Arriva North West - Winsford Depot

[knutstransport]

RE: Arriva North West - Winsford Depot

(24/03/2021 18:01)33109 Wrote:  Chatting with an arriva driver mate I know based at macc today.

He reckons within the next 12 months or so arriva are looking to maybe ditch their operations in macclesfield.

So possible list of companies who maybe interested:

Stagecoach - Apparently ain't bothered being out of their area.

D&G Or High Peak - Either of this pair seem favourite I think to takeover.

Think gradually arriva are looking to wind down certain areas of their UK bus market such as they did with cannock & sold up.

Thoughts anyone???

Right now I think it's all a bit up in the air as a lot will depend on how much if anything cheshire east are willing to subsidise anything if at all.

Depends what 'ditch' means.

Would Arriva try and sell the Macclesfield outstation and it's operations or just close it and let other operators do whatever they want in response?

Would it involve dropping the 38 which runs to Crewe or retaining that route?

Are there any contracted routes involved?

Would operators be interested in part replacements on a commercial basis (a la the High Peak 14 which is a shortened route compared to what it previously was because they could run a shortened journey without needing additional vehicles, over what they would use anyway)?

If operators aren't interested in replacing commercial routes on a commercial basis would Cheshire East put them out to tender or would they look at options for avoiding another contract e.g. a revision of an existing contracted service to be re-routed or extended?

I think High Peak and D&G avoid bidding against each other. High Peak were in Macc first but they've always avoided running late services in Cheshire East. High Peak also handed the 300 over to D&G when they stopped running the 27, despite it not really fitting in with D&G's operating area at the time either.