First Devon and Cornwall wins tenders

First wins Cornwall tenders In a surprise reverse of its fortunes, First Devon & Cornwall has achieved significant success in a re-tendering exercise by
Cornwall County Council, winning contracts for 13 routes - of which 12 are currently held by competitor Western Greyhound. First says that it will draft in “over 20 buses” to Cornwall, and “create a number” of new driving positions. In contrast, as a result Western Greyhound will have to shed a number of vehicles and staff. Details had not been confirmed as routeone closed for press.

All good news for me!!!!! I start back on the 19th

From 1 April First will take over routes 445, 500, 511, 516, 534, 535, 537, 538, 540, 542, 543, 576 and 582 (evenings and Sundays).
Also, First has retained contracts for evening and Sunday journeys on routes: 2, 5/6 (fully tendered), 10/10A, 14/18, 17, 38 (fully tendered), 39
(fully tendered), 41, 68, 81C and 300. Marc Reddy, Regional Commercial and Business Growth Director for First in the South West and Wales, says: “We
are thrilled to have won this additional work. “Things in Cornwall have been tough as there was a lot of uncertainty about the level of bus service provision following the Council’s spending cuts and the review of concessionary fare reimbursement. “However these contract wins are a welcome boost for both the business itself and our staff in the region.

It seems most of wins come from western greyhound, but there eve and Sunday work. Western has lost few daytime services.

First have drafted in cast off for some of the new work.

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Following the successful award of a number of tenders to First by Cornwall Council we are pleased to announce a number of improvements to the network operated by First in Cornwall. There are also a number of other changes to First services in Cornwall which have been made as a result of changes to funding arrangements in the County.

1 (Penzance to Lands End):
The Monday to Saturday daytime timetable is unchanged.
The additional summer evening tendered journeys 1850 and 2150 from Penzance and the respective return journeys and the winter Sunday timetable will be operated by an alternative operator.

2 (Penzance to Falmouth via Helston) and 2A (Penzance to Truro via Helston, Stithians and Perranwell):
The Monday to Saturday daytime timetable is unchanged.

Additional evening and Sunday journeys will operate as from 1st April as Service 2A between Truro Railway Station and Helston.

Service 2A will operate additional journeys from Truro Railway Station to Helston via Truro Bus Station and Stithians at 1910 and 2110 Return journeys operate from Helston at 1955 and 2111.

In addition there is a 2 hourly Sunday daytime service. These journeys currently operate as 582 - these have been won on local authority tender from an alternative operator.
Service 2B is withdrawn for the winter, but will be replaced by service 302 for the summer (see service below).

5 & 6 (Penzance to Gwavas/Mousehole via Newlyn):
Prior to 0900 and after 1500 Monday to Friday some service 5 and 6 journeys have been withdrawn and replaced with journeys operated as Service 5A serving both Newlyn, Moushole and Gwavas Estate.

The current journeys that operate from Penzance at 0635 and 0650 will be replaced by a service 5A at 0635 and 0655. The 0705 service 5 will operate 5 minutes later. The 0735 service 5 will operate 5 minutes earlier and run as a 5A. The 0745/0750 service 6 will be removed. The 0805 journey will be retimed to 0800 and run as a service 5A. The 0850 service 5 will run on College Holidays and Saturdays only

Afternoon journeys at 1635 and 1650 will run as service 5A at 1635 and 6A at 1655 respectively. The 1705 service 6 will no longer operate. The 1735 service 6 will operate at 1730 as a service 5A.The 1750 service 6 will operate 5 minutes later at 1755 as a service 6A. The 1815 service 6 at 1815 will run 20 minutes later at 1835

10 (St. Just to Penzance):
No Change to the service or timetable

11 (Penzance to Treneere):
New service to Penzance Manor Way every hour during the day.
This service will be operated under contact to Cornwall Council and was previously operated as service 511.

