On 19th February, First Bus announced the sale of their Queens Road bus depot to the Go-Ahead Group for £11.2m.
The sale would include the depot on Queens Road, Cheetham Hill along with around 160 vehicles. It was also proposed that the staff at the site would transfer to the Go-Ahead group upon completion of the sale. Until the deal is finalised in a couple of weeks, services will continue to run without any intended changes.
This sale comes after the axing of the Bury and Tameside depots in April 2017. The services operating out of these depots then moved to either Queens Road, Bolton or Oldham. After the continued industrial disputes over pay in the Rusholme Depot in December, it also closed earlier this year.
The spate of closures comes after ‘rising business costs’ for the firm and fare hikes for passengers.
Students may be affected by the deal, particularly by potential changes to Service 41. This route connects Sale to Middleton, via the main Oxford Road route used by students.
Managing Director of First Bus, Giles Fearnley, released a statement saying, “I’d like to thank our employees for their continued hard work to deliver the best experience possible for our customers in Greater Manchester. Today’s announcement does not reflect on the effort, commitment or individual performance of our Queens Road employees and we will be supporting them fully as they transfer to their new employer.
“Over the years we have enjoyed a constructive relationship with both the Go-Ahead Group and Transport for Greater Manchester and look forward to working closely with them to ensure this transfer goes ahead as smoothly as possible with minimal impact for our customers.”
In response to the deal, Councillor Mark Aldred, the Chair of Transport for Greater Manchester, said, “Our first priority is passengers across Greater Manchester and affected staff.
“We have been reassured by both First and Go-Ahead that the transfer of services will be managed in the best way to minimise disruption.”
The Mancunion also contacted First about their Rusholme depot, at the end of the curry mile, that appears to be permanently closed, with windows boarded up.
The depot appears inactive, and if this is the case, then the cuts to First services may be more extreme than first concerned.
