Carousel Buses – response to closure of Arriva High Wycombe and Aylesbury

 

We will be stepping in to run additional services across High Wycombe, following news that fellow bus operator Arriva has begun consultation on the proposed closure of its depots at Aylesbury and High Wycombe.

"We understand that local people may well be worried that the bus services they rely on across Wycombe and south Bucks will be impacted by this sad news - but they need not be concerned,” said Luke Marion, Carousel Buses managing director. 

“I can reassure them that Carousel is ready to step in, to ensure bus users can still get to where they need to go. If Arriva does proceed with its plans to close the High Wycombe depot, we plan to immediately provide a service on current Arriva routes 2, 3, 5A, 6/6A, 7/7A, 10, 11, 12, 13, 800, 850 and X80, from the date of the closure.

As already announced, we are also already taking over the operation of service 4 from 19th May 2024, and our sister company Oxford Bus Company will be commencing a new service 280, following the route of the current Arriva X7 service between Oxford and Thame, from 1st July 2024.

Therefore, we will ensure that Wycombe and the surrounding area will be covered by a very similar level of bus services to today - albeit with different coloured buses running the routes.

We will be working hard over the coming months to plan the new services.”

Carousel’s parent company, Go-Ahead, is no stranger to saving the day when services have been withdrawn by fellow operators. In 2022, another of its companies, Morebus, worked tirelessly to ensure people in Bournemouth and Poole continued to enjoy comprehensive bus services - following the collapse of Bournemouth Transport Ltd (Yellow Buses). And in February 2023, the team at another Go-Ahead company, Bluestar, stepped in to replace the First Bus network in Southampton, when that operator chose to withdraw from the city.

Carousel Buses, a subsidiary of the Go-Ahead Group, operates 50 buses in High Wycombe and the wider Buckinghamshire area. It also serves locations including Slough in Berkshire, Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire and Uxbridge, and carries 2.5 million passengers per year.

 

Details of our replacement services can now be found here.