Arriva North West - Winsford Depot

[K10K11]

RE: Arriva North West - Winsford Depot

(13/03/2023 13:35)knutstransport Wrote:  I don't still have a copy but at one point a Cheshire County Council bus timetable booklet had the 300 Knutsford circular being shown as operated by Arriva Midlands North and 288 Knutsford to Altrincham via Wilmslow shown as operated by Arriva North West. The 300 was operated from Winsford after the Knutsford depot was closed as the regular driver for the morning and early afternoon 300s under Starline transferred to Winsford. I used to see him taking the bus back along the A556 in the afternoons. He was also the one who liked to decorate a bus in Christmas decorations and Arriva allowed him to continue to do so until he retired.

Macclesfield's too confusing for me to comment on in detail. I recall Starline Travel had the 27 route, then it became a North Western route as soon as Starline were taken over (some routes were still shown as Starline in the first instance). Then it became a Stevensons route. I don't know if it was ever an Arriva route, as Bakerbus won the contract tendering in around 1997, at that point it became hourly with 27A journeys, funded by Zeneca. I do recall Stevensons had the 130 route, which presumably meant Arriva Midlands had Manchester in their operating area. I also recall them using deckers on the 130.

My mistake, you are right about the Winsford depot. Apparently it was May 2000 when Winsford was transferred to Arriva Midlands North, presumably to put the 3 Cheshire depots under the same management. It was 2003 when all 3 were transferred to Arriva North West, which would've made more sense anyway as the Cheshire operations were always quite detatched from the rest of the Midlands North operating area.