Arriva North West - Birkenhead Depot

[SK15 GZG (Moderator)]

RE: Arriva North West - Birkenhead Depot
At the same time Arriva were ordering deckers for Birkenhead they were ordering single deckers for the Liverpool side. In 2009 when the Enviro400s entered service on the cross river routes large numbers of routes on the Liverpool side received Pulsars which were too small from the day they entered service. In 2013 when the hybrids entered service at Birkenhead the 26/27 received a batch of Pulsars which were also too small. The Enviro200s currently on those routes are still too small. The point I'm making is that both times Birkenhead has received deckers under Arriva ownership Liverpool received totally inadequate single deckers

The Liverpool side received a large number of brand new deckers between 2011 and 2017 because the Commanders and Pulsars purchased for the city's busiest routes were too small and the extra capacity was needed then and not when the inadequate saloons were due for replacement. On the other hand Birkenhead depot has always had deckers on its busiest routes. The current fleet of Volvo B5LHs on cross river routes is eight years old and there is absolutely no justification to replace them yet - especially when there are much older vehicles in service across the North West which need to be replaced sooner rather than later