(05 Oct 2020, 5:08 pm)L469 YVK wrote I do think that if it does get sold off bit by bit, Ashington depot would fit perfectly within GNE's current strategy. Only trouble would be service number parity for existing and incoming services so this is what I'd suggest:Do you think GNE are in a position to buy Arriva Northumbria?
Current GNE services:
- X15 > X4
- X20 > 20X or X90
- X30 > X2
- X31 > X3
- X32 > X3A
Incoming Arriva services:
- X15 = Same
- X20 = Same
- X21/ X22 > X31/X32 (Paying homage to previous incarnations)
- 35 > 435
They have a surplus of buses (and drivers) due to the loss of contracts.
They heavily invested in new buses before the pandemic hit.
They have had to invent a coaching division as they have a surplus of unwanted NatEx coaches that they couldn’t hope to sell at a reasonable price.
As the NatEx network is still not up and running fully those coaches are also lying idle.
As detailed above, They have made less profit than both Arriva and Stagecoach, despite being the bigger operator