GO-OP! Cooperative

GOing Forward! GO-OP newsletter spring 2012

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 00:00 -0700

GOing Forward! GO-OP Newsletter Spring 2012

Network Rail

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 00:00 -0700

Recently we have been in communication with Network Rail regarding our preference for a 10 year Track Access Agreement. As members will know, we want to offer up to eight trains each way per day between Westbury and Birmingham, serving Trowbridge, Melksham, Chippenham, Swindon, Oxford, Banbury, Leamington Spa, Warwick and Solihull. Two-hourly clockface departures 06:00 to 20:00 on weekdays, with additional services on Fridays. Hourly departures in peaks; tidal flow from South in morning, returning from the Midlands in the evening. Weekend services to Weymouth in the summer months. We have received a proposal from CSRE Ltd for the supply of trains which meets our technical and financial requirements and has been included in our business plan going forward’ In addition we are tendering to run a Local Sustainable Transport Fund (LSTF) supported service between Salisbury and Westbury. This, combined with the above service, meets Wiltshire County Council’s outputs. The proposed service has been assessed by a reputable independent consultancy as required by the Regulator. What’s next? Supporters have provided us with funds of £400,000 to develop the proposals. We are close to launching our public share offer, at which point we will also be inviting further investment from our members. We will be leasing new rolling stock. The trains will be built overseas, but at least 30% of their value will be UK-sourced, and they will be maintained in the UK, creating new employment. We aim to be signing contracts in June 2012 and the service is planned to commence in the second quarter of 2014. Capital requirements of £3m (mobilisation and capital costs plus working capital) will be raised from a mix of existing investors, financial institutions and bank borrowing. We expect financial performance to be in line with other rail operators, with an average net operating margin of 3–4% over the 10 years. We anticipate being profitable in Trading Year 3 with an average turnover of at least £7 million p.a.

Feedback from 2011 AGM

Tue, 14 Jun 2011 20:51 -0700

At a packed and lively AGM yesterday, Go! Co-operative which has been trading as GOCO for some time now, officially changed its name to GOCO Limited. It retains the co-operative structure, but will now be able to use the brand name GOCO in all its operations – for example GOCO CAR – about to announce the launch of the first car club, in Swindon, later this month. The AGM heard two excellent speakers. Chris Irwin, Chair, TravelWatch SouthWest, and Vice-Chair of the European Passengers' Federation was critical of the high cost of UK rail services, blaming Network Rail’s inability to provide infrastructure cost-effectively, the endemic contract and compensation culture and the general inertia of the UK rail industry as a whole. Chris urged the UK rail industry to take lessons from the Continent where rail costs and consequently passenger fares, are significantly lower. The standing room only meeting also heard from Christian Wolmar, the UK's leading transport commentator, journalist and author of the recent report 'Cooperative Rail, a radical solution'. Christian described the recent McNulty report as a recipe for even more fragmentation and outlined what he saw as three opportunities for co-operatives in the UK rail industry, which would however require government sponsorship and support: 1. Network Rail – currently structured as a Company Limited by Guarantee – but lacking in accountability 2. Co-operative franchises or micro-franchises - Passenger rail operation lends itself well to a mutual or co-operative structure, as it is a high volume business with millions of users and a large workforce 3. Small operating companies running station shops or providing engineering services Asked how the UK rail industry could more closely model itself along continental lines, Chris suggested greater flexibility was required – for example avoiding standardization across the industry under circumstances where it’s clearly wasteful. For example, more flexible bus services when demand is low and increased railway services when demand is higher. Both contributors agreed that a major issue for the UK industry is that while the railways are seen as a commercial business and therefore expected to be profitable, roads are subsidized through taxation and rationed by traffic jam – so in the UK it’s ok to subsidise roads, but not railways! Finally Christian mentioned he is climbing the three highest mountains in the UK, Snowdon, Scafell Pike and Ben Nevis in aid of the Railway Children charity, and welcomes sponsors at Virgin Money Giving: http://bit.ly/k4TI0C

