Rossendale Buses - The End of an Era
Firstly Happy New Year to all readers, 2018 is already off to flyer with lots of interesting bits going on.
So without further a do, it's become apparent that council-owned Rossendale Buses more recently known as Rosso will be sold on to the Transdev Blazefield Group in a deal promised to bring in around £3 Million investment into the operational fleet during the first financial year. It is led to believe that the deal is finalised and operations will transfer this coming Friday 12th January 2018.
Wright Streetlite-DF 306 SK66HRM is one of a batch of 6 new to Rosso in September 2016. They are primarily used on Routes 467 and 468 between Bury and Rochdale. 306 is seen loading up at Rochdale Interchange a couple of months after entering service.
Rossendale Council have yet to disclose a figure for what the take-over is worth. However the Transdev Blazefield Group have agreed to keep the company brand as well as bringing new local identities to it's network in and around Greater Manchester and Lancashire. Transdev are significantly well known for investment with multi-million orders over the last couple of years to modernise it's current operations within Lancashire and Yorkshire. The take-over of Rosso will allow them to develop their current services within Greater Manchester this will more than likely boost the current operations of their 3 express routes into the City Centre, the Red Express, Witchway and newly introduced Cityzap. From a business side of things it is a great capture by both sides with Transdev being a highly successful company within the areas it currently operates, I personally feel their is no better conglomerate for the council to pass operations onto.
Prior to investment in 2016, the above batch of 2009 built Volvo B7RLE Wright Eclipse 2s were the last buses bought new. However some newer buses were purchased second hand. 218 PO59MMA is seen in Ramsbottom working service 484 to Bury during 2012.
What is interesting is that numerous vehicles acquired from Transdev will at least temporarily pass back into their operational fleet. These include a batch of 2007 built Volvo B7RLE Wright Eclipse's and a batch of 2008 built Volvo B9TL Wright Gemini's, the latter were only acquired during 2017.
Volvo B9TL Wright Gemini 154 FJ08BYN seen at Rochdale Interchange. This bus was new to the Transdev Blazefield Group for it's Yorkshire Coastliner services back in 2008.
The initial transfer of Rosso operations to the Transdev Blazefield Group will include around 100 vehicles, it's entire staff as well as the current depot facilities in Haslingden, however it is expected this is only to be in the short term with some routes to be operated from Transdev's Burnley and Blackburn premises.
A 2017 built Optare Versa, 249 YJ17FWM is one of around 90 new buses introduced by Transdev since 2016, It's expected to see some of these operating on the Rosso network later this year.
More information shall be added once the takeover is completed, more facts and figures as well as details regarding transferring of vehicles, so be sure to check back soon!