TWENTY new jobs have been created after a bus company set up a depot in Bolton.

Southport-based Cumfybus was awarded a contract by Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) following the demise of Bolton firm Maytree Travel in April.

Maytree went out of business due to problems with insuring vehicles and TfGM scrambled to cover a range of crucial bus routes.

Cumfybus was one of the firms which stepped into the breach and is now running 10 services including the 526, 525, 570, 559 and 553 services and has a fleet of six eco-friendly hybrid buses at its new Bolton depot.

The firm previously operated in Liverpool and Lancashire, but the new routes will go from Bolton town centre to other parts of the borough as well as Wigan, Salford and Hindley.

Managing director Marshall Vickers founded the company in 1986 along with his wife Patricia after buying his first vehicle to serve nursing homes in their local area.

He said: “When TfGM put the contract out we weren’t operating in Greater Manchester and it wasn’t financially viable to operate just one service so this was a good opportunity for us.”

He said: “I’m very pleased to be operating in Bolton.

“We’re very keen to run modern hybrid buses and so is TfGM so we should work well together and I look forward to extending the business.”

Of the six vehicles being used by Cumfybus, three are owned by TfGM and three were purchased by the firm using a £431,000 loan secured from the Santander bank.