Warrington's Own Buses

Warrington Bus War

To comply with the Transport Act 1985 and the ensuing deregulation of bus services, Warrington Borough Transport was incorporated in 1986. The company's mission was that if money could be made by operating services deemed uneconomic by other operators, then it should assume operation.^{[ citation needed ]} 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 Warrington Goldlines, part of the North Western bus company, duplicating the vast majority of the existing bus network. Merseybus' Lancashire Travel subsidiary competed with Warrington to a lesser extent, focusing on a core of 4-5 routes in the Callands and Westbrook areas near its St Helens depot in the South West of the town. In retaliation to MTL & North Western, Warrington Borough Transport commenced operating services to places such as Wigan, St Helens, Widnes, Runcorn, Chester and Liverpool, as well as commencing a local minibus service in Northwich, ^[4] receiving support from neighbouring fellow municipal Halton Transport. ^[5] This level of competition reduced by autumn 1996: after MTL withdrew its Warrington services, North Western's Warrington operations were also scaled back, removing the source of most of Warrington Borough Transport's competition.

After eighteen months of intense competition, both companies agreed a truce. Warrington Borough Transport kept routes to Prescot and St Helens, whilst giving up operations in the Birchwood area of town, which were operated by North Western. ^{[6] [7]} North Western was rebranded as Arriva North West in 1997.

In February 2002, Arriva North West decided to close its depot in Warrington and transferred the interurban routes to depots in Liverpool and St Helens. ^[8] Warrington Borough Transport 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. ^{[9] [10]}

Rebranding

In 2006, the company was rebranded and became known as Network Warrington, with a new livery designed by Samantha Beeley introduced onto the operator's bus fleet. ^{[11] [12]} This rebrand coincided with a streamlining of other routes, both long distance and in the town centre, which were operated with increased frequencies to shorten journey times. ^{[13] [14] [ better source needed ]}

Budget cuts by Warrington Borough Council resulted in evening services being reduced and Sunday evening services being completely withdrawn from 27 June 2010, as these services no longer received any subsidy from the council. ^[15]

In April 2018, the company was rebranded as Warrington's Own Buses, with buses adopting a stylised wolf logo and a livery of both bright and deep shades of red and blue. ^[1] Coinciding with the introduction of 105 new battery electric buses to the fleet in 2024, Warrington's Own Buses replaced its livery with a yellow and black scheme intended to harmonise with the yellow and black buses of Transport for Greater Manchester's Bee Network and Merseytravel's upcoming Metro network, giving the effect of a harmonised bus network serving North West England. ^[16]

Former

The old bus depot was Wilderspool Causeway. The two main sheds to the rear of the site were originally built in 1943 for Fairey Aviation and used to assemble wings for their Fulmar bomber until they were purchased by Warrington Corporation in 1947. ^{[19] : 13} This site eventually became the main operational centre, with the frontage of the depot dating from 1964. The ground floor consisted of a reception area and vehicle inspection bays, with the company's offices located on the upper floor. ^{[19] : 15}

The depot's location next to the old Wilderspool Stadium and close to the town centre led to interest from developers in redeveloping the site of the depot and the stadium during 2006. As part of this, a new depot would have been constructed at the nearby Centre Park business park, located on the other side of the Mersey but still close to Warrington town centre. ^[20] Whilst Warrington Borough Transport were reported to be seriously considering the proposed move, the scheme never moved beyond the drawing board and foundered around the end of the year having failed to gain favour with council planning officers. ^[21] Wilderspool Causeway depot closed with the opening of the new Dallam Lane depot in April 2023, ^[18] with demolition of the site commencing in September to allow development on the site. ^[22]

Warrington's original tram system was operated from an eight-track depot at the junction of Mersey Street and Lower Bank Street. ^{[19] : 15} A purpose built bus garage was constructed on Lower Bank Street in 1930, although buses were also housed in the old tram sheds following the withdrawal of trams. ^{[19] : 9} Despite the move to the new Wilderspool garage, the old staff canteen on Lower Bank Street remained in use until the opening of the new bus station in 1979. The building was demolished in 1981 ^{[19] : 16} and is today the site of a DW Sports Fitness club.

Route brands

After the Warrington's Own Buses identity was introduced in 2018, the company introduced a range of dedicated route liveries. These include:

• Connect17 – routes 17/17A.
• The Cheshire Cat – routes CAT5, CAT6, CAT7, CAT8 and CAT9 (including variants). ^[29]
• The Pops – routes 20/21. ^[30]
• Blueline – route 32