and out to Meadowhall.

To take an educated guess, based on my experience so far, is that the permit-ed routes will continue to offer their own fares for cross boundary passengers and wholly out of county travel. The permit-ed routes will be either commercial or County subsidised. Within the 'franchised' area they will only be allowed to carry local passengers at the franchised local fares (or possibly higher fares if they so wish). They will have to accept 'franchise' passes/area tickets and be re-imbursed at rates similar to now - any sold on bus will go into the revenue pot.

So Company tickets on permit-ed routes would be interavailable with permit-ed routes of the same Company - this may be more useful in my area than yours, as presumably permit-ed routes into Sheffield from that operator will be restricted to a fairly narrow quadrant.

There may well be a County routes + franchised route ticket, but the price of this will be a sticking point. The Company will not want to get less than (in your case) the £6.50 (or maybe a token scalp down to £6?). Why would they? The franchise authority will have their day ticket, (I see the First ticket for Sheffield is £6) and they won't want to be scalped too much either - they might accept £5 ? - for the combined ticket (unless their single ticket is going to be subsidised to under £3,in which case about twice that) bearing in mind the likely use. After that, do the math.

Of course, the current £6.50 Stagecoach ticket is, on a commercial basis, bonkers cheap for the distance (see my comment about the £3 fare distortion). I am not sure about your comment about 'non-constituent members' of the SYMCA - if they are not contributing to the transport pot they will not get consideration or benefits (and why should they?).

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Agreed, so the question will become how many SYMCA residents the Major is prepared to inconvenience.

I really hope it doesn't come to a fight over who suffers the most harm and some compromise can be reached where minimal fare increases for those outside the core SYMCA area are achieved.

Sadly, that isn't how electoral calculus works. As @RT4038 says...

One thing is certain, the Metropolitan County is looking after their residents / taxpayers in all of this, and a small increase in road traffic will not unduly worry them over the cost of subsidising 'out of county' passengers.

They won't be subsidising non residents even if it disadvantages a few of their residents if they can point at the wider benefit. As we've discussed ad nauseum on other threads, it explains why London and Manchester don't extend their routes/provision/cheap fares any great distance over their borders.

As @RT4038 intimates, commercial operators may be able to run across courtesy of a permit but with all the commercial concerns of not being able to charge realistic fares. However, as they also say, that £6.50 ticket is frankly unbelievable value but then again, the £3 fare has skewed everything. It's bonkers that you can travel from Chesterfield to Barnsley, and the fare is less than a Costa Coffee when you get off the bus.

 

[RT4038]

I really hope it doesn't come to a fight over who suffers the most harm and some compromise can be reached where minimal fare increases for those outside the core SYMCA area are achieved.

This will only happen if the Authority outside the core SYMCA area is prepared to subsidise those fares to allow the increase to be minimal. As that Authority would be in some difficulty to justify to other residents as to why they were doing that for some and not for all bus fares in general over the patch (which I suspect would be unaffordable), I would suggest this is somewhat unlikely @TheGrandWazoo and I seem to have been over this ground quite a bit lately......

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 23 Mar 2026 ==

As @RT4038 intimates, commercial operators may be able to run across courtesy of a permit but with all the commercial concerns of not being able to charge realistic fares.

Quite possibly resulting in the cross boundary and 'wholly out of County' fares being even higher than hitherto! A not dissimilar situation that that which the territorial bus companies found themselves prior to 1986.

 

[ALEMASTER]

I think a more pressing issue will be the 272 Sheffield to Castleton which is operated out of Olive Grove depot, which is in the first phase of franchising. It seemed to be suggested in the public consultation that the 272 would be a South Yorkshire franchise operated by whoever wins the Olive Grove contract.

 

[Teapot42]

To take an educated guess, based on my experience so far, is that the permit-ed routes will continue to offer their own fares for cross boundary passengers and wholly out of county travel. The permit-ed routes will be either commercial or County subsidised. Within the 'franchised' area they will only be allowed to carry local passengers at the franchised local fares (or possibly higher fares if they so wish). They will have to accept 'franchise' passes/area tickets and be re-imbursed at rates similar to now - any sold on bus will go into the revenue pot.

So Company tickets on permit-ed routes would be interavailable with permit-ed routes of the same Company - this may be more useful in my area than yours, as presumably permit-ed routes into Sheffield from that operator will be restricted to a fairly narrow quadrant.

