Rotala - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

For the aquatic plant, see Rotala (genus)
Rotala (genus)
Rotala is a genus of plants in the loosestrife family. Several species are used as aquarium plants.Species include:*Rotala densiflora*Rotala hippuris*Rotala indica*Rotala ramosior*Rotala rotundifolia-External links:*...

.

Rotala is an Alternative Investment Market

Alternative Investment Market

AIM is a sub-market of the London Stock Exchange, allowing smaller companies to float shares with a more flexible regulatory system than is applicable to the main market....

listed company, which owns a variety of UK

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

transport operators.

Rotala was set up in 2005, with the main intention of acquiring or gaining majority interest in businesses within a number of areas.

Surrey Connect

Rotala's first acquisition was of Surrey Connect in 2005, when Centra

Centra (bus company)

Centra was one of many operators of London Buses. They were the transport division of Central Parking Systems of UK Limited who acquired the assets of Wimco Group Coaches Limited in August 2004...

decided to sell the Addlestone

Addlestone

Addlestone is a town in the borough of Runnymede in the county of Surrey, England.Immediate surrounding towns and villages include Weybridge, Ottershaw, Chertsey, and New Haw. It is near Junction 11 of the M25 motorway and is served by Addlestone railway station on the Chertsey Branch Line. It also...

, Surrey

Surrey

Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...

operation. The business was actually purchased by Flights Hallmark

Flights Hallmark

Flights Hallmark is a luxury coach and corporate cars business, which is part of the Rotala group. It is based in the English Midlands and has depots around the country, including one at Heathrow Airport.- History :...

, which is part of Rotala (see below). Surrey Connect developed and continued to grow and won contracts for a number of Surrey County Council

Surrey County Council

Surrey County Council is the county council that governs the non-metropolitan county of Surrey in England. The council is composed of 80 elected councillors.The council is controlled by the Conservative party.The leader of the council is David Hodge....

tendered routes. Rotala sold the company in early 2007, to focus on the other bus companies. Wiltax took over the majority of the services and three buses, and Travel Surrey

Travel Surrey

Travel Surrey was a bus operator in Surrey which was originally a subsidiary of the National Express Group. It was given its own brand name from 1 September 2007. In May 2009, the company, along with Travel London, was sold to NedRailways...

two routes and the five buses branded for that service. The rest of the vehicles moved around Rotala. Two services are still branded as Surrey Connect, but run from Flights Hallmark

Flights Hallmark

's Heathrow

London Heathrow Airport

London Heathrow Airport or Heathrow , in the London Borough of Hillingdon, is the busiest airport in the United Kingdom and the third busiest airport in the world in terms of total passenger traffic, handling more international passengers than any other airport around the globe...

depot.
Surrey Connect was formed in 2005, when Rotala

Rotala

Rotala is an Alternative Investment Market listed company, which owns a variety of UK transport operators.Rotala was set up in 2005, with the main intention of acquiring or gaining majority interest in businesses within a number of areas.-Surrey Connect:...

purchased the Addlestone

Addlestone

, Surrey

Surrey

operations of Centra

Centra (bus company)

Centra was one of many operators of London Buses. They were the transport division of Central Parking Systems of UK Limited who acquired the assets of Wimco Group Coaches Limited in August 2004...

. They operated a number of tendered routes for Surrey County Council

Surrey County Council

, the main ones being the 400 (Staines

Staines

Staines is a Thames-side town in the Spelthorne borough of Surrey and Greater London Urban Area, as well as the London Commuter Belt of South East England. It is a suburban development within the western bounds of the M25 motorway and located 17 miles west south-west of Charing Cross in...

- Shepperton

Shepperton

Shepperton is a town in the borough of Spelthorne, Surrey, England. To the south it is bounded by the river Thames at Desborough Island and is bisected by the M3 motorway...

), 426/446 (Staines

Staines

- Woking

Woking

Woking is a large town and civil parish that shares its name with the surrounding local government district, located in the west of Surrey, UK. It is part of the Greater London Urban Area and the London commuter belt, with frequent trains and a journey time of 24 minutes to Waterloo station....

) and 472 (Woking

Woking

- Byfleet

Byfleet

Byfleet is an inland island village forming a suburb of Woking in Surrey, England. It is in the east of the borough between the River Wey and the River Mole, and is within the M25 motorway....

). They also operated a number of other less frequent and schools routes. In June 2007, the operations were partly sold to Wiltax, who were (and still are) based next door. Routes were transferred to Wiltax, along with three buses; the others were transferred to other parts of Connect Buses. The exceptions were that routes 426/446 were taken over by Travel London (West)

Travel London

Travel London was a bus operator in London which was originally a subsidiary of the National Express Group. In May 2009 the company was sold to NedRailways, now called Abellio...

, now Travel Surrey

Travel Surrey

, which also acquired the fleet of buses branded for the service. Route 540 (Woldingham

Woldingham

Woldingham is a village and civil parish in Surrey located above sea level just within the M25, southeast of London. Situated high on the North Downs between Oxted and Warlingham, it is a village of 2,326 inhabitants...

- Redhill

Redhill, Surrey

Redhill is a town in the borough of Reigate and Banstead, Surrey, England and is part of the London commuter belt. Redhill and the adjacent town of Reigate form a single urban area.-History:...

