It appears that First have relinquished their emergency operation of the 389/336/337 in the T3 area of Ashton which were taken on when Little Gem decided to call it a day after giving up with TfGM’s steadfast approach to tender payments. Little Gem took up the 389 after Stagecoach withdrew their shortened trips, omitting Flowery Field and Hyde, following First’s withdrawal from the Tameside network in 2019.
The trio of inter-worked routes are now operated by Diamond, a return to Ashton for the operator after giving up the 217 which was taken up by Little Gem, the winner so far of all SLSCs in T1&2. Perhaps First decided to stop running them as they might not be included in the T2 Oldham Big award and will be in a T3 SLSC? After all, it was rumoured that operators wouldn’t willingly run things at a loss that they were going to loose in this transition anyway. I wonder also if a move of the 348 to Ashton Big might be on the cards?
Full circle indeed.