SCOOP - DRIVER GROUP SELLS ROUTE SERVICE

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Grentura
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SCOOP - DRIVER GROUP SELLS ROUTE SERVICE

Post by Grentura »

This evening it was announced to Driver Group staff that the company have decided to sell the route runs including (612, 623, 624, 625, 626) to CDC. It is expected that the take over will be on the 1st July 2013.

Interesting times ahead.

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Re: SCOOP - DRIVER GROUP SELLS ROUTE SERVICE

Post by GeelongBuses »

Do you know what company of CDC?
It wont be benders though.
Might be Eastrans?

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Re: SCOOP - DRIVER GROUP SELLS ROUTE SERVICE

Post by Fleet Lists »

It will probably be a separate entity within CDC. It does not necessarily have to go to one of their existing entities.
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Re: SCOOP - DRIVER GROUP SELLS ROUTE SERVICE

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Re: SCOOP - DRIVER GROUP SELLS ROUTE SERVICE

Post by Grentura »

It will aparntly be merged with Eastrans.
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Re: SCOOP - DRIVER GROUP SELLS ROUTE SERVICE

Post by Craig »

Fleet Lists wrote:It will probably be a separate entity within CDC. It does not necessarily have to go to one of their existing entities.
I would suggest that the route fleet would be relocated to Eastrans new depot in Huntingdale & integrated into the Eastrans operation - after all the site was purchased with plenty of spare room in the hope of the winning the Melbourne Bus Tender.

Selling off the route service will no doubt allow the Driver family to focus on continuing to grow the charter and tour work side of the business, which is already considerable size after many decades of hard work.

Although it's a sad decision, the route service is only one part of their business, that probably is a distraction for them at times, providing little reward for doing an excellent job with largely fixed income stream and had little opportunity to grow. The fixed rail replacement contracts introduced by Connex about 7 or 8 years ago prevent the route fleet earning extra dollars on weekends.

As seen in the past, Nuline has continued to grow since they sold of their 627 service to Driver 20 years ago, so hopefully this will just be another chapter in Driver's proud history rather than the beginning of the end.

I think most of us wish them well.

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Re: SCOOP - DRIVER GROUP SELLS ROUTE SERVICE

Post by Mitch »

Will they still run the (not so free anymore) Tourist Shuttle?

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Re: SCOOP - DRIVER GROUP SELLS ROUTE SERVICE

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Contra la Luna
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Re: SCOOP - DRIVER GROUP SELLS ROUTE SERVICE

Post by PaxInfo »

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Re: SCOOP - DRIVER GROUP SELLS ROUTE SERVICE

Post by system improver »

Mitch wrote:Will they still run the (not so free anymore) Tourist Shuttle?
Seems not Mitch. From ComfortDelGro in Singapore:
"The Driver Group currently also operates school services, tourist shuttles and charter services but these will not be included in the acquisition. The purchase consideration for this acquisition is hence based on the business prospects of just the metropolitan bus routes and their contributions to our operations in Melbourne. The amount payable to the Driver family for this acquisition is approximately A$22 million."

The Driver Group Metro contract with PTV runs to 30/06/2015 (i.e. for 7 years) and is for $66,976,540 in total.
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Re: SCOOP - DRIVER GROUP SELLS ROUTE SERVICE

Post by scott »

This acquisition now means Cranbourne Transit would be the only small track operator in the South Eastern suburbs, later this year we will have the big three- Ventura, Transdev and CDC. Interesting times ahead.
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Re: SCOOP - DRIVER GROUP SELLS ROUTE SERVICE

Post by Alex on the Bus »

system improver wrote:The Driver Group Metro contract with PTV runs to 30/06/2015 (i.e. for 7 years) and is for $66,976,540 in total.
I presume that it's easier for the Drivers to incorporate a new company and transfer the non-PTV business to it than attempt to transfer the PTV contracts to CDC.

