Network Warrington - History

History

Warrington Corporation Tramways started operating a network of five radial tramways from the town centre in 1902, with the first motor bus service starting in 1913. Buses replaced trams on routes starting in 1931, with the infrastructure starting to require major renewal which could not be justified economically. The last tram operated in 1935.

Services expanded rapidly after the Second World War as new housing estates grew in areas such as Orford and Great Sankey. The conversion of bus routes with conductors into one-man operated services began in 1965 as changes in society such as home entertainment and the increasing availability of cars forced cost savings on all bus operators in the country.

Warrington was designated as a new town in 1968, which led to new housing estates planned in the Birchwood and Westbrook areas of town. As such, Warrington Borough Council Transport Department (as the transport department was then called) started operating new services to these new developments as they started to grow in the 1970s and beyond. The department also began operating new services jointly with Crosville upon the split of the old Stockport-based North Western Road Car Company in 1972.

Following the deregulation of bus services in the UK, Warrington Borough Transport Ltd took over operations as a limited company, albeit owned 100% by the council. The company's mission was that if money could be made by operating services deemed uneconomic by other operators, then WBT should assume operation. This policy led to an increase in services operated as other bus companies who ran into the area decided to concentrate on their own core areas.

Competition from other operators flared up in 1995, with the new North Western company (operating as "Warrington Goldlines") duplicating the vast majority of the existing bus network with their own services, taking over from another new competitor MTL (operating as "Lancashire Travel") when they decided to stop competing after a few months. In retaliation, WBT began operating new services in competition with North Western, to places such as Wigan, St Helens, Widnes, Runcorn, Chester and Liverpool – even starting a local minibus service in Northwich. After 18 months of intense competition, both companies decided to scale-back. WBT kept routes to Prescot and St Helens, whilst giving up operations to the Birchwood area of town in favour of North Western, who later rebranded as Arriva.

In February 2002, Arriva decided to close its depot in Warrington and transfer interurban routes to depots in neighbouring towns. WBT resumed operation of town routes to Birchwood, Cinnamon Brow and Woolston, but transferred the St Helens route back to Arriva. Further withdrawals by Arriva led to the takeover of routes to Leigh in 2005 and Altrincham in 2006. The latest new route for the company began in July 2008 and serves the new Chapelford Urban Village housing development, with initial funding provided by the developers.

Large investments have been made in more recent times to replace the fleet with new low-floor single deck buses that are wheelchair accessible and more friendly to people with pushchairs, and marketing efforts have seen the introduction of the Metro Map, to highlight the relatively straightforward nature of the network operated (in an Underground-style format).

When managing director Nigel Featham took up a similar role at Arriva Yorkshire in May 2008, John Bannister—finance director at WBT since its formation as a limited company in 1986—was promoted to take his place. Bannister was suspended from his post in April 2009 and sacked a month later, the reason reported to have involved "inappropriate behaviour with a female colleague". Operations director Charlie Shannon performed the role in the interim until a new managing director, David Squire, was appointed in August 2010.

Budget cuts by Warrington Borough Council have resulted in the network of Sunday evening services operated by Warrington Borough Transport being completely withdrawn from Sunday 27 June 2010, as these socially necessary services no longer receive any subsidy from the council. The company continues to operate a service during daytime shopping hours on a commercial basis.