On the 1st December 2009 a thing happened, as was reported here at the time:
CITYBUS will be sold off today after city councillors approved a £20.2million deal with the nation-wide operator Go-Ahead. In a debate marked by angry exchanges, councillors voted 24 to 17 in favour of the controversial sale. Union members staged a protest outside the Council House yesterday afternoon as councillors arrived. Council leader Vivien Pengelly said: “There will be no more speculation or scaremongering.” She said Citybus would keep its identity, and staff would keep their jobs with improved benefits including the option to join Go-Ahead’s sharesave scheme. Labour leader Tudor Evans said: “You are voting to put a nail in the coffin of municipal bus services in this city. These Tories can’t be trusted with other people’s assets and other people’s money.
A report to councillors said the bus depot at Milehouse was worth £3million “in its existing use”. The deal with Go-Ahead allows the council to claw back any profits from selling off the land. Challenged by Labour over why Citybus should be sold off so quickly, Mrs Pengelly said it was to protect the company from commercial challenges from its rivals. “First has already started on the core routes. We always thought it could happen and we are ahead of the game.” She said that the council in Chester had allowed a year for selling off its bus company, and by the end of that time it was worth “hardly anything”.
Cabinet member Glenn Jordan (Con, Plympton Chaddlewood) said Lord Mandelson, the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, had said that councils should be selling off assets. “If you lot were in power, what would you sell off?” he asked Labour councillors. “You would sell off everything including the kitchen sink. “We can’t afford to invest what Go-Ahead is intending to invest. If you say we can, I want to know what services you want to cut,” Mr Jordan said.
Grant Monahan (Con, Budshead), the Cabinet member for children and young people, said that Go-Ahead was guaranteeing that school bus routes would be protected for at least three years. “We haven’t got any promise at all from Citybus.” Sue McDonald (Lab, St Peter and the Waterfront) said: “You promised that no routes would be cut for six months. That’s because you have already cut them.” Mr Evans said that Mrs Pengelly had previously said she would not sell Citybus. “This deal robs the taxpayer of a valuable resource and puts unnecessary pressure on the council’s budget. “Alarm bells should be ringing. It’s going to result in people losing their jobs.” Mark Lowry (Lab, Honicknowle) said: “Citybus is a well run company. It’s not clapped-out. Why are we selling such a well run company in the middle of a recession?”
It is clear that the political fall out of this will drag on for a while. As to how much it will affect the next council elections remains to be seen as by then most people will have moved on and they will have other things on their mind. What is clear is that Go Ahead will have to go on a charm offensive in Plymouth to reassure people that all will be well under their ownership. It is clear that it will be business as usual for quite a while as the company have already agreed to give the council more notice of any changes to routes than is strictly necessary. Go Ahead have already pointed out that they have a new livery 'in mind' to freshen up the fleet and introduce the new order to Plymouth so I expect that will probably be the first sign of new ownership for most passengers. I guess they will also be quite keen to introduce new vehicles into the fleet as soon as possible to show their intentions to passengers. Go Ahead seem to have the best reputation of the bigger national bus groups and their commitment to strong local branding means that the Plymouth Citybus fleet wont disappear under a bland national identity which is certainly a good thing. We will be watching them very closely over the coming months - as I am sure may other will to!
Over the coming month I will be looking back at how Plymouth Citybus has changed in the Go Ahead years. I think it is pretty clear that the forecasts of doom at the time never happened. The main thing is that Plymouth Citybus still has a strong identity of its own rather than just a small fleet name on a corporate livery. It has expanded its area deep into Cornwall and has invested heavily in the fleet.
But what do you think? Anyone else care to add their appraisal of the first ten years of Go Ahead Group in Plymouth? Highlights and lowlights? feel free to email them in I will add them here. dbg@plymothiantransit.com)12
What you should add is that it's a company that likes to think it can rip off customers with its extortionate bus fares, I do believe that relevant complaints have been raised with relevant agencies as this was one of the main issues raised & ignored at the time
ReplyDeleteMost expensive bus company going Go Ahead....absolute con. Over double the price of Stagecoach and less reliable too. First are also better and cheaper too. Please Stagecoach give them some competition
DeleteStagecoach will only compete where there is good grounds for competition. Citybus offers a much more extensive service to areas which would otherwise be unviable, especially in some areas where the higher fares make up for the lack of passengers. If stagecoach put up direct competition like firstbus did it will result in service quality going down for both companies (The fight for Barne Barton being a perfect example) and it will create a war which is not in the interests for both companies as it will result in damaging the transport industry in Plymouth. When stagecoach moved into Plymouth, Citybus very quickly adjusted certain services to reduce competition. Removing routes such as Ivybridge Express, The Primary Tavistock route (12 & 42) and I think this wasn't a coincidence. Though Citybus's reliability over the last 2 years has definitely taken a hit, hopefully the standardising of the fleet might reduce breakdowns and improve reliability but who knows, it is Citybus after all.
DeleteQouted from a post of mine elsewhere that outlines my brief overveiw of the company over the last 10 years! "Happy Birthday Go-Ahead in Plymouth! Today marks the 10 year anniversary since Go-Ahead formally took over Plymouth Citybus from Plymouth City Council in a £20.2 Million deal. This takeover was quite controversial at first but after 10 years it is clear that Go-Ahead has certainly improved and streamlined the service in Plymouth. Whilst the service is by no means perfect it is certainly better than what it used to be with huge investment in new buses; a more reliable service; improved ridership and most importantly they have kept the local identity!"
ReplyDeleteI surpose a % of improved ridership has to go to the enct scheme as it was about 08/09 the goverment changed it from a county or bourgh scheme to a national 1 which ment visiters to the area could use the service
ReplyDeletei wonder why they didn't keep the two tone red, and went with the Swoop instead? Anyone know this? I think the swoop may find itself looking rather odd on the new E400 Citys - any other bus, it looks good on, but in my opinion, i don't find it such a good look on the Citys.
ReplyDeletea lot was down to the cost of the new livery I seem to recall. I am a fan of the the swoop but agree its not the best on the Citys. We will have to wait and see what livery the new ones get turned out in - all being in plain red at the moment.
DeleteCost of the new livery? - maybe, but I always wonder why it doesn't bother Stagecoach with their 4 and sometimes 5 colours, (light & dark) blue, white, tan and red. The all-over red is a bit bland, I think, and as I've said before I don't like the swoop - psychologically it goes the wrong way.
DeletePersonally think the current livery has too much negative space, especially on the deckers. I have heard that there are talks happening about potentially mixing up or changing the livery scheme, sparked by the new buses, but they may have lead to nothing or if they have gone somewhere, I look forwards to seeing what comes of the new cities with the first of new "Red" ones to be revealed in due course.
DeleteCitybus are close to just getting rid of 3 previous citybus liveries, and having one standardised one, it would be a bit stupid to change it now, at the end of the day ok the livery might look better on some buses but not others, its the with several things, the ordinary travelling public don't give a dam, as long as its red, on time, clean etc they are happy.
ReplyDeleteWhat route are the new ones for ??
ReplyDeleteAnonymous on 2 December 2019 at 23:33, the new citys are for the 50/51 city circular, with the spare one as the Nancy Astor 100 Years bus (as seen in a previous post)
DeleteIf I am not correct the new buses are destined for the 42's not the 50/51's?
Deleteconsidering they're in a standard livery, i'd imagine they'll go on whatever route needs them.
DeleteYes they are destined to be allocated to the 42's primarily but they can and will, without doubt, go elsewhere from time to time!
DeleteHowever the announcement has been that they'll run on 42s. So I'm incorrect!
Delete