There may well be a County routes + franchised route ticket, but the price of this will be a sticking point. The Company will not want to get less than (in your case) the £6.50 (or maybe a token scalp down to £6?). Why would they? The franchise authority will have their day ticket, (I see the First ticket for Sheffield is £6) and they won't want to be scalped too much either - they might accept £5 ? - for the combined ticket (unless their single ticket is going to be subsidised to under £3,in which case about twice that) bearing in mind the likely use. After that, do the math.

Of course, the current £6.50 Stagecoach ticket is, on a commercial basis, bonkers cheap for the distance (see my comment about the £3 fare distortion). I am not sure about your comment about 'non-constituent members' of the SYMCA - if they are not contributing to the transport pot they will not get consideration or benefits (and why should they?).

It will be interesting to see how Stagecoach respond to franchising with their commercial operations. Chesterfield alone would seem a very small division to retain. I'm not sure what functions they could combine with any franchised operations they secured - certainly not vehicle swaps, although they are less likely since Zebra anyway as most of the Stonegravels fleet is tied to that funding and therefore the local services. Either moving back in to East Midlands, or reconstituting that in to two parts with Chesterfield, Worksop and Mansfield already fairly well linked (and with services in to SYMCA) may be options.

In terms of the area tickets, how pricing pans out will be interesting to watch. It would be nice to think the Chesterfield area tickets would be reintroduced, but I suspect that will be at the same cost as they are now. Losing a large chunk of the operation won't help keep costs down after all. The value of the ticket will have progressively decreased over the years with the lost first of the tram, then the cheaper Chesterfield ticket, then any buses beyond the county boundary. I hope the permit scheme won't prevent them accepting their own tickets on journeys starting and/or ending in the franchised area. Worst comes to worst the Derbyshire Wayfarer at least allows travel in to Sheffield Centre, albeit at a higher cost.

I believe the cost of the Stagecoach ticket was more of a simplification so drivers didn't need to worry so much about validity areas. Sheffield, Chesterfield and Barnsley would otherwise need area tickets, and they'd all be a similar price, so charging a little more and touting it as covering a much wider area worked. When it existed, the Chesterfield-only ticket was £1 cheaper. The number of passengers regularly covering a large area would be so limited it's not worth worrying about.

My understanding is that the same company administers the Wayfarer and TSY tickets - whether that will continue, or if SYMCA will want more control over their own ticketing I don't know. If ticketing stays with the same company then there might be scope for a North Derbyshire plus Sheffield ticket, who knows.

I do wonder what the point of the non-constituent members actually is. A quick scan of the constitution suggests they can't even vote unless the main members agree they should be allowed to. You don't have to be that cynical to suggest they won't be allowed to vote if there is any inclination they may vote the wrong way.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 23 Mar 2026 ==

I think a more pressing issue will be the 272 Sheffield to Castleton which is operated out of Olive Grove depot, which is in the first phase of franchising. It seemed to be suggested in the public consultation that the 272 would be a South Yorkshire franchise operated by whoever wins the Olive Grove contract.

Wasn't the 272 one of the services touted as a permit operation?

It's a perfect illustration of the complexity of things here, as SYMCA support journeys which provide evening and Sunday services to Derbyshire communities. Although of course they also allow Sheffield residents to have an evening or weekend out.

 

[Llandudno]

Without including the current £3 single fares, passengers in the Chesterfield area of Derbyshire have quite reasonably priced day tickets from Stagecoach which allow travel into Sheffield and beyond. The Silver Dayrider is priced at just £6.50.

The same unfortunately cannot be said for cross boundary travel from Nottinghamshire. There are numerous routes from the Worksop and Retford area into South Yorkshire. These are nowhere as heavily used as between Chesterfield and Sheffield but there are a good number of cross boundary journeys made from Worksop and Retford into Doncaster. The Silver Dayrider is not available into Nottinghamshire and the cheapest day ticket is the Gold Dayrider at the much more expensive price of £10.50. The Gold Dayrider was priced at just £7.90 before the £2 single fares were introduced so that’s quite an increase during the last few years.

It will be interesting to see what happens to the Stagecoach Silver and Gold Dayriders after the South Yorkshire Bus franchising happens.

The Gold Day Rider increases to £11.50 next month..!

 

[CMDBob]

Looks like the SYMCA's got another hurdle out of the way, with the depots being purchased.
https://www.southyorkshire-ca.gov.uk/news/article/bus-depot-purchase

If I've read the press release right, the purchases have gone through today, and FSY and Stagecoach will be leasing back the depots until the tranches occur that bring them under full SYMCA control.

