Arriva announces plans to close Aylesbury and High Wycombe depots scrapping many key routes

Yesterday (14 May), the international public transport operator said it has began consultations around shutting its Bucks town bases.

Arriva is looking to significantly reduce its operation in Buckinghamshire as both depots make losses.

If the proposals go ahead Arriva, would no longer run buses between High Wycombe and Aylesbury. Also its service between Aylesbury and Oxford would be scrapped, alongside a number of routes it runs between High Wycombe and south Buckinghamshire areas.

Only buses that can be ran from other nearby depots in Hemel Hempstead and Milton Keynes will continue to make the rounds in Buckinghamshire.

Redline Buses does provide a service between Oxford, Thame, and Aylesbury, as well as a route which connects the two biggest Bucks towns. But without Arriva operating between these key routes residents have already expressed concerns about the frequency of buses.

Other issues have been raised due to the fact that Redline and Red Eagle Buses have only single storey vehicles on these routes, and can only accommodate half the number of passengers in comparison to Arrivas biggest buses. Commuters fear this will halve the number of buses they can catch to and from work.

An Arriva spokesperson said: “We have taken the difficult decision to begin consultation with our colleagues on the proposed closure of our Aylesbury and High Wycombe depots. Despite extensive efforts to turn the situation around, including making network changes to better reflect local demand, both sites continue to be loss-making.

“There will be no immediate impact on services and we will work with local authority partners to explore ways to minimise the impact, should we withdraw services.”

In yesterday’s announcement Arriva also confirmed that the closure would not happen before 27 July. Also, the operator has stated that as many employees as possible would be re-deployed to other roles within the company, or given new locations to work from. Arriva also said all bus routes will continue until the end of its contracted agreement with Bucks Council and Oxfordshire Council.

As referenced in Arriva’s statement, at the start of the year the company altered its long-running 280 service. Replacing the route with two new services to increase the frequency of Arriva vehicles going between Oxford, Thame, and Aylesbury, while also offering a quicker connecting bus.

Here is the full list of bus routes at risk:

X7/X8 – Aylesbury to Oxfordo X9/X90 – Aylesbury to High Wycombeo 2 – High Wycombe to Bookero 3 – High Wycombe to Castlefieldo 4 – High Wycombe to Lane Endo 5/5a – High Wycombe to Bourne Endo 6/6a – High Wycombe to Bourne Endo 7/7a – High Wycombe to Bourne End and Maidenheado 10 – High Wycombe to Downleyo 11 – High Wycombe to Penno 12 – High Wycombe to Micklefieldo 13 – High Wycombe to Totteridgeo 800/850/X80 – High Wycombe to Henley on Thames and Readingo X9/90 – Aylesbury to High Wycombe.