Trivia : Closest depots/outstations same company

[Private Baxter]

Historic example now (not sure how historic, 90s or 00s maybe) but there were at one point two outstations in Radstock. One for Marlborough Street buses, the other for Bath. Not sure how far apart they were but it is a small town, and I believe the MH allocation was just one bus. (Though happy to be corrected).

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Mind you, you could have First Halifax with Skircoat Road and Elmwood garages being almost split by a road but obviously operating as a single entity.

That one sprung to mind when I saw the thread, though I wasn't sure if both sites were still in use. Also didn't know whether they were operated as if they were a single site (though a degree of overlap would be almost inevitable), but the fact they have different names rather than simply being called "Halifax Depot" at least justifies a mention.

As the crow flies Yorkshire Tiger's sites at Waterloo (Huddersfield) and Honley are only a few miles apart, but Honley is only used for storage of demics these days.

 

[AB93]

I would say that is a little different, as they have long outgrown the main depot at Priory Road, so an overflow site was needed, preferably as close as possible. This arrangement has worked for many years, presumably it is cheaper than having a new bigger depot.

First West of England’s Wells depot on Priory Road has its overflow/outstation extra parking area 0.4 miles away to the south at Wells Cold Store.

Similarly, Arriva Southern Counties for a time had Guildford Bus Station on the Op Licence as an Operating Centre, as well as the depot itself (as not all the buses would fit in the depot). 0.3mi apart on foot.
No longer an issue after losing a load of work to other operators.

 

[Welshman]

That one sprung to mind when I saw the thread, though I wasn't sure if both sites were still in use. Also didn't know whether they were operated as if they were a single site (though a degree of overlap would be almost inevitable), but the fact they have different names rather than simply being called "Halifax Depot" at least justifies a mention.

As the crow flies Yorkshire Tiger's sites at Waterloo (Huddersfield) and Honley are only a few miles apart, but Honley is only used for storage of demics these days.

The last time I visited Halifax - last February, pre-covid - both depots were still in use. Originally, Skircoat used to house the Halifax Corporation "A" fleet and Elmwood the "B" fleet.

Does First still have an outstation at Todmorden, only able to accommodate low-floor dds?

Yorkshire Tiger also has a depot on the Elland Industrial Estate, but I'm not sure which is now the Main depot and which the out-station.

Here in N. Wales, Crosville then Arriva used to have a large depot at Llandudno Junction, which is now demolished, and the main depot is now on Landygai Industrial Estate in Bangor, with an out-station on Builder St, Llandudno.

Llew Jones International still has its main depot opposite Llanrwst North Railway station, but also now had a small outstation at Ruthin, to avoid empty mileage following their aquisition of routes there.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Does First still have an outstation at Todmorden, only able to accommodate low-floor dds?

Yes but the roof has been removed and the building now altered to act as a compound

In Machynlleth, I think Lloyds Coaches had the old Crosville depot AND on the EcoPark around the corner.

 

[Welshman]

Yes but the roof has been removed and the building now altered to act as a compound

In Machynlleth, I think Lloyds Coaches had the old Crosville depot AND on the EcoPark around the corner.

Thank you.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Yorkshire Tiger also has a depot on the Elland Industrial Estate, but I'm not sure which is now the Main depot and which the out-station.

Elland is the head office and appears on the legals on each vehicle, but Waterloo is still a full depot and workshop for the Huddersfield fleet as far as I'm aware.

 

[Welshman]

Elland is the head office and appears on the legals on each vehicle, but Waterloo is still a full depot and workshop for the Huddersfield fleet as far as I'm aware.

Ah, right. Thank you.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Ah, right. Thank you.

As an addition, I don't think Tiger run many (if any) services between Calderdale and Kirklees at the moment apart from the convoluted 262, so there isn't much opportunity to switch vehicles between bases without dead mileage.

 

[Surreyman]

Similarly, Arriva Southern Counties for a time had Guildford Bus Station on the Op Licence as an Operating Centre, as well as the depot itself (as not all the buses would fit in the depot). 0.3mi apart on foot.
No longer an issue after losing a load of work to other operators.

