(24 Jan 2025, 11:38 am)Storx wrote Can't comment on the union stuff but this imo isn't a local issue and a GoAhead issue.
As much as people want to slag off the local managers, I'm not sure it's their choice to get arid of half the workforce - this is being told by someone further above and the fact things have got much much worse since the takeover would suggest where the problems are coming from.
Similar with the investment choices, GNE won't be actively wanting to keep old buses, they're being forced pretty much.
Not to mention the fact the local management haven't been removed would suggest they're doing a 'good job'. Personally I think it's time we need to start looking further up the chain and in reality whoever you put in charge of GoNorthEast would have the same issues and it's purely down to lack of investment. There's probably a reason why Gilbert bolted at the time he did.
Since their arrival in autumn 2022 and the restructure they brought about, the local leadership has taken various steps to dispatch historic depot-level management in some sort of 'drain the swamp' strategy. One of the three General Managers the current leadership inherited was given his marching orders this time last year, and the Operations Director in the spring. The Operations Director role was sharp filled by one of Featham's prodigies - if I was being cynical, I'd have suggested this was a foregone conclusion and a planned promotion all along. A few long-serving Operations Managers have also been peddled for fairly minor transgressions within the last year. Their overarching strategy seems to be to simply bin those off whose faces don't fit.