CUSTOMER UPDATE
Wednesday 24th June 2020
The very sad decision has been taken to close Plymouth Citycoach, the holiday and day trips company owned and operated by Plymouth Citybus.
We are deeply sorry for the disappointment and sadness this will cause our customers.
The company has been operating since the 1980s but has fallen victim to the financial repercussions of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Plymouth Citycoach had to suspend its programme of day trips and holidays in March for safety reasons and had already cancelled all holidays and trips up to and including this September. Staff have been working remotely to refund customers in full for their cancelled holidays and trips and the process of refunding all bookings is still underway and will take some weeks.
Plymouth Citycoach operated as a member of Bonded Coach Holidays, with adherence to its charter and strict financial procedures and all monies will be refunded to customers in due course.
The closure of Plymouth Citycoach potentially affected seven staff and will unfortunately result in the loss of six jobs, as during the redundancy consultation process with staff, one offer of alternative employment within Plymouth Citybus was taken up.
The closure is the result of the severe financial pressure the entire coaching industry has come under over the last three months. The loss of passenger booking income, remaining overheads such as coach maintenance, insurance and depreciation costs for its fleet and the potential introduction of social distancing measures reducing coach capacities, has eroded the viability of the business.
Plymouth Citybus MD Richard Stevens commented:
'We are devasted that we have had to make this decision and deeply regret the loss of the jobs of our colleagues, all loyal and long-serving staff, but we were faced with no other option due to the effects of the pandemic.
'I would like to thank most sincerely our customers for their support for Plymouth Citycoach over many years and I do appreciate that they will feel the loss of holiday and breaks programme very keenly.'
Customer refunds with be dealt with by Plymouth Citybus staff, in date order of holiday and customers do not need to make contact with the company at this point. Please be patient, we are working as hard as we can to refund many bookings and please rest assured we will get to yours.
Emergency e mail contact can be made via: Customer.experience@plymouthbus.co.uk or on 01752 662271.
Thank you again for your valued past support and for your patience and understanding during these difficult times.
Very sad indeed.
Didn't it all start with Leopards and a National?
ReplyDeleteI think Go Ahead have wanted rid of the coach business for the 10 years they have owned Citybus. No real surprise to me unfortunately
ReplyDeleteI dont think that was the case. The business has been under threat before and Citybus had to put in a good business case - and the business was then invested in, all of this under GA ownership. That investment was still continuing. Just before lockdown Citybus took ownership of 5 Scania coaches released by Oxford, to help with fleet replacement of some of the older coaches. These were then loaned to Brighton & Hove in exchange for the DDs we now have operating in Plymouth. So right up until the lockdown I think the business was safe.
DeleteCOVID19 has changed everything with some big names in the coach industry will either close or be drastically downsized. Sadly Citycoach wont be the last.
As a former manager with Go Ahead (in another part of the country) I can say that if Go Ahead had wanted to close it down 10 years ago they would have done.
DeleteLike all parts of any business, routes and activities are regularly reviewed as part of the business planning cycle (the financial year runs July to June).
COVID-19 has had a major impact on coach companies around the country as, unlike bus operators, no government funding has been forthcoming. The chances of getting a coach full on a day trip, tour or even Private Hire are very slim now, and no doubt for many months to come, especially as day trips and tours tend to be taken by the older generation (who are most at risk).
COVID-19 will cause many business to re-evaluate what they do - unfortunately, I think we will see a much slimmer bus network going forwards as well as fewer coach companies.
As sad as this is, I think PCB had lost interest in the coach side of the business in recent years, The new Cornwall operations and the City services bring more income in. So i'm not surprised about this, Just another company using Covid19 as an excuse.
ReplyDeleteDoes the near-total collapse of the coach holiday market not have anything to do with it?
DeleteWhile First start recruiting for their new Truronian outstations in Plymouth and Exeter.
ReplyDeleteUsing covid19 as an excuse? I take it you don’t own or manage your own business?
ReplyDeleteI bet you don't own a company either. Don't even have the courage to post your name and choose anonymous just shows that!
DeleteWell something I thought i would not see again is First are advertising for bud drivers in Plymouth. They will be driving college routes, rail replacement and private hire work based in Plymouth somewhere. Perhaps First Trurorian could take over where Plymouth Citycoach fail? How ironic would that be?
ReplyDeleteI don't think that "fail" is an appropriate word to describe the closure.
DeleteAny successful business will review its activities at regular intervals and make changes if they are found to be needed - those that don't review and take action don't survive long.
Citybus have done exactly as you would expect them to do, to look at the future prospects of Citycoach and they must have concluded that closure was the only realistic option in the current climate. Times are hard for bus and coach operators, now and likely to be so for many many months in the future.
Do you have a link to the jobs as i cant find anything on first or truronians web pages
DeleteRe First jobs in Plymouth & Exeter look up Marc Huws on Twitter - he's their Commercial Director & has advised anyone interested to email him direct (with link provided to his email). The main ad has not gone out yet!
DeleteJust email or message Truronian
DeleteUsing the name "James" doesn't make you an expert whether someone owns a bussiness or not? I forgot you was a big time blogger that no one has heard about? You're just another one of these typical transport enthusiast, who thinks he knows everything about a companies internals when actually you have no clue on what goes into the managerial processes within a business.
ReplyDeletePutting comments like, "I bet you don't own a company either. Don't even have the courage to post your name and choose anonymous just shows that!" is actually mindless nonsense which has no relivance to the focus of the initial post. Just pointing this out!
Grahame is this comment 4th July 2020 21:21 actually acceptable, I appears to me to be some sort of bullying! Given that the person won't even put their name to their post, maybe it would be appropriate to take it down and encourage them to write a more polite version.
DeleteAlso as has been mentioned on here some people like myself go by anonymous as some company's sack people for comments made if they think your bringing them into disrepute the last 3 companions ive worked for have had social media policies and ive seen decent people sacked for maybe a comment they have made on a group or you tube video etc from a time before they even worked for them only got to look at the news and incidents like the burnley banner to see first hand.
ReplyDeleteI've heard about these policies as I believe GWR have one. I'm no lawyer but sacking someone for a comment made before they joined the company as long as it's nothing bad could be seen as unfair dismissal and I would imagine could lead to a nice sum of compensation!
DeleteI have tried to keep things fairly open on comments but please can we be civil and not make comments which could be seen as bullying. Its one thing to point out why you think someone is wrong but there are nicer ways to go about it. Thanks. Graham.
ReplyDeleteSad to see another operator close the holiday / trip side of the bussinesess. Many will struggle after this pandemic.
ReplyDeleteWhere's the bullying posts? Reading them they was all polite, valid, and to the point comments.
I believe Tally Ho operate similar trips as Citycoach and generally pick up in the east of the city, around Plymstock and Plympton at least
ReplyDeleteHow long are we expected to wait for refunds? It is now mid-August and I've heard nothing. Should I contact them or wait?
ReplyDelete