D. Jones & Son and Express Motors end operations
There was further upheaval in the north Wales bus industry in the last weeks of 2017, when two more independents — D. Jones & Son of Acrefair, Wrexham and Express Motors of Penygroes — ceased operations.
Express Motors, one of the oldest bus companies in Wales, lost its operator licence on 31 December. Arriva and several independents took over most of its routes on 2 January. One outcome was an improvement in T2 TrawsCymru services between Bangor and Aberystwyth.
A fortnight earlier, on 16 December, D. Jones & Son withdrew its services with one day’s notice. The company had operated buses since the postwar years. It eschewed tendered services but took on three routes commercially after the collapse in 2016 of GHA Coaches, also based in the Wrexham area. This increased its vehicle authorisation by four to 19.
Several operators stepped in at short notice to continue former D. Jones services. They included Stagecoach Merseyside & South Lancashire on the two-hourly C56 between Chester and Wrexham via Holt.
In north-west Wales, councils and operators had slightly more notice as the convoluted saga of Express Motors played out. Welsh traffic com…
