Glenvale Transport to Stagecoach - 10 years on

[robertclark125]

Next year will mark ten years since Stagecoach bought GTL, the company formed to buy the Gilmoss depot of Arriva, when the latter was required to divest it as a condition of purchasing MTL.

Obviously, in those ten years since Stagecoach purchased GTL, a lot has changed. But, what? And also, would it be fair to say that GTL, when it started trading in 2000, expanded too quickly, launching all sorts of copycat routes over Arriva, rather than trying to concentrate on improving the routes which it had? Remember, Arriva was prohibitied by the ruling from competing with the routes it had sold to GTL for three years.

GTL never purchased any new buses, and I think if GTL had concentrated on improving the services it acquired, and used the money to buy new buses, it would've been better. So, are things better under Stagecoach than when GTL was independent, and what has changed?

 

[Statto]

GTL had the feel of a cowboy firm, the only new vehicles they had iis when they brought CMT, as most of the fleet was elderly ex London Titans & Metrobuses. I remember the Traffic Commissioner ordering about 150 vehicles off the Road, so GTL brought ex Stagecoach B6s which were inadequate for the routes they were allocated to. GTL would have gone bankrupt had no one brought them

 

[mbonwick]

I think the fact that Merseyside has seen over 200 new vehicles since 2005/6 (and that's not including the ex-First operations) says a lot about how much better things are under Stagecoach.
I make it that about 110 of those new vehicles have been in the last 4 years.

 

[WillPS]

Is it not a similar amount of time since Yorkshire Traction was purchased?

 

[mbonwick]

Yes, Traction Group was also purchased in 2005.