As of today, the current operating licence for Arriva in Guildford has 56 at Leas rd and 7 at the Friary Bus Stn.
I think a number of operators include bus stations and parking areas on their operators licence, presumably for flexibility, I recall that Stagecoach Highlands used to include every overnight parking areas even if just a piece of tarmac for a single schoolbus.
Ditto Showgrounds/Festival sites even if only used a handful of times a year.
Does anybody know what the charging arrangements are for Op's licences/number of discs?
Some operators have large unrealistic numbers that could not possibly fit on some of their sites i.e First West Yorkshire has 1125 at most of its depots?
Also many physical depots have multiple ops licences., i.e Wellglade Group Derby = 170 + Barton = 21 + Notts & Derby = 70 + Midland General = 24, that's a total of 285.

 

[richw]

I recall that Stagecoach Highlands used to include every overnight parking areas even if just a piece of tarmac for a single schoolbus.

This is a Requirement if the parking area is used for more than 28 nights per year.

 

[Flange Squeal]

Does anybody know what the charging arrangements are for Op's licences/number of discs?
Some operators have large unrealistic numbers that could not possibly fit on some of their sites i.e First West Yorkshire has 1125 at most of its depots?
Also many physical depots have multiple ops licences., i.e Wellglade Group Derby = 170 + Barton = 21 + Notts & Derby = 70 + Midland General = 24, that's a total of 285.

In terms of financial standing, the last time I checked it was demonstrate £8,000 for the first vehicle and £4,450 for additional ones. Therefore in your example above, First West Yorkshire would need to demonstrate one lot of £8,000 plus the remaining 1,124 discs at £4,450, so a depot with 1,125 discs would require evidence of £5,009,800.

A new licence application is £209, a modification to a licence is £122, and to register/modify a bus service is £60.

 

[Cesarcollie]

In terms of financial standing, the last time I checked it was demonstrate £8,000 for the first vehicle and £4,450 for additional ones. Therefore in your example above, First West Yorkshire would need to demonstrate one lot of £8,000 plus the remaining 1,124 discs at £4,450, so a depot with 1,125 discs would require evidence of £5,009,800.

A new licence application is £209, a modification to a licence is £122, and to register/modify a bus service is £60.

But remember the total authorisation can be less than the sum of the individual depot approvals. So a company may have approval for 30 at Depot A, 40 at depot B and 50 at Depot C. But the total company Licence may only authorise 100. I’ve never quite understood why, but it does give flexibility.

 

[cnjb8]

But remember the total authorisation can be less than the sum of the individual depot approvals. So a company may have approval for 30 at Depot A, 40 at depot B and 50 at Depot C. But the total company Licence may only authorise 100. I’ve never quite understood why, but it does give flexibility.

I guess it means what the maximum capacity of the depots are and how many buses the company operates in total

 

[robertclark125]

When stagecoach east Scotland bought Allison's in 2000, it meant that they had two depots in dunfermline, at st Leonard's street, and the ex Allison's depot at touch, about a mile and a bit away.

 

[ACBest]

Marshalls of Sutton-on-Trent are in with a good shout here - the company have two depots: one on Main Street, Sutton-on-Trent, which is the main office of the company, plus the coach depot, plus the engineering base; and a second at Poplar Farm, Sutton-on-Trent, on the Great North Road, which is the depot for service buses.

The two are just 0.9mi apart by road - and just 0.6mi as the crow flies.

 

[Mr Manager]

From memory didnt trent have the shared garage with Stagecoach on Sutton road and an outstation at Sutton Junction. Prob around 2 miles apart.

 

[Ken H]

In ilkley, Samuel Ledgard had a depot in little lane/Nelson road. West Yorkshire had a depot in Cunliffe Rd (Where Wetherspoons is now). Thats 1362 ft. West Yorkshire bought Samuel Ledgard so would have had the 2 garages.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

From memory didnt trent have the shared garage with Stagecoach on Sutton road and an outstation at Sutton Junction. Prob around 2 miles apart.

Trent did move from Sutton Road to Sutton Junction. Can't recall if both were in use at the same time; was Sutton Junction bought from someone else like Maun's?

 

[jammy36]

Lucketts Travel have two operating centres (OCs) listed on their licence in Fareham - one on Broadcut and one on Standard Way - technically two separate sites with their own gated entrances and only 450m by road apart, but in reality the two back onto each other. Their 3rd OC (and body shop) is itself only around 5 miles away (by road, less as the crow flies) in Gosport.

Similarly in Lymington the Go South Coast licence lists two OCs listed one at the bus station (for 22 vehicles) and the other less than half a mile away at Station Yard (depot for 15 vehicles).

