Sold to That Man

That man being Moir Lockhead.

The city council and First Group have agreed terms regarding the sale of Chesterbus. The sale follows the court’s judgement in the Arriva case and the judge’s decision *not* to grant leave to the city council to appeal. The council’s a public body and will need to release details of the sale price in due course and we wonder how Arriva’s victory is likely to have influenced the sale price.

Anyway, of the 12 originally expressing an interest, and the eight bidding, First has it. First was the sole survivor, the others having dropped out upon Arriva's registrations. No real surprise as it is widely felt that other serious bidders retreated or made excuses. First and Arriva were always the most likely and after Arriva declared its hand in registering competitive services, everyone was looking at First.

In many ways, the purchase makes sense for First:

 It’s known to want to make a comeback in the area, following its reversals especially in Ellesmere Port and Wirral in January 2006.

 The synergy in the networks complements each other. First already operates city services to Kingsway (every 10 mins) and to Plas Newton and Saltney (both oddly every 11 (yes, 11) mins). First picked up Saltney following a Chester City Transport withdrawal.

 There’s plenty of scope for management & engineering efficiencies and both have difficult garages needing replacement or relocation.

But there are challenges ahead for First to sort.

 There’s the issue of two potential Arriva competitive services to Blacon to worry over.

 There’s been a lack of investment, with a general lack of new SLFs in an ageing fleet. First is saying it intends to invest.

 The PVR is unnecessarily high, with many school and work contracts creating a distortion.

 Troublesome BMC Falcons were perhaps not the best buy for the Park & Ride services.

 Chester isn’t good bus territory.

Meanwhile, another municipally-owned operator vanishes, along with the slightly traditional yet slightly quirky Chesterbus livery. The image, right, is from the official site and curiously Chesterbus has chosen one with several peens in the bodywork and with traditional maroon skirt.