Greater Manchester Tenders

[knutstransport]

RE: Greater Manchester Tenders

(03/04/2022 21:35)Mayneway Wrote:  They didn’t know at the time what was going to happen. Rotala bought the Eccles operation when they operated out of Atherton (South Lancs Travel), at the time of buying Eccles Goodwin wanted out of the bus game. He wanted to focus on coach work, holidays and a few school contracts. It was the end of them operating general service work. Then after the sale they won a couple of tenders (I think the 84a), but that was it.

Then all went quiet and he suddenly started up again, no doubt the Dunns never thought to ask him to sign a waver to say he wouldn’t go for any work that would effect their business in the future.

Didn't Go Goodwins reduce their bus operations in the past and then increase the level again? I seem to recall 5 of their vehicles with the air horns and the extra exterior lights transferred to D&G Bus and then less fancy Solos arrived when they won new tenders.

Quote:Famously in Oldham after years of battling it out First bought part of the Stotts operation simply to stop them competing (and wiping the floor with them). The deal would stop Stotts running any commercial services in GM or bidding on any tenders, but they could continue to operate their commercial school services and private hire work. The mistake was in the wording of the contract. It was only for 3 years, clearly whoever wrote it thought they would be long gone.
And literally in 2001, the very year it was up Stotts once again began competing with First on the 427, won a load of school tenders and later won a load of regular tenders too.

I imagine First thought in the long term it would just be them and Stagecoach doing the main Greater Manchester routes. They'd even added Cheshire operations to the First Greater Manchester business through the acquisition of Chester City Transport. First selling parts of their GM operations to Stagecoach and Go-Ahead was unthinkable at that time.