Since news of RATP Dev’s takeover of the Bath Bus Company emerged on Wednesday afternoon, it would appear that this modest operator is RATP Dev’s first UK operation. Or so it’d be nice to think.
Spot the difference. Aside from the logos, check the Photoshop job on the shirt pocket and epaulet
For it wasn’t till the following day that RATP Dev announced the long-awaited transfer-in of Transdev Yellow Buses and its sibling Transdev London United. The Bournemouth/London changes were previously expected on 22 February 2011 as part of RATP’s divestment from Transdev.
TYB had been gearing up for the change from 16 February by removing Transdev logos from its buses. A few have the new ones. And, unlike the Yellow Bus Veras, the latest Tempos have no T logo on seat headrests. It also swapped its Facebook site from Transdev Yellow Buses to plain Yellow Buses. In the process, it lost about two-thirds of its original 1,273 fan base (itself peaking at 1,308).Both Yellow Buses (as it’s now known) and London United were quick in adopting RATP Dev fonts with the new logo on their websites. The result is far cleaner than the blocky Transdev. Yellow Buses has yet to eliminate all traces of Transdev by yesterday and its “history” page made no mention of the new owners.
Of the move, said RATP Dev, it provides a “promising foothold in the United Kingdom… one of the world’s most attractive markets where the group plans to expand gradually.” Attractive markets? Interesting that RATP should say so. Gradual expansion? That's a little pedestrian.Yellow Buses, London United and BBC gives RATP Dev a 1,035-vehicle presence in England, including the City Sightseeing franchise in Cardiff, Wales.
Meanwhile, also on Thursday, Veolia-Transdev announced itself to the world. Note the name that comes first, something that might send a slight shudder through the UK operating industry.
11 comments:
So does that mean we shall now have horaires rather than timetables and billets rather than tickets on Yellow Buses? (-:
doubt it asnon because YB has been French (Transdev) since 2005 and they didn't introduce billets jaune
Presumably another change will be made when Veolia eventually fades away - as quickly as possible please!
Oh dear! Can't find a section on the new Veolia-Transdev website for the UK. Did they forget or is this a sign of things to come?
Veolia's name comes first. Oh, dear, will Blazefield buses be painted red now? As Anonymous at 11.20 said, Veolia fade away as quickly as possible, please.
It was always going to be vt. You could have too much fun chuckling at tv!
Just out of interest, what will happen now to the 18% stake transdev have in Nottingham city transport? Can't see the council buying back as they sold for cash to help phase 1 of the tram & it's seen as the phase two is going ahead too plus all councils are cash strapped! Is the 18% now RATP or V-T ?
Transdev have updated their uk web site www.transdevplc.co.uk to reflect the changes (ie no Yellow Buses or London United). They list NCT as bing a minority shareholder
http://www.transdevplc.co.uk/our-expertise.jsp?expertiseID=1
The snarkiness about Veolia deserves a response. After all, the fact that the list goes "Yellow Buses, London United and BBC" says something about the priorities of the Omnibuses blog!
To anonymous@8.09, what a pointless comment.
We've seen RATP have immediately started changing Yellow Buses and London United's corporate identity (bus liveries, website etc), but it seems like nothing is changing on the Transdev Veolia side of things except for launching a vague new site? Does this mean the identities will remain independant (i.e. Buses will still have the normal Veolia liveries and Transdev will have theirs) or are they just being slow to create a combined VT livery and identity?
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