LONG TERM FUNDING

COMMENT with JAMES DAY

Among the routes that Arriva North West intends to give up when it closes its depots in Winsford and Macclesfield is the 38 between Macclesfield and Crewe, on which Wright Gemini 2DL 4491 (MX61 AUR) was operating in Congleton bus station.
ANDY HAMER

More and more news is being released about how the various beneficiaries of successful Bus Service Improvement Plans (BSIPs) are going to spend their money. You will find several news stories on the subject on pages 8 and 9 of this magazine.

What you’ll also notice on that spread is the announcement of three depot closures by Arriva – Oswestry, Macclesfield and Winsford. All three are said to be loss making and, as Arriva points out, all three are in regions which did not receive funding for their submitted BSIPs. Arriva said this had meant it could not find “a way forward to return the depots to a sustainable position.”

Other news this month has been yet another last-minute extension to the government’s emergency support for bus services in England (see page 6). Wales has also provided a three month extension, with calls for a more sustainable long term solution to be found (see page 10).

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