preston buses gone

[AEC2379]

I have been told Stagecoach  has struck again and taken over Preston Buses Lancashire another good company worn down by Stagecoach nice new year present for the staff I don't think

[The Inspector]

Damn, lucky I got pics last yr of them. Will Stagecoach keep the Lynx's and Olympians and if so for how long?

[AEC2379]

All I have heard so far is the shareholders are to vote on the takeover on 22/01/2009 and all driving staff have been given a 2yr contract with same pay after that who knows.

The depot is expected to stay open for the time being as I do not think there is enough room at the Stagecoach (ex Ribble) depot in Selbourne st Preston.

Will not hear what buses they are keeping for awhile yet they only took delivery of some new Optare mini buses for there Park & Ride in the summer and they have a few newish DD as well once I know anything I will bore you all with the details the buses they keep will most likely be sent up to Alexanders in Scotland for a repaint not for awhile yet I hope.

All the best to everyone for the NEW YEAR

[AEC2379]

a bit of a update the Competition Commission is to investigate Stagecoach takeover of preston bus and I believe 2 other companys Stagecoach tookover.
in the 5 months since the takeover all the ex preston buses are still in there old livery all that has been added is a transfer on front and bothsides with stagcoach on it. and as far as I know they still have all the lynx and olympian from preston bus.

[ALBION1881]

Stagecoach not only took over Preston bus they also took over Cavendish motor services there will be 42 Cavendish staff made redundant likely Stagecoach is will deregister most of Cavendish bus routes there will be a amalgamation of Eastbourne and Cavendish services.
12 new Alexander dennis enviro 300 buses will be placed into service on the route 1 Eastbourne you won`t see the Preston bus logo as it is being from all ex Preston bus buses.
But if really what know about this take over try and grab a issue of march buses magazine from somewhere but the new bus network in Preston was emerged together on the 22/3/09 and Preston bus was brought for around 6.5 million quid from the Preston bus shareholders.
And according to buses magazine there was only four Leyland lynxes left in the Preston bus fleet and oldest Leyland Olympian was built in 1984 this was my best to explain in the magazine article but it gives you some idea.

[AEC2379]

rumor has it that stagecoach just 3-4 month's after taking over Preston buses want to sell of some of the routes & buses as the public is complaining that they do not have a fair choice on most of the routes the only other bus company's serving Preston are Fishwick's 4 routes between Preston & leyland, Lancashire utd 1 route Preston to Burnley, and new boys Blue Bus who seem to duplicate Fishwick's and any other bits of routes no one else wants with there mixed fleet of old vehicles

[ka9102]

are stagecoach still keen on the London metro transport?

[ALBION1881]

Stagecoach sold there London operation to the Macquarie bank Australia which has 10% and the rest went to Australian pension scheme so concentrate on other parts of the Stagecoach empire throughout the UK.

[AEC2379]

Stagecoach have been told today to sell Preston bus by the competition commission just 7-8 months after buying it
not got much detail at moment but believe they will appeal after studing the commision's report.

[OxfordChris]

I have been told Stagecoach  has struck again and taken over Preston Buses Lancashire another good company worn down by Stagecoach nice new year present for the staff I don't think

Rather harsh I think. stagecoach were asked by Preston Bus managers to buy the company.

It seems stagecoach are beenr ather hard done to again, other operators who have bought competing companies and end up with a monopoly dont have any problems. One that springs to mind is the First take over of Truronian.

[AEC2379]

Stagecoach have reached a compromise with the competition commission to sell all but one bus route of Preston Buses they are keeping route 11 which operates from Gamull lane to Preston.
So far there are 3 enquirers one is believed to be employees buyout nothing on other 2 so far.

Also Macquarie Bank Australia are selling East-London Buses

[AEC2379]

As from 05/12/2010 Stagecoach and Preston bus will operate as 2 separate (sort of ) bus company's even though Stagecoach still have not found a buyer for Preston bus.

It means from 05/12/2010 tickets from one company will not be accepted on the others buses and some passengers will have to buy 2 passes/tickets at increased cost for journeys that they only needed 1 ticket/pass for this week.

Preston bus will bring in there own fare structure as from 05/12/2010 I have not seen any fare information from them as yet so it look's like passegers won't know what they are paying till they get on the bus.

Apparently there are 3 bids One for a employee buy out and 2 mystery buyers one I think maybe Arriva.

[tottenham]

According to the [UK} PSV Circle News Sheets the name of the successful bidder to purchase Preston Bus is "Rotala" - which as mentioned above the Competition Commission in November 2009 ordered Stagecoach to sell. Cheers.