Now, given Driver's history regarding metropolitan bus contracts (cue 1wk's obligatory lecture on Waverley Transit vs. Metropolitan Transit Authority), could Driver's exit from the route bus scene prompt another review of how PTV bus services are contracted? Or will another operator step up to maintain the status quo?
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Re: SCOOP - DRIVER GROUP SELLS ROUTE SERVICE

Post by Peter1805 »

More foreign ownership of local bus services, which may not necessarily be a good thing in the longer term (noting that this means that the taxpayer-provided funds which pay for these services will be providing profits to predominantly foreign shareholders rather than Australian citizens).

Perhaps it may be time for the remaining large local operators in Victoria to consider merger and/or transferring their corporate status from private to public (i.e. list on the share market, enabling them to obtain funding within the Australian share market).

The French and Singapore Governments are now heavily involved in the Victorian bus industry. Interesting and more than a little ironic that the Victorian Government's basic Thatcherite philosophy would involve eschewing Government ownership of public transport infrastructure and services.
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Re: SCOOP - DRIVER GROUP SELLS ROUTE SERVICE

Post by huyie »

Alex on the Bus wrote:
system improver wrote:The Driver Group Metro contract with PTV runs to 30/06/2015 (i.e. for 7 years) and is for $66,976,540 in total.
I presume that it's easier for the Drivers to incorporate a new company and transfer the non-PTV business to it than attempt to transfer the PTV contracts to CDC.
Most probably, since the contracts are tied to Driver Group Pty Ltd, while Driver will remain, most likely a separate company for just the route services will need to be formed.

It would also mean CDC Victoria will have a total of 8 subcompanies under either Westrans or Eastrans branding in Melbourne alone.
Westrans Sunshine: North Sunshine Bus Service Pty Ltd,
West Transit Bus Lines Pty Ltd,
CDC Sunshine Pty Ltd

Westrans Altona: CDC Victoria 2 Pty Ltd,
CDC Altona Pty Ltd

Westrans Werribee: CDC Werribee Pty Ltd

Eastrans Oakleigh: CDC Oakleigh Pty Ltd

They did have 2 more subcompanies which they got of rid those ABNs last year.
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Re: SCOOP - DRIVER GROUP SELLS ROUTE SERVICE

Post by Fleet Lists »

What do CDC Sunshine and CDC Altona cover as opposed to the Westrans subcompanies in those locations?
And in what way does this add one as all 8 appear to be existing ones? Or will this be a ninth one?
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Re: SCOOP - DRIVER GROUP SELLS ROUTE SERVICE

Post by burrumbus »

Fleet Lists wrote:What do CDC Sunshine and CDC Altona cover as opposed to the Westrans subcompanies in those locations?
And in what way does this add one as all 8 appear to be existing ones? Or will this be a ninth one?
CDC Victoria Pty.Ltd will purchase 100% of the Driver family shareholding in Driver Group Pty.Ltd which holds the Metropolitan route service contract for routes 612,623,624,625 and 626.This arrangement where the purchaser merely purchases the sellers shareholding in the legal entity which holds the Metropolitan Bus Service Contract is almost standard practice in the now many sales of route bus businesses in Victoria.It would appear to be much easier to do this without setting up a new company to purchase the contracts and buses.The contracts do not need to be changed.
The Driver family will obviously need to set up new company(ies) and reaccredite these companies to take over the operation of their various government and private school contracts,plus charter and tour businesses.As far as I am aware all of their current operations are under Driver Group Pty.Ltd.
Huyie is(almost) correct in his summation of the existing CDC businesses.
CDC Altona Pty.Ltd,CDC Ballarat Pty.Ltd,CDC Geelong Pty.Ltd,and CDC Werribee Pty.Ltd all own the contracts and buses operating out of those depots.
CDC Oakleigh Pty.Ltd owns the 630 and 900 routes.Renaming of W.Sinclair and Sons Pty.Ltd.Eastern Suburbs Omnibus Services Pty.Ltd owns the 605 contract.
CDC Sunshine Pty.Ltd own route 410.North Sunshine Bus Service Pty.Ltd own route 408 plus 4 school runs associated with this route.St.Albans Bus Service Pty.Ltd owns routes 418/419/421/422/423/424/425,plus 4 associated school runs.Westransit Bus Lines Pty.Ltd owns routes 406 and 407.I will need to check who owns route 409.Western Coach Services Pty.Ltd operates the Westrans coach business.CDC Victoria Pty.Ltd is an umbrella company which owns all the businesses.There are individual accreditations for each of these companies.All of the above is(with renaming) a continuation of the legal structure Keffords operated and before that,under the Charles Sitch ownership.As I said above it seems to be far easier to keep the existing legal entities than to change them ,because of the government contracts.
Hope this helps.
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Re: SCOOP - DRIVER GROUP SELLS ROUTE SERVICE

