Arriva North West - Birkenhead Depot

[B10B6514]

RE: Arriva North West - Birkenhead Depot

(07/09/2017 18:49)Barney Wrote:  When Arriva took over from MTL, apart from the Crossriver Olympians, Birkenhead was mainly single deck allocation as was most of Arriva Merseyside depots. It took a long time for the management to accept that single deck operation - though a cheaper option - was totally unsuitable for a major conurbation.

On this side of the Mersey the two routes that traverse Queens Drive (60, 81) were single deck operation and it was only when the head teachers of the several secondary schools that these routes served complained to the TC that there students were unable to get to to school was there a policy change by Arriva. Even now the situation is not completely resolved as the '15 plate Enviro400's that were initially purchased for the 52/52A are invariably to be found on the 60 during term time.

On the contrary my friend Birkenhead was PREDOMINANTLY double deck with Leyland Olmpians, Volvo Ailsas and copioius amounts of Leyland Atlanteans back in 2000. Single decks were in the minority with DAF Ikaruses and Volvo B6 Pointers.
It was the only depot not to receive any B10B Endurances new.
The mostly single deck era was from 2001 onwards when Arriva withdrew the majority of double decks from the fleet and brought in a swathe of Dennis Darts.