Back in the Black

It’s taken more-or-less a year but former Yellow Buses man turned managing director of Frist Devon & Cornwall Marc Reddy now believes the difficult years in the far south west are over, and that what was once perhaps England’s lamest operator has turned the corner.

Reddy, who was appointed one month before free travel commenced in April 2006, may need to thank the government’s free travel initiative for the change. Patronage on First’s Plymouth city services, for example, is up by 32 per cent and First concedes this is largely a result of free travel (source: Transit). There may be significant funding and budgetary issues surrounding free travel in England but such volume growth demonstrates it’s good for business.

A two-year £5mil investment in 56 new vehicles must also contribute to ridership growth. Before Reddy’s appointment, the average fleet age was 11 years. It's now eight (source: Transit). And this includes Plymouth city council’s leather-seated Enviro 400s.

The revival at First Devon & Cornwall comes at a cost. Most recently, First has felt this in north Devon where last autumn it threw in the towel on a number of loss makers only to see Stagecoach Devon pick up the resultant tendered pieces. First, who no doubt felt that it was in prime position, now has to face a commercial Stagecoach attack from 27 May using the county council subsidy as the bedrock. Logically, Stagecoach is concentrating on First Devon & Cornwall’s most profitable route, between Barnstaple and Bideford. It’s forced First to increase its costs by upping its frequency from every 15 to every ten minutes, from next weekend.

First’s now to take on Stagecoach in the south of Devon by doubling the Plymouth-Torquay service to every 15 minutes. The X80 is already resource-hungry, with a single journey time of 120 mins. Its X80 will take local passengers from another of Devon’s most profitable little numbers, Stagecoach’s 12 and, not surprisingly, Stagecoach is due to compete from Torquay to Plymouth with new X45.

And what about Cornwall? Even when compared to the pessimistic 1970s, First’s Cornish bus network is but a shadow of its former Western National self. Several recent and painful adjustments have resulted in First sticking to main roads and suburbs. It’s opened up considerable opportunities for smaller operators, some of which operate commercially mileage First has dropped.

With news that one of them, award-winning Western Greyhound, will purchase Penzance’s far-flung seven-vehicle Sunset Travel on 17 June comes the possibility that it is Western Greyhound that covers the greatest area in Cornwall, possibly now even relegating First to second place.