Apologies for the big break – a holiday got in the way. You know the ones, automatically allocated according to a pot-luck rota with absolutely no choice to move off it because the people at the bottom of the ladder on the shop floor don’t get the basic right to pick their holidays? That’s the reality for many at big operators but luckily for me at a small operator it’s very much a when-requested system. Probably for not much longer judging the way small operators are fairing in the transition. I can’t wait!
Anyway, that’s a topic for another time. Moving on…
Officers at TfGM Towers and operators are potentially gearing up for some embarrassing urgent emergency vehicle procurement (a.k.a. squeaky bum time).
It was announced around at the end of September that First Manchester had sunk about £2.3mill (I make that about £135,000 a bus) on 17 new Strata Plus full diesel van/bus conversions with all mod-cons from Rochdale-based Mellor for their Rochdale A&B T2 award (requring about 40 buses). A great win for ‘local’ for all concerned, you’d agree, eagerly trumpeted by a director in a press release. A week or two later 4 Strata Ultras were added by Stagecoach although I’m not sure what for – have I missed a SLSC? – I assume as they’re 30-seater Ultras that they’re for some smaller routes in their T2 big awards at Middleton, Oldham and Queens Rd (a route like 415 to supplement the Solos?). I quite like the Strata Ultras I’ve driven, but without retarders they munch through brake discs and pads like they’re cheese leaving passengers crying out for ear defenders as buses quite literally and evenetually grind to a halt with the bus setting off it’s own stupid whistle-operated stop bell system as it mistakes worn brakes for a bell push. Quite reliable nippy little things though, however the Ventura door can be a bit tempremental.
Then 6 days ago on the 21st, CBW stated that Mellor’s parent company WN VTech had appointed administrators the week commencing the 13th November, citing ‘supply chain issues’ and a £2.6mill loss on £78mil turnover for the group last year. Perhaps some under-performance in the group’s activities in hearses, ambulances, etc were to blame. A mere 7 weeks after reports of the first order for Bee there’s a prospect of it all falling through leaving operators and TfGM having to find a suitable replacement manufacturer with 16 weeks to go until T2 live. I’m not sure how quick even ADL can knock a bus out. Please, I beg you the powers that be that bother reading this nonsense, let it be anything, literally anything, that isn’t by Ilesbus on service work!
Route One at the start of October, shortly after the first First annoucement was first announced, carried a piece heralding Mellor’s turnaround plan – a projected output of 900 buses, a turnover of £85mill, a demonstration programme across Europe, £15mill already invested in battery chemistry, and a headcount up 40% on 2019. All positive, all on the up, a picture of a business making all the right noises and not struggling. A cursory Google search for Mellor shows that they’ve appointed a distributor in Canada for their ‘big’ buses – the Sigma, a recent deployment of them followed in Germany, Cambridge and Scotland, and the announcement of a 13.5m(!) Sigma model. By no means a ‘small manufacturer’ anymore, but a manufacturer of small buses that has branched out into bigger buses and that can make it’s own integrals sounds like an ideal company to have in a portfolio and hopefully some arrangements can be made – perhaps Bamford’s new Wrightbus could make use of Mellor’s electric and small bus experience to work on a new electric StreetVibe/WF StreetLite midi or similar? Switch/Optare could easily bag themselves a competitor. ADL might already be one-up in the situation as it sounds like some of Mellor’s staff are already eyeing a move.
Lets wait and see.
Nooks and Crannies pt. 3
Over to T1 land now and well, things have gone quiet which is surely a good thing? I haven’t made good on my promise to sample the Wigan side of things to see what the bus stations are like, hopefully I can get round to that.
Diamond however moved into their new office in Bolton town centre last week, housing the regional head office and the Training Academy with included Bed & Breakfast facilities for 4 (it is only a 10minute walk to their new Bolton depot and less than a 5 minute walk to the Interchange). It’s a grade 2 building on Silverwell Street built in 1903 offering 3000sqft and had lain vacant for a few years and it looks quite pretty inside. A great investment though – it’s nice to see buildings being used.
And news that the office’s special fountain pen had been in overdrive signing cheques came the same day as it was announced Diamond’s parent, Rotala plc, had basically bought itself back into private ownership with the Dunn brothers (and their spouses) and business partner John Gunn (and his pension plan) buying the remaining 58.8% they didn’t own at 63.5pence per share to form Rotala Group Limited, valuing the company at £23.5mill. S Dunn is quoted as basically saying it was done to get rid of red tape to enable Rotala to “operate in a more agile way” (dabbers out!).
No printed decisions uploaded for the last BNC meeting on 23rd November as I write this. King Bee not present, but a quick jump through the video shows Cllr O’Brien doing a nice job chairing proceedings – a great choice. Stumbled upon a great quote by Cllr Sykes (Lib Dem, Oldham): “if it works in The Archers, it should work in Greater Manchester!” when referring to the disappearance of community speedwatch schemes.
