Profits under Go Ahead may not quite have matched its independent years but Poole & Bournemouth's other premier* operator’s achieved much during its time under Go Ahead's control five years ago—but it’s been a roller-coaster ride. Here’s how.
Five years ago, the management buy-out team at W&D sell to Go Ahead.
November 2004 saw W&D capture the university contracts from Yellow Buses.
December 2004’s delayed More Bus launch brought frequency, 2+1 seated and air-con particularly on the Poole to Bournemouth corridor, and significantly every 10 beyond to Boscombe into Yellow Buses territory, and every 20 beyond that to Christchurch & Burton.
July 2005 and W&D cannot disguise its disappointment in not being selected to buy Yellow Buses. The failure leads to a re-evaluation at Go Ahead’s HQ as to group corporate identity.
Incursions into Yellow Buses’ patch continue in August 2005, with a service every 10 minutes on m2 Poole-Bournemouth-Boscombe-Christchurch (then bifurcating to either Somerford or Burton) and newly on the Charminster road every 10 minutes Poole-Bournemouth-Castlepoint shopping centre. Competitive it may have been, but it offered something new. Withdrawing More-specified buses from Canford Heath enabled it.
The consequent cancellation of W&D’s half-hourly Poole-Penn Hill-Bournemouth 101 finds a new operator in Yellow Buses, in part as retaliation for the m1 and m2 east & north east of Bournemouth.
A month later, W&D threatened four 164 buses per hour deep into the Yellow Buses Bournemouth to West Howe market.
At the end of October 2005, W&D marketed its ‘Orange Circle’, with a co-ordinated service every 10 minutes on the key Northbourne, Moordown & Winton and Bournemouth corridor.
Three Anniversaries. Sort of |
There was more cross-conurbation competition in December 2005 with W&D's 158/9/60, now extended every 20 minutes beyond Bournemouth up to three times an hour to Christchurch, via Fisherman’s Walk & Tuckton Bridge.
April 2006 sees a retrenchment by W&D with the withdrawal of the 158/9/60, 164 and ‘Orange Circle’ concept.
A resource-neutral major network reshuffle in June 2006 caused some controversy especially with the commercial withdrawal from Corfe Mullen, while the network becomes simpler and timetables tidier. Wimborne Flyer introduced.
July 2006 sees the introduction by TYB of its new hard-hitting network including a retaliatory bus every 10 minutes from Somerford to Poole via Christchurch, Boscombe & Bournemouth.
Traffic commissioner-imposed fines for punctuality problems, unreliability and destination errors cost W&D £29,000 in December 2006.
June 2007 changes see about a nine per cent reduction in W&D mileage in the south east Dorset coastal network, including the Canford Heath to Bournemouths, taken over by TYB.
EU hours lead to major changes to longer distance services, in January 2008, including Bournemouth-Southampton.
As competition with TYB is ratcheted up, major changes to cross-conurbation services in May this year see the combined Poole-Bournemouths increase to every 3-4 minutes, and buses beyond Bournemouth to Charminster & Castlepoint to every 7½ minutes. Sacrificed as a result is the Boscombe-Christchurch section, and with the introduction of the quarter hourly X12 from Bournemouth (not Poole) to Christchurch, bifurcating to either Burton or Lymington.
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*Sorry, Alex, couldn’t resist. Each of W&D’s press releases comes with the same self-aggrandising statement, that it’s the region’s premier bus operator. We, on the other hand, prefer to think of it as one of at least two.
3 comments:
And next week the company is - yet again - up before the Western Traffic Commissioner. Lots has changed, but this aspect of the company's performance is becoming a regular event.
Indeed, under Go Ahead, Wilts is an impressive operation. Going from being one of the most profitable companies in the country to losing money within four years is indeed some achievement!
It's correct they've again made a profit to 2007, but margins are hardly flattering given their investment in new vehicles, and increased operational costs of such. Why try and fix what wasn't broken?
I'm sure the next five years of Wilts & Dorset's operations, or GSC will prove interesting to observe.
A good summary, thank you, had forgotten some of this, organe circle for example. You could have mentioned improvements to livery and marketing too though the old livery was also good.
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