Go-Ahead bids for Plymouth bus service

Nov 24 2009 by Iain Laing, The Journal

TRANSPORT group Go-Ahead has tabled a £20m bid for a bus service in Plymouth as the Newcastle company tries to strengthen the nationwide reach of its business.

The company said it had made the offer for Plymouth City Bus (PCB) after being named as the preferred bidder by the city’s council. PCB operates a fleet of 173 buses and 11 coaches and carries around 14 million passengers a year in a network around the area.

The bus operator, which is currently owned by Plymouth City Council, took £17.6m in revenues in the financial year to March 31 and employs around 485 staff.

Completion of the deal is subject to full council approval, expected at the end of this month. Go-Ahead operates around 3,500 buses carrying an average 1.6 million passengers every day in London and the South East, the North-East and Oxford.

In recent months the firm has increased its business in the south, with an acquisition of Arriva’s bus interests in Horsham, with services to Sussex, Surrey and Kent.

It also bought East Thames Buses from Transport for London in July.

The firm, which employs around 27,000 people across the country, also operates the Southern, Southeastern and London Midland rail franchises.

In September, Go Ahead said it does not expect any “significant“ growth in its rail business during the year to June 2010.

But it does expect its bus division to remain robust this year - helped by lower fuel costs and acquisitions - although slightly below the previous year’s record results.