14 (Truro to St Ives via Camborne)
No Change to the service or timetable

14, 18 (Truro to Camborne via Redruth):
No Change to the service or timetable


16 (Penzance to St, Ives via Halsetown):
New service operating from Penzance to St Ives via Gulval and Penbeagle every hour during the day.
This service will be operated under contact to Cornwall Council and was previously operated as service 516.

17 (Penzance to St. Ives via St. Erth):
Service unchanged. This service will change in May to serve St Ives Holiday Village for the summer period.

18 (Truro to Penzance via Camborne):
No Change to the service or timetable

X18/19 ( Penzance to Truro/Camborne via Hayle):
No Change to the service or timetable

26 (St. Austell to Mevagissey):
Following a review of passenger numbers, we regret to inform our customers that this service will be withdrawn as from 1st April. We would like to thank all of our customers fro travelling with First.

27 (Par to Royal Cornwall Hospital via St. Austell and Truro):
No Change to the service or timetable

34 (Redruth to Helston):
The majority of the timetable remains unchanged. We are pleased to announce the introduction of a 2 hourly Sunday service operated under contract to Cornwall Council. Most journeys on services 34 and 37 will now provide through journeys from the Lizard to Redruth using the same bus.

Changes apply to the 0935 CD journey from Redruth will run at 0915. The 1645 College ay journey from Cornwall College will not operate via Redruth Station. And the 1815 departure from Redruth will run 5 minutes later at 1820.

35 (Helston to Falmouth via Constantine):
New two hourly service, operating between Helston and Falmouth with journeys every hour to Helford Passage.

This service will be operated under contact to Cornwall Council and was previously operated as service 535.

36 (Helston to Coverack and St. Keverne):
New service, operating every two hours between Helston and Coverack/St Keverne, via Mawgan. This service operates Monday to Saturday only. This service is operated under contact to Cornwall Council and was previously operated as service 538.

37 (Helston to The Lizard):
New service, operating hourly, Monday to Saturday, between Helston and The Lizard via Mullion. The service operates every 2 hours on Sundays and Public Holidays.

This service connects with service 34 at Helston to provide a through service, with most journeys using the same vehicle.

This service is operated under contact to Cornwall Council and was previously operated as service 537.

38 (Helston Town Service):
No Change to the service or timetable

39 (Helston to Camborne):
No Change to the service or timetable

40 (Truro to Redruth via St. Day):
New service, operating every 2 hours between Truro and Redruth via Threemilestone, Polstain Road and Lanner.

This service follows the same route as the 14B on evening and Sunday journeys
On Schooldays the 0740 from Redruth Station provides links to Richard Lander School and Truro School.

Most journeys will continue to Camborne via Illogan from Redruth
This service is operated under contact to Cornwall Council and was previously operated as service 540.

40/42 (Redruth to Camborne via Tolvaddon):
New service, operating Monday to Saturday, between Redruth and Camborne every 30 minutes.

Service 40 operates via North Country and Park Bottom, while service 42 operates via Barncoose Terrace, Treloweth and Pool Tesco Extra.
Certain journeys on service 40 continue to Truro, via Lanner from Redruth
For evening and Sunday service see service 43
This service is operated under contact to Cornwall Council and was previously operated as service 540/542

41 (Troon to Falmouth via Camborne and Redruth):
No Change to the service or timetable

43 (Camborne to Truro via Portreath Redruth and Perranwell):
New hourly service operating from Camborne to Truro via Porthreath, Illogan, Redruth, Frogpool and Perranwell.
This service operates Monday to Saturday with an evening and Sunday service between Camborne Illogan and Redruth.
This service is operated under contact to Cornwall Council and was previously operated as service 543.

45 (Redruth to Helston via Camborne):
New hourly service between Praze an Peeble, Camborne and Pool Tesco extra.
During peak periods, this service is extended to Treliegh Industrial Estate. Between these journeys the service is extended to Helston via Nancegollan.
This service is operated under contact to Cornwall Council and was previously operated as service 445.

