Wow, so with Stotts winning Slaithwaite, that means South Pennine haven't even less work because I'm guessing Slaithwaite includes the Marsden and Meltham local buses, the Marsden via Meltham to Holmfirth route and the Halifax to Holmfirth via Slaithwaite service?
Well that explains the planning application Go Ahead submitted for a depot in the Pudsey area! Interesting that they keep Cleckheaton as well. Will the site still be shared with Caledonian Travel once franchising begins? Still none the wiser on Heckmondwike...
The depot to watch here is Transdev's Elland. They've won a package in the Hebden Bridge area. They could operate the package from Waterloo along with the Huddersfield package but its quite a bit of dead running (although nothing compared to what Tower Transit might do!) They could operate it from their Elland depot but there's still some dead running or they could open a new depot in the Hebden Bridge area. I suppose it will all come down to what packages Transdev win in the Halifax and Calderdale area.
Could they theoretically share a depot with another operator as long as the depot isn't WYCA owned? Like with Stotts or Transdev?
Wouldn’t the Hebden bridge work be the 900 901 given that it’s a Kirklees zone contract not a Calderdale one
I don’t know what you mean by ‘keep Cleckheaton’, it’s a local service in the Cleckheaton area that they’ve won (probably the 259), not Cleckheaton depot, although they may run it from there. Cleckheaton depot doesnt actually run any services locally
Well I assume they'd continue to use Cleckheaton given that its likely more that just the 259 for £40m! Go Ahead currently uses Cleckheaton as a way to establish and now grow their West Yorkshire presence prior to franchising which they got when they purchased Procters and the associated coach operators like Fourways. They could operate from Pudsey but I guess it will come down to space and deadrunning.
According to a post on Travel West Yorkshire, it's 387, 900, 901 & 902.
South Pennine did not bid, so that was always going to happen.
Yeah, handy that they've got a prospective depot right where they need one. That said, the package is only for about 4 vehicles so wonder if they are moving stuff there though there is the tier C schools work too? Some very rough fag packet maths (don't hold me to it) would suggest their Cleckheaton package is probably around 20 or so vehicles, with another 14 or so for Dewsbury small.
Yeah, the Stagecoach one is about 10-12 vehicles, I reckon on my Lambert & Butler spreadsheet.
This is all very much an open question!
WYCA does provide funding for DalesBus and in fact contributes hugely to the production of the train + bus timetable booklet for DalesBus which is why the WYCA and Metro logos are featured on it. I'm sure they'd be happy to work with DalesBus to continue these services under a franchised regime.
Arriva Yorkshire no longer operate DalesBus services. Arriva only operate DalesBus services from their depots in the North East providing access from Middlesbrough, Stockton-On-Tees and Darlington. First operate the 876 and Transdev operate the 820, 821, 864, 866 & 873 from Keighley as well as the 74 and 875 from York which enter West Yorkshire.
They bid for Tier 1B contracts and didn't win any. The fact they won a Tier 1C contract isn't relevant.
Calderdale is in the third tier.
Perhaps that's why they have not been awarded any routes up to present....and may not be in the next tier either. I'm pretty sure that their depot at Eastwood is leased....but I'm not certain about their main base in Bradford.
I’d be surprised if depot tenure has any impact given that at least TLC has one whereas Tower doesn’t!
I was thinking more that the fact that that the company may be for sale might have an impact on the franchise awards.
They have a fleet listed as 65 vehicles on bustimes, with almost half of those being branded for AccessBus (which doesn't include the new Weaver-branded Stratas). Of the rest, only a handful are over 15 years old, while about ten are under 10 years old. I don't know which vehicles are leased but if we assume that all the white ones are leased then that's almost all of the ones under 10. That leaves the bulk of their owned fleet being older but not elderly, still with a few years of life left in them but not great for a long-term prospect.
My point was that Cleckheaton mostly runs Bradford and Calderdale services at the moment so isn’t effected by this tranche.
When it comes to what Cleckheaton currently runs, there's not much left that likely isn't included in a package that's been tendered for. The 30 is likely part of the package Go Ahead won for Pudsey. Routes like the 112/112A, 212 & 213 could be part of the smaller Dewsbury package also won by Go Ahead.
A quick look through shows those services being about 6 vehicles. The 571 and the Bradford stuff is about 13
The comparison isn't with what Stotts do now, but meeting the future requirement, in terms of staff. The package may be suitable for a small stand alone operation. However, point taken that they will have 4/5 vehicles on their own working in a corner of West Yorkshire away from anything else so how they have a stand alone operation in that area will be interesting to see.
Interesting that Route One are reporting that five of the home-to-school contracts were not awarded
Two SMEs in WYCA bus franchise contract winners as five unawarded - routeone
West Yorkshire Combined Authority has announced planned winners of Tier B and Tier C bus franchise contracts in its first round of awards.www.route-one.net
Oh yes you're right as it was me who reported it at the time lol, totally forgot they withdrew it.
