Bee Line Bull to be dropped from BET
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• Independent Manchester bus firm Bee Line Buzz is to be sold as part of owner BET's plans to get rid of its passenger transport interests. A buyout by management or another bus company — though not city rival GM Buses — looks likely by Christmas.
BET — which owns Bee Line's parent group United Transport — reveals its plans for Bee Line in its annual report, Published last week. United Transport says the company, which runs about 150 minibuses, mostly in the south of Manchester, must be sold as a going concern.
It is performing well and challenging formerly-councilowned GM Buses as the publicly-perceived number one bus company in Manchester, says United Transport. 'The problem now is to find the right buyers," it adds.
Bee Line is BET's only bus interest in Britain: it is selling its other companies in Africa to concentrate on its core activities. United Transport says if BET was not hiving-off its buses it would keep Bee Line.
Bee Line managing director Bob Montgomery says the sale could happen at any time. "It will come when the right price is available. We are in a competitive situation at the moment." He adds that a management buyout is "an option being considered".
Competitor GM Buses claims to be trading in the black, after recording a £1.76 million loss in its first year of deregulated trading. Bee Line admits to having underestimated the commercial pressure on many routes and how aggressive its rivals have been. "There is nowhere we have put buses where there is not a demand for them. There is a sizeable demand in Greater Manchester for minibuses but GM have gone and put them on the same routes," says Montgomery.