Maytree Travel - Bolton

[SF07]

RE: Maytree Travel - Bolton
Sad to hear of the demise of Maytree, thought they did well for themselves after breaking away from Tyrer Bus and built up a number of services in the Bolton area. The news of Maytree was mentioned on BBC North West this evening, mentioning the takeover by MCT and how the vandalism of buses during evenings last year may have had an effect.

Does show how hard it has been for independent bus companies over the last few years. Vale of Manchester, Bu-Val, The Coachmasters, Speedwellbus all going out of business, plus Bluebird being bought by Stagecoach.

One question which will get answered over the next few days is what happens to Maytree's services. Not sure where MCT would stand in stepping with replacement services. First, Arriva and SLT are the likely three operators to step in to replace services, given that some of the contracts are evening and/or Sunday journeys of services operated by them. Wouldn't be surprise to see Rossendalebus looking to re-gain the 273 and there is a timetable variation on VOSA today from Arriva on the 715 service, which may suggest they may operate the evening/Sunday service.

Could also see Stagecoach (Wigan or Chorley depots) stepping in on emergency tenders, while JPT may look at some services like the 31 (which they previously ran) and the 96.