Arriva North West - Bolton Depot

[K101HUM]

RE: Arriva North West - Bolton Depot
The DLA's being made redundant from Birkenhead and Wrexham should be set to replace the Olympian's at Bolton. By my reckoning across the region, the step entrance deckers which remain on fleet strength comprise a total of 25, consisting of:
BN - 3317, 3362-5, 3614, 3615
WN - 3311, 3330, 3331, 3334, 3346, 3349 (excluding the already withdrawn 3360)
SP - 3309, 3310, 3312, 3319, 3336
SL - 3313, 3332
BA - 3347, 3355, 3356, 3357, 3359

As we can count on 4000-2 replacing 3 of the 5 Olympian's in the school fleet at Southport, that leaves 22 to be replaced with an expected 13 DLA's to be made redundant upon the entering to service of the B5L's and Sapphire Enviro400's respectively. Assuming the displaced Enviros of 4411 onward at Birkenhead find their way to Speke too, that should see the end of Speke's pair of R-WVR's. That still leaves a shortfall of 7 unless 4059, 4061 and 4073 are given their reprieve's (unlikely in the case of 4059, sadly) meaning the maximum number of like-for-like replacements can be 15, leaving 5 to be replaced should 4061 and 4063 recieve their much needed repairs.

It could be sensible to leave those 5 at Bangor, which I believe is likely to happen as the P-MKL's are low height and therefore required for the bridges in the area, meaning similarly low height vehicles It may also make sense to leave 3614 and 3615 in the fleet until replacements are found, being DAF DB250's. However, seeing as some of their sister vehicles have already departed for further service in the North East, this pair could similarly follow suit.