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Oswestry appear to have loaned Shrewsbury depot, 3791 FL63 DXZ, it was seen working on one of the Shrewsbury depot, Covid related diagrams today on the 70 Oswestry to Shrewsbury and tracking as 'SP SY' on BusTimes.org.

AFAIK, buses are now washed every 3 days.  Also, vehicles on country runs like the 70 will get more dirtier than something running round on town services.

Thanks for the reply, interesting to note 3 days, is this a company wide thing with Midlands? Oswestry are certainly washing their buses more than every three days, they actually look a credit to Arriva. Arriva Cymru also for example as a rule wash their fleet on a daily basis, except outstations.

The point here is the dirt carried is not from that days operation on the 70, it's been gained from many other days in service to the point they look a disgrace when leaving the depot that morning for start of service. Oswestry are interworking the 70 and 576, the 70 as a rule is a fairly main road run whilst the 576 can make the buses very dirty due to the backlane nature, yet they look much more presentable after a days work, even when conditions are not as good. Most of Oswestry's routes are not local town routes yet they keep a clean and tidy fleet day in day out.

At one time and not so long ago, it would be common to see Shrewsbury running buses on locals, caked in the same mud for a week and yes that included the height of summer!

Notable the last week or so that Shrewsbury depot input on the 70 to Oswestry has been fairly 'down at the heal' compared to Oswestry depots on the same days. I recall asking Simon a couple of years ago on his thread how often buses should be washed and he said 'daily' so very sad to see Shrewsbury have slipped back into putting buses out caked in thick mud that's nearing in some cases a week old. Noting 2501 and 2976 today in such a state and quite frankly a embarrassment really when a small depot like Oswestry, without an automated bus wash can turn out a fleet and well presented fleet of clean buses.

I have to say, one person I saw moaning they will now have to walk 10 minutes to the bus stop is just pathetic moaning for the sake of moaning.
Lots of people have to walk more than 10 minutes in Birmingham for a bus let alone small towns. Can't have buses everywhere

But on the other hand they have had a bus pass a bus stop close by for donkey years, do you blame them? Hardly an encouragement for using the bus in the future, post covid restrictions.

The 6 and 827 look certain to be chopped based on the latest on Facebook.  Other changes to routes/timetables as well.

Looking at the posting, they don't make it clear if covid related changes or a permanent thing, seems to be provoking comments from some unhappy customers it seems too. Would have been interesting to see the comments on the Arriva Cannock thread if Arriva had done this in the same manor! However I know it's a challenging time and wish Chaserider all the best with the network.

Any idea if Chaserider are running buses this morning?  Website says they are not.

One major fail by Chaserider this morning is the lack of updates on their Facebook page, compare to Arriva who were updating over Sunday and into this morning and doing so very well.

Looking at the BusTimes.org site, 11 FJ55 BWA has started tracking on a 25 from 09:43 and so far and 190 FJ06 ZTN on a 74 just before 10:00 as I post this.

Shrewsbury depot as like last summer, return to provide an input on the 70 Oswestry to Shrewsbury service with Oswestry depot, full detail under the Oswestry thread.

2517 only operated a single day at Oswestry and is now back at Shrewsbury, it however got to visit Oswestry again today in service but operated by Shrewsbury depot due to the following reason:

Service reductions due to covid has seen Oswestry depot are again as last summer, shared with Shrewsbury depot input, operating the 70 to Shrewsbury on a hourly basis main daytime due a little out of sync at certain times, 70A variations are suspended. Some Oswestry operated turns are been interworked with the 576 service again, i.e.do a 70 and return as a 576 and vice versa. The Arriva website has an 'incorrect' PDF uploaded and stating the 70 is 2 hourly but is confirmed as been hourly and times are correct if you view via BusTimes,org which links to the open data update.

Shrewsbury depot have operated 2517 and 2944 today over different parts of the day.

Solo SR, 2517 has turned up at Oswestry on loan today from Shrewsbury and appeared on the 70/70A Shrewsbury, it was tracking on bustimes as 2945, but the real 2945 was also tracking at the same time on another service. 2517 could be on loan as Solo 6005 has been VOR since Christmas Eve. Don't be fooled with 6005 showing as tracking on bustimes on the 70/70A the last week, it's really Scania 3511!

But on Monday taking these buses off the road ( through no fault of D and G) left them short of vehicles and journeys missed out i wouldnt of thought that was what theyd have wanted. And as these buses were out in service on Saturday but took off the road on Sun or Mon doesnt that look pretty bad on Arriva? I mean did they all develop faults overnight then? Hopefully theyll get some more buses in, the stuff thats been drafted in looks very smart and mustve reduced average fleet age a bit

Missed journeys does not necessary mean they were short of vehicles does it? In the current climate it could have been due to a shortage of drivers for varying reasons, many operators are losing drivers at times due to covid for instance, people having to isolate, impact on losing service mileage? Cannock could have perhaps loaned in drivers from Tamworth, Telford etc before handover to maintain service, something Arriva does between depots regularly, typically by those who would have helped in the past and know the routes under Arriva, I doubt D&G would be able to do so from day one and that would be fair enough. How do you know it wasn't other teething issues first day? Whatever the reason, you cannot put all the blame on vehicles acquired from Arriva, unless there has been some kind of official management statement disclosed in the public domain?

I'm not disagreeing with you that some stock was on the older scale, but then perhaps you should draw a comparison to such stock Arriva acquired from Adderley Green with D&G and the Midland (Wednesfield) operations some years ago.

The Chaserider operation has all the makings of an excellent network for Stafford and Cannock and look forward to the seeing how this develops, in a positive tone of course.

Why were they immediately taken off the road then?

And who says they are not pending reviewing the acquired assets or making plans for them? Far too much speculation from Arriva haters with second hand comments then made out to be from authoritative sources, lots of 2 + 2 = 7 style guess work. Perhaps more sensible thought would be that Chaserider probably want more of their fleet livery stock on the road to stamp the change of brand as much as possible, who knows.

2546 YN53 SVT is an obvious one still alive and kicking around at Arriva Telford that previously operated with Choice and D&G.

Has there been anything in the local papers - google suggests not?

I gather there is no information posters on the Cannock bus allocation regarding it either!

Arriva have confirmed to staff today that they are looking to dispose of the Cannock operation to D&G Bus

Is there actually anything officially released such as a press release or just the current speculation that has gathered pace in the last 24 hours on social media?

The Government advice remains that public transport should be used only if essential and we support that.  However, as more lockdown restrictions are eased, more people will be using the bus and we wanted to send out a message that reinforces what needs to happen when they travel and what they can expect.

Thank you Simon for your reply and sorry you are keeping distance from the forum moving forward but fully understandable, more so with the current climate and increased work loads. I have found your contributions and answers excellent.