PASSENGERS caught up in the collapse of the bus company were advised to “get taxis” when they arrived at Bolton bus station, letters sent from transport bosses have revealed.
Transport chiefs had been preparing for the firm to take buses off the road on April 6.
When Maytree actually collapsed 48 hours earlier than planned, it caused huge problems.
Internal Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) emails obtained by the Bolton News under the Freedom of Information Act reveal just how desperate the situation was for bus station staff dealing with the fall-out of Maytree’s collapse.
In one email dated April 6, Bolton bus station’s supervisor Graham Porter wrote: “The situation has improved somewhat, but there are still people waiting for and enquiring about services that Maytree used to operate.
“We have been able in the main to find alternatives or, as a last resort, point them in the direction of the local taxi office.”
The following afternoon, Sean Mitchinson, of TfGM, wrote: “There has been no 584 service today (as yet) despite information received to say they would be running.
“The notices we put up are now obviously wrong, which is embarrassing to us after reassuring customers that they would have service today.
“Wrong information is sometimes worse than no information.”
Bosses from Transport for Greater Manchester, the umbrella organisation that manages transport in the region, insist staff were “on hand to advise passengers on what other travel options were available in the circumstances”.
A spokesman said: “If no alternative bus service was available, people were advised of the local taxi ranks available in order for them to be able to complete their journey safely. We acted swiftly and with authority in unprecedented circumstances to restore services as soon as possible by putting emergency contracts in place.
“The timescales involved meant that in some isolated instances, in the days immediately following Maytree’s collapse, some of the replacement journeys expected to run did not. This was an unfortunate consequence of the circumstances.”
MCT did not respond to a Bolton News invitation to comment.
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