Establishing the Swindon car club

Wed, 04 May 2011 05:40 -0700

There are now approaching 150,000 members of car clubs across the UK with cities, towns and even villages realising the cost, environmental and convenience benefits they offer. Car clubs provide the convenience and cost saving of being able to use cars based in neighbourhoods. They also offer strong savings on carbon through reduced car ownership and promotion of sustainable travel. The first car club in Swindon is well on its way to starting in late spring 2011 under the GO-OP CAR brand, offering local residents and businesses the opportunity of booking a car for an hour or more. Over the last few months, GO-OP has been developing a partnership with Hab Oakus. This is a partnership between Kevin McCloud’s company Hab and housing group GreenSquare. Hab Oakus is developing The Triangle, a high-quality sustainable 42-home development, one mile north of Swindon rail station. As part of the development there will be the provision of a car club to its residents and those living nearby. The car club at The Triangle will be the catalyst for the start of the Swindon car club. "We're very pleased to be working with GO-OP on this vital community-based initiative," said Kevin McCloud. "Car clubs are a fantastic means of allowing people to save money and fuel whilst enjoying the benefits of car ownership." As soon as the first residents move into The Triangle, a car club will be in place, initially with two cars. From this base a car club will be developed into other parts of Swindon. To help accelerate growth and impact, a current priority is to establish a strong business base through use of a high quality technical partner (to provide online bookings and walk-up car activation) and investor partners such as Swindon Borough Council and a car-based sponsor. More information on car clubs across the United Kingdom is available at www.carplus.org.uk

Update on Mid Hants Link rail service

Fri, 08 Apr 2011 05:55 -0700

GO! Co-operative Limited - trading as GO-OP - a multi-stakeholder sustainable travel co-operative, has announced plans to reschedule its postponed ‘low carbon’ local rail service in Hampshire. GO-OP is in on-going negotiations with partners including Hampshire County Council and Mid Hants Railway, and with their continued support, plans to reschedule the resumption of the service later in 2011. The Mid Hants Link was originally scheduled to proceed in January 2011 but was delayed due to technical issues affecting the lightweight railcar. The railcar suffered damage to its electrical system in transit and as testing began, a hydrostatic pump suffered a catastrophic failure which could not be repaired within an acceptable timeframe. Chris Phillimore of GO-OP said: “Reluctantly and understandably, GO-OP and our partners took the decision to suspend the poject until the technical issues with the railcar could be fully resolved and we could offer a reliable service. We remain even more determined to develop Ultra Light Rail projects in the United Kingdom. The knowledge and expertise we have gained in developing and promoting the Mid Hants Link has made us even more convinced of the business case for Ultra Light Rail, based on co-operative principles.” In addition to seeking to operate the Mid Hants Link service later in 2011, GO-OP is now exploring opportunities to work with other partners across the UK. Through the work undertaken with the Mid Hants Link, other similar Ultra Light Rail projects have emerged and GO-OP is reviewing the various opportunities on offer.

Annual General Meeting of Go! Co-operative

Wed, 06 Apr 2011 06:30 -0700

The Annual General Meeting of Go! Co-operative will be held on 8 June 2011 at: The GreenHouse, Hereford Street Bristol BS3 4NA (click here for map) Tel: 0117 923 1800 The meeting will start at 2pm, with a buffet lunch available from 1.30. We are delighted to confirm that our keynote speakers will be Chris Irwin, Chair, TravelWatch SouthWest and Christian Wolmar, the UK's leading transport commentator, journalist and author of the recent report 'Cooperative Rail, a radical solution'. For more details, please contact kate.whittle@goco.coop