68/68A (Tremough to Longfield/Trescobeas via Falmouth):
This service has been revised to operate between Falmouth, Penryn and Penryn ASDA. This service will no longer operate via CUC Tremough or Mabe Burnthouse.
Within Falmouth service 68 will operate a clockwise route from The Moor, serving Golden Bank, Longfield, Trecobeas and The Moor. Service 68A will operate anticlockwise and from The Moor is extended to Penryn and ASDA
Evenings and Sundays remain unchanged and are operated on behalf of Cornwall Council.

76 (Plymouth to Bude via Callington and Launceston):
Plymouth to Callington continues to run every hour on a revised timetable. Journeys from Callington retimed to 5 minutes past each hour and most journeys from Plymouth retimed to 25 minutes past each hour.
Journeys extended to/from Bude approximately every 2 hours.
Section of route between Launceston " Bude is operated on behalf of Cornwall Council and was previously operated as service 576

81/81A/81C (Plymouth to Insworke via Torpoint):
The timetable for this service has been revised in order to take into account the changes to the ferry timetable on Fridays and the outcome of the Cornwall Council tendering process.

Service 81C will now only operate as far as Insworke Quay with 4 journeys operating via Crafhole and Sheviock to provide links to Plymouth. Most journeys from Insworke will operate as a through service to Plymouth using the same vehicle.

The section of route between Plymouth City Centre, Peverell and Derriford is withdrawn. Passengers using this section of route will need to changes buses and use service 15 or 83 (Peverell)/84/86.

The timetable on Sundays has been revised to offer better reliability and capacity at busy times.

First will continue to provide the journey from Insworke to Torpoint School, all other school journeys will be provided by alternative operators.

Section of route between Torpoint and Insworke, Monday to Saturdays, is operated under contract to Cornwall Council

83, 84 (Truro City Services):
The 1610 journey from Truro to Malpas village is withdrawn, and the 1720 from Truro is retimed 5 minutes earlier, and is extended to Malpas Village.

85, 85A (Truro to St. Agnes):
Unfortunately due to poor passenger loadings, some journeys operating on this service have been withdrawn or retimed.

The 0710 from Perranporth to Penair School has been withdrawn, customers wishing to travel to Penair School from Truro City Centre can use new service 43. The 1515 from Penair School to Perranporth has also been withdrawn, customers travelling to Truro City Centre can use new service 43.

The 0948 and 1757 journeys from St Agnes are also withdrawn due to poor passenger loadings. The 1810 departure from Truro to St Agnes has also been withdrawn

The following journeys from St Agnes have been re-timed: 0929 (85) to 0937, 1722 (85A) to 1717 College Holidays and Saturdays only & 1849 (85A) to 1827 as a service 85.

From Truro the following journeys are re-timed: 0840 (85) to 0900, 1535 (85A) SSH to 1540 College Holidays and Saturday, the 1720 (85A) is re-timed to 1750. The journey at 1640 becomes College Holidays and Saturdays

88, 88A (Falmouth to Tremough via Penryn, Falmouth to Truro via Tremough and Falmouth to Newquay via Truro):
No Change to the service or timetable

101 (St. Austell to Eden):
No Change to the service or timetable

300 (Penzance Circular via St. Ives and Lands End):
This service will commence on Good Friday and continue until September 30th.
From 27th May to the 1 September there will be a frequency increase to every 2 hours

302 (Penzance to Praa Sands):
This is a new Summer only service to replace Service 2B. This service will operate between the beginning of June and the end of September only.

500 (Truro to Maenporth/Helford Passage via Falmouth):
New service operating 2 hourly between Truro and Falmouth, extended off peak to Maenporth or Helford Passage.
This service will operate during the summer period on Sundays in addition to the Monday to Saturday timetable
This service is operated under contract to Cornwall Council.

I thought First got rid of Devon and Cornwall, or am I thinking of somewhere else?

They got rid of a chunk of the north bit to Stagecoach BUT, they have just announced more places are either for sale or the chop. Quite frankly I think First are in it up to their neck, and they are doing this to keep the wolves from the door.

I wouldn't be surprised if some more of East Anglia was for the chop.