- East Surrey Hospital) are still run with Surrey Connect branding, but from the Heathrow Depot of the Flights Hallmark

Flights Hallmark

part of Rotala

Rotala

. This route is now run by Metrobus

Central Connect

The second acquisition was of Zak's

Zak's (bus company)

Zak's Bus and Coach Services was founded in Great Barr by Kevin Fazakarley, a former taxi operator, in 1978, following a brief venture into the operation of Spanish express coach holidays...

of Birmingham

Birmingham

Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...

in 2006. The company was renamed Central Connect. North Birmingham Busways

North Birmingham Busways

North Birmingham Busways was a small bus operator established in the mid 1990s, and based near Erdington, in Birmingham. Its services operated throughout North Birmingham, using, in the main, a distinctive livery of green and cream....

and Birmingham Motor Traction

Birmingham Motor Traction

Birmingham Motor Traction was a bus company that operated a number of services in Birmingham, England.It operated a fleet of varied buses, mostly Dennis Darts in a dark blue and white livery, although many buses ran in dealer all-white...

followed in 2007, and were both put under Central Connect management.

2008 Developments

In January 2008, Rotala completed the deal to take over Ludlows, Halesowen

Halesowen

Halesowen is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, in the West Midlands, England.The population, as measured by the United Kingdom Census 2001, was 55,273...

. It is now part of Central Connect.

In March 2008, Rotala purchased Go West Midlands

Go West Midlands

Go West Midlands was a bus company based in Birmingham in the United Kingdom. It was owned by Go-Ahead Group and was formed through Go-Ahead buying Probus Management Limited and Birmingham Coach Company and merging the two...

from the Go-Ahead Group

Go-Ahead Group

The Go-Ahead Group plc is a rail and bus operating company that was created following the privatisation of the UK's train and bus industries. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.-Early history:...

. This was renamed Diamond Bus

Diamond Bus

Diamond is a bus operator in the West Midlands, formed in 1986 as The Birmingham Coach Company.-Birmingham Coach Company:The company was created in 1986 as the Birmingham Coach Company operating a single route, 16, in competition with West Midlands Travel....

, and is operated as part of Central Connect, and provides them with a strong foothold in the Birmingham bus market.

Preston Bus

On 25 January 2011, Rotala agreed to buy Preston Bus

Preston Bus

Preston Bus is a bus operator running within the city of Preston, England and into the surrounding area. In 2009, it was acquired by the Stagecoach Group and was rebranded Stagecoach in Preston, before they were subsequently ordered to sell the company as a result of competition concerns...

from Stagecoach Group

Stagecoach Group

Stagecoach Group plc is an international transport group operating buses, trains, trams, express coaches and ferries. The group was founded in 1980 by the current chairman, Sir Brian Souter, his sister, Ann Gloag, and her former husband Robin...

for £3.2 million, after the Competition Commission ruled that Stagecoach had to sell the company. The deal includes 85 buses, 240 employees and a depot, with Rotala pledging to keep the Preston Bus identity and invest in fleet modernisation.

Preston Bus is a bus operator running within the city of Preston, England and into the surrounding area. In 2009, it was acquired by the Stagecoach Group and was rebranded Stagecoach in Preston, before they were subsequently ordered to sell the company as a result of competition concerns. As part of the Competition Commission findings into the takeover, Preston Bus was managed separately from the main Stagecoach business, pending possible divestment to a third party company later in the year. On 25 January 2011, it was revealed that Stagecoach had sold Preston Bus to Rotala. The takeover sees the company moving into North West England operations for the first time.

Wessex Connect

Wessex Connect was founded in Bristol by Rotala, through its subsidiary company Flights Hallmark, to provide Bristol City Council and South Gloucestershire Council with an alternative to the near monopoly currently held in the city by FirstGroup....

was founded in Bristol

Bristol

Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...

in 2007 through the Flights Hallmark subsidiary after winning the contract to provide two Bristol City Council Park and Ride

Park and ride

Park and ride facilities are car parks with connections to public transport that allow commuters and other people wishing to travel into city centres to leave their vehicles and transfer to a bus, rail system , or carpool for the rest of their trip...

services. Around 68 buses were taken over through the purchase of South Gloucestershire Bus & Coach

South Gloucestershire Bus & Coach

SGBC Ltd t/a South Gloucestershire Bus & Coach operate a number of bus services in the Bristol area. The majority of their bus services are school routes operated on behalf of South Gloucestershire Council, Bristol City Council and the Cabot Learning Federation, as well as a number of National...

in late 2007.

Coaches

Rotala acquired the Flights Hallmark

Flights Hallmark

Group in 2006, comprising a number of coach and chauffeur drive businesses, as well as some shuttle bus services. It is based in the Midlands

English Midlands

The Midlands, or the English Midlands, is the traditional name for the area comprising central England that broadly corresponds to the early medieval Kingdom of Mercia. It borders Southern England, Northern England, East Anglia and Wales. Its largest city is Birmingham, and it was an important...

, and has depots around the country, including one at Heathrow Airport

London Heathrow Airport

Transportation Management

Rotala has not yet acquired any companies under this category, but includes Wessex Connect's Bristol

Bristol

park and ride

Park and ride

service as part of it.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Surrey Connect

Central Connect

2008 Developments

Preston Bus

Wessex Connect

Coaches

Transportation Management

See also

External links