Post by burrumbus »

To complete the info route 409 ,plus 2 am and 2 pm school runs is owned by CDC Victoria 2 Pty.Ltd.Harking back to Sitch days this service was owned by Charles Sitch and his wife as a partnership.
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Re: SCOOP - DRIVER GROUP SELLS ROUTE SERVICE

Post by tranzitjim »

I say that bus operators where waiting for the MMBF to be announced first, before they made up their mind as to where they wish to go.

Now MMBF has been announced, and CDC is clearly not the winner, makes them free to chase after other ideas such as the takeover of other operators such as Driver.

Wonder if we will see the 'backlog of takeovers' now be cleared. How many more smaller operators are going to be purchased by the big boys in the weeks or month ahead.

So, I know Drivers where against the 'standard PTV livery (Years ago when it was whatever else)' on their buses. Wonder if that did help them make up their mind to sell?
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Re: SCOOP - DRIVER GROUP SELLS ROUTE SERVICE

Post by John »

tranzitjim wrote:Wonder if we will see the 'backlog of takeovers' now be cleared. How many more smaller operators are going to be purchased by the big boys in the weeks or month ahead.

So, I know Drivers where against the 'standard PTV livery (Years ago when it was whatever else)' on their buses. Wonder if that did help them make up their mind to sell?
I somehow doubt that Driver sold out because they were against a standardised livery.

Without knowing anything about the takeover, I would speculate either CDC approached Driver or Driver conducted a review of their operations and decided that going forward they wish to focus solely on school services, charters and day tours. Perhaps it was a combination of both, with the latter occurring in response to an offer.
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Re: SCOOP - DRIVER GROUP SELLS ROUTE SERVICE

Post by Connex »

tranzitjim wrote:Now MMBF has been announced, and CDC is clearly not the winner, makes them free to chase after other ideas such as the takeover of other operators such as Driver.
Should also be mentioned that CDC was never part of the Metropolitan Bus Franchise tender either.

I wish the Driver family and the company well with their new business model. :)
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Re: SCOOP - DRIVER GROUP SELLS ROUTE SERVICE

Post by Fleet Lists »

True they were never in for Melbourne but he have it confused with Sydney where they have just lost two regions which they have operated for a number of years.
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Re: SCOOP - DRIVER GROUP SELLS ROUTE SERVICE

Post by CB80 »

I think they tendered, they just weren't shortlisted.
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Re: SCOOP - DRIVER GROUP SELLS ROUTE SERVICE

Post by burrumbus »

CB80 wrote:I think they tendered, they just weren't shortlisted.
Correct
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Re: SCOOP - DRIVER GROUP SELLS ROUTE SERVICE

Post by Craig »

For completeness sake, here is a link to the media release issued by Cabcharge to the ASX - http://www.aspecthuntley.com.au/asxdata ... 410519.pdf

Kind Regards


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Re: SCOOP - DRIVER GROUP SELLS ROUTE SERVICE

Post by Apollo »

It would appear as though Driver are already starting to remove decals from the buses that are going to CDC. Sighted no89 this afternoon minus all decals.
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