(19/02/2019 12:56)motormayhem1 Wrote:  Go Ahead have been trying to get into the northwest for a while , as it was them who tried to purchase GTL before stagecoach stepped in with a slightly higher offer.
This could be there first step into the northwest in the hope to expand further with franchising coming closer.

(19/02/2019 12:56)motormayhem1 Wrote:  Go Ahead have been trying to get into the northwest for a while , as it was them who tried to purchase GTL before stagecoach stepped in with a slightly higher offer.
This could be there first step into the northwest in the hope to expand further with franchising coming closer.

(19/02/2019 17:00)acocker96 Wrote:  Go-Ahead would have done some due diligence before the takeover and probably looked at fleet age and condition, I can see Queens Road getting a load of ex-London vehicles as replacements for the B7RLE’s whose days are now probably sadly numbered.

(19/02/2019 17:05)darylyates17 Wrote:  I wonder if First will swap any of the newer vehicles with older ones from other depots before Queens Road officially gets taken over by Go-Ahead

(19/02/2019 19:28)gilesbus1 Wrote:  I can't see it, what people forget is that if you put in a load of old bangers, the price to be paid goes down, and the net value is less. First need to sell at a higher rate to make returns to pay off the debt.

Plus also the older vehicles generally are at Queens Road anyway. There might I guess be an odd move like there was at Wigan but apart from that I think what is based there now is what will go to Go Ahead.

The question then is what happens after Go Ahead take over as the age profile is wrong and unbalanced into a few large batches. Some Volvo B9TL's might well be suitable to go to East Yorkshire or Go North Eeast to replace older stock there, while new vehicles come in, what the buying policy of the new company might be remains to be seen, so I don't wish to make any further comments on that, London stock might be an option except most stock coming out of London has the same age profile or is older than the B9TL's that are here anyway.

(19/02/2019 15:05)Barney Wrote:  As Go-Ahead doesn't have a corporate identity (unlike the other three big players) it will be interesting to see what livery it adopts in Manchester. Andy Burnham recently suggested that a common livery for all TfGM bus services might be adopted and my guess is that GA's will probably be something along the lines of former GMT: orange, white and brown.

(19/02/2019 19:51)gilesbus1 Wrote:  There would be little point in this unless they engage in dialog with TfGM and the other parties involved as it might be very easy to pick the wrong shade or design of the livery, thus money wasted, also there is no guarantee they will pick Orange as they haven't specified that, all they have stated is that if franchising goes ahead buses would be in a common livery, it might equally be some sort of variation of the Metrolink livery, or they may put it out to some sort of online vote.

It would just be as easy for Go Ahead to go into the Museum next door and copy Manchester City Transport livery off the 1968 Mancunian 1001 that's resident there.

Having said that though it has said they will communicate with different organisations in the community before designing a trading name and livery.

It might also be best practice just to buy vinyls and apply it onto the existing white base livery to save money at this stage, as its impossible to know how long the livery might last, so it can be removed quickly if need be and replaced with any corporate scheme TfGM might have in mind.