Arriva planned closures of depots

[SF07]

Arriva have announced that they're proposing to close three loss-making depots in the North West and Midlands and are now consulting with staff about the future of the depots/services.

Arriva North West are planning to close depots in Winsford and Macclesfield, effectively meaning that Arriva will stop running services in Cheshire by withdrawing services in areas like Crewe, Macclesfield, Nantwich, Northwich and Winsford. Services in Chester (operated by Arriva Wales) and in Warrington/Halton (operated by Arriva Merseyside) would remain unchanged. There is currently no date as to if/when the depots would close. The planned closure will effectively reduce Arriva's North West operations to Merseyside and Chester plus south Manchester for another 18 months, as the Bolton depot services will pass onto the Bee Network in September 2023, while Wythenshawe depot will pass onto Bee Network in January 2025.

Meanwhile, Arriva Midlands' Oswestry depot is also proposed to be closed. However, the majority of services from that depot will be transferred either to Arriva Midlands' Shrewsbury depot or Arriva Wales' Wrexham depot (2/2A/2C service between Wrexham and Oswestry). Some contracted/school services operated by Arriva would stop and transfer to alternative operators, possibly from May 2023.

www.arrivabus.co.uk/latest-news/north-west-depots
www.arrivabus.co.uk/latest-news/oswestry-depot

[MetrolineGA1511]

I have seen a report that Winsford and Macclesfield will close over the weekend of April 22nd/23rd.

D&G have registered replacement services on routes 31 & 37 in Crewe and apparently also route 84, which has also gained a registration from Stagecoach.

Maybe more registrations will follow in due course.