(05 Sep 2014, 9:40 pm)RGR756V wrote Yeah, speculate on what vehicles may be purchased, but what you and others may not realise is that a few of my colleagues have a nosey on here and once they see remarks like that then the rumour mill starts again, and the morale levels dip again. A daily commute to Chester would be a long and expensive one for myself and, as I said, about 85% of my colleagues, and isn't an especially inviting proposition.
Anyway.....my thoughts is that the X1 would receive any new vehicle investment, with the resultant cascade of B9s being made to Crook for the Pronto, and Stanley for the old West Durham Swift services.
I know who the majority of members are on here, as I typically go through each new member's profile to ensure they're 'legit' (it's quite humorous seeing one person reply to himself on a different account, though something I'd like to be aware of). Only a tiny percentage remain anonymous, and an even smaller percentage successfully remain anonymous - aureolin pointed out earlier that some people aren't very good at it!
I understand your concerns as an employee at Crook; but as you can imagine, if profits go up as a result of the movement of a depot's operations, it's a very appealing proposal for management to make.
A vigorous 90-day consultation period would take place prior to the movement of operations and associated closures, and this is the time when I'd imagine that Trade Unions would get involved to convey your (and your colleagues') messages to management, and to possibly come to some sort of agreement during the consultation period.
Chester-le-Street currently houses 28 coaches for National Express (although some are obviously away overnight etc), but if they all moved out to Riverside, there would be more than enough room for Crook's operations to move in. From management's point of view opposed to yours, as an employee at Crook, you'd be mad if you couldn't actually see that. There are a shedload of advantages to the company that would come with this merger, which is why I imagine it's not something that should be palmed off as an idea which isn't ever going to happen.
I assume your example in the past of this happening was with Arriva? Who's to say Go North East aren't going to follow in a similar footpath?