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First Bus intends to sell Queens Road bus depot for £11.2 million

Posted: 20 February 2019 | | No comments yet

First Manchester will continue to operate existing local bus services from the Queens Road site until the sale is completed.

depot

First Bus has announced its intention to sell the Queens Road bus depot and operations to the Go-Ahead Group for a consideration of £11.2 million.

The intended sale would include the First Manchester depot site and the bus fleet of approximately 160 vehicles.

The sale is expected to complete in the next few months and employees who work for the Queens Road bus operation will transfer to the Go-Ahead Group with customers seeing no changes to their daily journeys.

Following this, First Manchester will continue to operate from two sites: Oldham and Bolton. These depots and the services that operate from them are unaffected.

This decision follows the recent launch of the OneBus partnership, which proposes 450 new low-emission buses, simplified tickets, a unified brand identity, improved integration with other transport services, joint bus network reviews and better customer information.

Giles Fearnley, Managing Director of First Bus, said: “I’d like to thank our employees for their continued hard work to deliver the best experience possible for our customers in Greater Manchester. This announcement does not reflect on the effort, commitment or individual performance of our Queens Road employees and we will be supporting them fully as they transfer to their new employer. Over the years we have enjoyed a constructive relationship with both the Go-Ahead Group and Transport for Greater Manchester and look forward to working closely with them to ensure this transfer goes ahead as smoothly as possible with minimal impact for our customers.

“We continue to support the OneBus partnership in the city region and believe that a positive partnership between the Mayor, local authorities, businesses, the community and OneBus can help tackle the increasing impact of congestion and deliver a package of improvements which puts customers first and offers good value for both passengers and public investment.”