 

[cnjb8]

Looks like the SYMCA's got another hurdle out of the way, with the depots being purchased.
https://www.southyorkshire-ca.gov.uk/news/article/bus-depot-purchase

If I've read the press release right, the purchases have gone through today, and FSY and Stagecoach will be leasing back the depots until the tranches occur that bring them under full SYMCA control.

Interesting they haven’t purchased TM’s Halfway depot (yet), unless its routes will be transferred to neighbouring Holbrook when franchising rolls around?

 

[Trainman40083]

Interesting they haven’t purchased TM’s Halfway depot (yet), unless its routes will be transferred to neighbouring Holbrook when franchising rolls around?

I guess operations would move, if TM Travel got any work.

 

[Andyh82]

Interesting they haven’t purchased TM’s Halfway depot (yet), unless its routes will be transferred to neighbouring Holbrook when franchising rolls around?

If it’s like what has happened in Manchester, only major depots that provide the core network were purchased, minor depots are still privately owned

 

[Teapot42]

If it’s like what has happened in Manchester, only major depots that provide the core network were purchased, minor depots are still privately owned

I don't know if it makes a difference, by Halfway isn't just used for the TM bus operation, they also operate Flixbus services from it. I'd imagine that would make it harder to justify a purchase where only part of the operation is involved. I'm not sure if this applies to any of the other depots.

Not sure if this was an insurance policy by Wellglade as this started after franchising was announced, or if the intention never was to purchase the depot.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

I don't know if it makes a difference, by Halfway isn't just used for the TM bus operation, they also operate Flixbus services from it. I'd imagine that would make it harder to justify a purchase where only part of the operation is involved. I'm not sure if this applies to any of the other depots.

Not sure if this was an insurance policy by Wellglade as this started after franchising was announced, or if the intention never was to purchase the depot.

I think the reality is that the Halfway depot is relatively small - remember that in previous days, it had a significant yard over the road which is now a lorry firm.

In GM, they didn't buy all the existing depots e.g. Diamond at Eccles as @Andyh82 mentioned

 

[tbtc]

Halfway is relatively small, with Holbrook nearby (so doesn't offer any geographical uniqueness, like a depot at somewhere like Penistone/ Thorne might)

Halfway is used for a number of Derbyshire services, which presumably wouldn't be part of SY franchising (plus Olive Grove/ Holbrook run some cross boundary stuff too, so may have space freed up). This might create a small problem around Chesterfield, with various school contracts etc currently being run from Halfway, but that's something for the East Midlands to resolve

Halfway runs a number of Rotherham area services, which might be run from a new dedicated Rotherham depot in future (and creation of that depot might similarly free up space at Olive Grove etc for a number of existing TM routes within Sheffield that currently run nowhere near Halfway)

Halfway runs some Flix stuff (as mentioned above), which similarly wouldn't be part of franchising

Halfway made sense for SYT/ Mainline/ First who operated a number of services that started/ finished around Crystal Peaks/ Halfway but Holbrook does a lot of that job nowadays (plus, the tram finished off a number of those services)

It would be a shame to lose a depot with a lot of history. But realistically it's the least necessary of all the existing large/medium SY depots (there's maybe a need for some small scale depots to remain open for minor pots of work but I don't know how things look for e.g. Pride Of The Road/ Beehive or the various school operators around the county)

Maybe Halfway would have a future to run cross boundary services that don't come under SY franchising/ Flix/ Private Hire etc. But it's not something that SY needs to solve

 

[Teapot42]

Maybe Halfway would have a future to run cross boundary services that don't come under SY franchising/ Flix/ Private Hire etc. But it's not something that SY needs to solve

Don't know if I'm looking in the wrong place, but finding out what they consider to be franchised and non-franchised cross-border services isn't easy.

I've found this file which lists a number of services, including things like the 218 and X17, as being franchised but operated under a service permit. No date so I can't tell how recent it is and whether things may have changed since.

This would imply that franchising may have an impact outside the SYMCA area - for example, if the 43/44/50/X17 are franchised services and Stagecoach don't win the franchise then that will complicate operations in Chesterfield considerably. (Including the fact they were awarded ZEBRA2 money for vehicles to operate these services!)

I must admit I always thought these would be non-franchised services operating under a permit.

One positive thing I found in my search was a comment that SYMCA are committed to working with neighbouring authorities on service provision and ticketing, so maybe it's not as bleak on that front.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Don't know if I'm looking in the wrong place, but finding out what they consider to be franchised and non-franchised cross-border services isn't easy.

I've found this file which lists a number of services, including things like the 218 and X17, as being franchised but operated under a service permit. No date so I can't tell how recent it is and whether things may have changed since.

