Bus passengers of Shropshire were saddened today to hear the news that Arriva is considering closing their Oswestry bus depot. While customers of the depot are reassured that their main bus routes will be reallocated to Arriva's depots in Shrewsbury and Wrexham, the community has responded to the news with concern for the jobs of Arriva's Oswestry employees and for the community itself.
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| Macauley Pugh |
The pandemic has drastically affected Arriva's Oswestry depot with 54% of bus users from before the pandemic no longer using their services. This post-pandemic recovery is far below national trends and comes alongside a challenging combination of significant industry-wide cost inflation and funding support from the local authority falling significantly below the levels provided by other councils to reimburse “concessionary travel” meaning bus services have been operating at a sustained operating loss.
Additionally, while a Bus Service Improvement Plan was developed in partnership with Shropshire Council to bid for government support to help increase bus ridership, unfortunately the Plan was unsuccessful in securing funding.
Despite extensive interventions to attempt to boost passenger numbers, including extensive engagement with Shropshire Council to address the situation, regretfully Arriva says it has not been possible to return the depot to a financially sustainable operation and affected employees have been notified of the consultation to close the Oswestry site.
If the proposal goes ahead, Arriva will cease to operate some local contracted bus services in the area and is in dialogue with the local authority with the expectation that a new operator would take on these contracted services from May 2023.
Affected employees have now been notified that a consultation is underway on closing the site.
A spokesperson from Arriva Midlands North, said:
“We are saddened to announce today that we are consulting with our valued employees about the closure of our Oswestry depot.
“While there would be very limited impact on customer journeys, closing depots is not a decision we take lightly and this only follows sustained and extensive interventions to attempt to turn around the losses in Shropshire.
“Our priority throughout this process is that everything runs as smoothly as possible, for both our customers and our high valued team.
“If the proposal goes ahead, Arriva will work with Shropshire Council and any new operators as school routes transition to new suppliers, with any changes to school services not expected until May.”
Arriva runs the following contracted bus services on behalf of Shropshire Council which, if the proposal is confirmed, are expected to transfer to a new operator:
- 449 Oswestry – Welshampton
- 54 Oswestry - Cefn Y Blodwel
- 71 Oswestry - Four Crosses
- 79a Oswestry – Porth-Y-Waen
- 405 Oswestry – Windsor Road
R.I.P. arriva Oswestry.
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