GO-OP Mid Hants Link rail trial to be postponed

Mon, 24 Jan 2011 13:57 -0700

PRESS STATEMENT 24 JANUARY 2011 GO-OP Mid Hants Link rail trial to be postponed GO! Co-operative Limited trading as GO-OP, a multi-stakeholder sustainable travel co-operative, has announced that the trial period for its Mid Hants Link rail service – originally scheduled to begin on 24 January 2011 – is now postponed until further notice. Following technical issues encountered during the testing programme, it has not been possible to repair the vehicle ahead of the scheduled launch of the public service. Work will continue to address the technical issues with the existing vehicle and during this time, alternative options for a replacement vehicle will also be considered. Chris Phillimore, Business Development Director for GO-OP, said: "We have been very heartened by the overwhelmingly positive response to the concept of the service and feel more confident about its long term success than even when we began planning six months ago. We are committed to providing a reliable high-quality service and will not commence operations with any type of vehicle until we can be satisfied that this can be delivered. We are confident that a suitable solution can be identified and that the trial will go ahead in the very near future." Further announcements will be made when the technical issues have been resolved or an alternative vehicle has been sourced. Posters will be distributed and GO-OP staff will be present at Alton and Medstead & Four Marks stations on Monday 24 January 2011 to inform any passengers of the postponement of the trial service.

Mid Hants Link update

Wed, 19 Jan 2011 08:10 -0700

GO! Co-operative Limited trading as GO-OP, a multi-stakeholder sustainable travel co-operative, has today announced that for technical reasons, the company has been unable to complete the planned testing programme as scheduled before placing the vehicle into public service. GO-OP is committed to providing high quality public service and will not commence the trial until it is completely satisfied that it can deliver a reliable operation. The company expects that the service will now commence on 31 January and this will be confirmed at least a week in advance. Chris Phillimore, Business Development Director for GO-OP, added: “To date, GO-OP has received an overwhelmingly positive response to the proposed service. There has been significant interest from the public and pending the early resolution of these short-term technical issues, we remain committed to delivering a high quality rail service for customers of the Mid Hants Link.”

GO-OP Mid Hants Link launch

Fri, 14 Jan 2011 04:03 -0700

GO! Co-operative Limited trading as GO-OP, a multi-stakeholder sustainable travel co-operative, has announced that it is to trial a unique ‘low carbon’ local rail service in Hampshire this month. It will be the first time that a co-operative has operated a rail service in the UK. Click HERE for more details.

January 2011 newsletter

Mon, 10 Jan 2011 00:12 -0700

Read all the latest news and start of the GOCO Mid Hants Link in the January 2011 newsletter.

Update December 2010

Tue, 30 Nov 2010 04:26 -0700

Go! supporters will be keen to know what has been happening behind the scenes at Go! since our successful launches back in the spring of 2010. Earlier this year we commissioned industry experts AECOM to carry out a marketing exercise to establish the level of demand for our first route, which we identified as Yeovil to Oxford via various station stops including Swindon. On the basis of this research we have been carrying out negotiations with Network Rail and the office of the Rail Regulator. We expect to launch the rail service in December 2011. We have developed a business plan for the car club section of our business, and we anticipate launching the first car club in Swindon in March 2011. The Go! team have been busy deciding on a new name and logo (for trading reasons we are unable to use the single word Go and exclamation mark in our name) - and we aim to relaunch the web site with the new name and logo in early 2011. The name we will be trading under is GOCO (with sub-brands GOCO-train, GOCO-car and GOCO-bus). Look out for our Winter newsletter to be published mid December!

Go! Launches in Yeovil, Trowbridge, Swindon & Oxford a great success

Mon, 26 Apr 2010 04:40 -0700

Four packed launch events heard details of Go!'s proposed first route as well as the associated bus services and car clubs which we aim to set up. CEO Keith Vingoe and Business Development and Operations Manager Chris Phillimore gave a detailed overview of where and how the services will be operated, whilst Go! Secretary Kate Whittle described the co-operative structure and how people can become members. Kate explained the two-tier membership structure, in which you can become a user-member for as little as £100 (payable in instalments) or an investor (non-user) member, for which the minimum investment is £500. See our Spring 2010 Offer Document for more information. You can become a member! Click here to download the Spring 2010 Offer Document, complete the application form and post to us with your cheque.

Go! Co-op FAQs

Wed, 14 Apr 2010 07:58 -0700

Some answers to the many questions we've been asked recently. Click here to download a Go! Co-op FAQs sheet.