This would imply that franchising may have an impact outside the SYMCA area - for example, if the 43/44/50/X17 are franchised services and Stagecoach don't win the franchise then that will complicate operations in Chesterfield considerably. (Including the fact they were awarded ZEBRA2 money for vehicles to operate these services!)

I must admit I always thought these would be non-franchised services operating under a permit.

One positive thing I found in my search was a comment that SYMCA are committed to working with neighbouring authorities on service provision and ticketing, so maybe it's not as bleak on that front.

It is interesting what they do with the franchised X17, 43/44, 50. You can't have a tender process where an operator has an unfair advantage. I don't see ZEBRA funding being an issue as it's outside the operator control.

As for cross border ticketing and provision, SY has already been discussing with West Yorks (as part of a tri partite agreement with NY) about improving cross border services. Just depends what they want and what Derbyshire (and others) can afford.

 

[nikos]

Six operators cleared to compete for South Yorkshire bus contracts - South Yorkshire MCA

Process to select which bus operators will run bus services in Doncaster and Sheffield from 2027 has progressed to the next stage.

www.southyorkshire-ca.gov.uk

SIX OPERATORS CLEARED TO COMPETE FOR SOUTH YORKSHIRE BUS CONTRACTS​

Guessing that StageCoach and First are the two who will end up getting the lions share of contracts.
Any guesses on the other 4 bidders?

 

[Transport101]

Six operators cleared to compete for South Yorkshire bus contracts - South Yorkshire MCA

Process to select which bus operators will run bus services in Doncaster and Sheffield from 2027 has progressed to the next stage.

www.southyorkshire-ca.gov.uk

SIX OPERATORS CLEARED TO COMPETE FOR SOUTH YORKSHIRE BUS CONTRACTS​

Guessing that StageCoach and First are the two who will end up getting the lions share of contracts.
Any guesses on the other 4 bidders?

Ones definitely that new SMT company however I don’t know the other 3

 

[Mollman]

Six operators cleared to compete for South Yorkshire bus contracts - South Yorkshire MCA

Process to select which bus operators will run bus services in Doncaster and Sheffield from 2027 has progressed to the next stage.

www.southyorkshire-ca.gov.uk

SIX OPERATORS CLEARED TO COMPETE FOR SOUTH YORKSHIRE BUS CONTRACTS​

Guessing that StageCoach and First are the two who will end up getting the lions share of contracts.
Any guesses on the other 4 bidders?

Go Ahead will likely be another. As for who will win, there are no guarantees that the existing operators will dominate as Arriva found out in Merseyside and Stagecoach in GM.

 

[38291018]

Do you think wellglade will try?

 

[sytransport]

Ones definitely that new SMT company however I don’t know the other 3

I highly doubt it, they don’t have experience operating large garages given they’ve only just started and SYMCA won’t take that risk.

 

[nonabrow]

Six operators cleared to compete for South Yorkshire bus contracts - South Yorkshire MCA

Process to select which bus operators will run bus services in Doncaster and Sheffield from 2027 has progressed to the next stage.

www.southyorkshire-ca.gov.uk

SIX OPERATORS CLEARED TO COMPETE FOR SOUTH YORKSHIRE BUS CONTRACTS​

Guessing that StageCoach and First are the two who will end up getting the lions share of contracts.
Any guesses on the other 4 bidders?

Is this six exclusively for Sheffield and Doncaster? The article makes it unclear whether its going to be six overall or just six for these first two areas they're covering.

 

[JKP]

Thé six could be Arriva, First, Go Ahead, Stagecoach, Metroline and Tower Transit. All of these companies have had experience competing for franchises in Manchester and on Merseyside.

 

[nikos]

Thé six could be Arriva, First, Go Ahead, Stagecoach, Metroline and Tower Transit. All of these companies have had experience competing for franchises in Manchester and on Merseyside.

Yes, seems most likely now you mention it

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Is this six exclusively for Sheffield and Doncaster? The article makes it unclear whether its going to be six overall or just six for these first two areas they're covering.

I think it's fairly clear that it relates to Olive Grove and Doncaster.

Thé six could be Arriva, First, Go Ahead, Stagecoach, Metroline and Tower Transit. All of these companies have had experience competing for franchises in Manchester and on Merseyside.

It could or could not be. Mobico put in for Manchester, and Rotala also have experience of franchising in Manchester.

We'll have to wait and see; after all, with their experience of Manchester t3, Metroline might not fancy taking on another large piece of business just yet?