 

[Statto]

Historic examples.

in Liverpool you had Green Lane[still open] then Carnegie Road about 100 yards from Green Lane, & Edge Lane less than 2 miles from Green Lane all owned & operated by the PTE then Merseybus.

There was also Arriva Liverline Bootle depot which was 100 yards further down Hawthorne Road from the Arriva Bootle depot.

Wallasey, Seaview Road & Birkenhead, Laird Street were just over 2 miles apart, both under one owner in the PTE until Wallasey closed at d-reg

 

[DunsBus]

Back in Eastern Scottish days, both Dalkeith and Musselburgh depots were within seven miles of New Street depot.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

in Liverpool you had Green Lane[still open] then Carnegie Road about 100 yards from Green Lane, & Edge Lane less than 2 miles from Green Lane all owned & operated by the PTE then Merseybus.

Thanks for that. I knew there was a big old fashioned place along from Green Lane but just couldn't place where it was.

There was also Arriva Liverline Bootle depot which was 100 yards further down Hawthorne Road from the Arriva Bootle depot.

The Liverline depot being the former Ribble depot that was replaced by one in the late 70s that went from Ribble to North Western to Arriva and still survives.

Back in Eastern Scottish days, both Dalkeith and Musselburgh depots were within seven miles of New Street depot.

Nothing compared to Fife that had Cowdenbeath depot being within 5 miles of Dunfermline and within 3 miles of Kelty and Lochgelly

 

[Geordie driver]

Going back a bit but United in Jesmond ,Newcastle was 1.7 miles from Gallowgate depot. Both quite central too, especially Gallowgate.

 

[Statto]

Thanks for that. I knew there was a big old fashioned place along from Green Lane but just couldn't place where it was.

The Liverline depot being the former Ribble depot that was replaced by one in the late 70s that went from Ribble to North Western to Arriva and still survives.

Carnegie Road depot is still standing, even down to the doors, it's an Indian cash & carry nowadays.

I didn't know that LiverLine depot was the original Ribble depot.

 

[WY Bus Spotter]

Transdev Keighley have two yards in the town centre. Suresnes road, which houses pretty much all service buses and Mariner Road, where school buses are kept.

Going by Google maps; these yards are 0.6 miles apart.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Carnegie Road depot is still standing, even down to the doors, it's an Indian cash & carry nowadays.

I didn't know that LiverLine depot was the original Ribble depot.

It's explained by an expert (not me) here:

home to buses no more...

Until recently, this is one place I vowed to record on film but always passed...it's the former Liverline depot on Hawthorne Road. Originally the home of the Merseyside Touring Company (who Ribble took over in 1931 - a year after this was built), this was rebuilt and was the base of the...

www.flickr.com

Going back a bit but United in Jesmond ,Newcastle was 1.7 miles from Gallowgate depot. Both quite central too, especially Gallowgate.

Even more bizarre was United's wholly owned subsidiary, Durham District Services. There was an some agreement with "dirty Northern" that United couldn't buy Co Durham independents so instead, they set up DDS as a means to do that. Technically separate firms with buses were painted green rather than red. However, it was really United with vehicles passing between the two and in the UAS numbering scheme, head office and central works was United's Grange Road, Darlington site with same management, back office, etc.

However, they had separate depots with the depots in Durham (UAS - Waddington Street vs. DDS Gilesgate) and Darlington (UAS - Feethams vs. DDS - Haughton Road) - both instances less than 1.5 miles apart.

United also purchased Wilkinsons Motor Services in 1967 and inherited two depots in Sedgefield. They remained in use until both were closed in 1984 - 500m apart.

 

[DunsBus]

Back in the mid-nineties, SMT had two depots in Livingston - Deans (Ln) and Centrex (Cx).

 

[Class465pacer]

Stagecoach London (Selkent):
Catford depot and Kangley Bridge Road outstation is a 1.5 mile drive apart.

 

[SCH117X]

As noted above Transdev Keighley have two depots in the town - Suresnes Road (which presumably is the old Keighley-West Yorkshire depot) and Marriner Road, a former stone yard around half a mile apart. The latter is quite recent and replaced the use of a brewery yard for the parking of school buses although the West Yorkshire Information Service fleet list shows five of the 662 Bradford Shuttle B7RLEs as being allocated their along with a number of double decker's not necessarily for school service use.