Arriva Buses (including Greenline)

[A0]

I've just been thinking about what has happened to the former Sovereign operations in Stevenage since Arriva took over in 2004

44 - Contract lost to another operator
300/1 - Split into 300/1/2, about to be changed again losing the 300
315 - lost to another operator
383/4 - lost to another operator
SB1 - Now just the 1
797 - withdrawn

Just leaves the 301 as the only service with the same number. It's not to say that routes wouldn't have been lost or withdrawn if Sovereign had remained but it's quite a noticeable drop in operations.

The SB services are a strange one, once Arriva took over all the Stevenage local services they renumbered all there's from 2 to SB2 etc only to reverse it a few years later back to single numbers, however they now have one Streetlite in heritage SB livery. The SB10 and SB15 are Herts contract services which always seems to avoided the bigger operators still retain their SB prefixes.

A slightly partial view of the world that though.

On the 300 / 301 - they've maintained a basic pattern of 2 buses / hour between Welwyn GC & Stevenage, which if you go back to the 1980s was the 300 / 303, there are 4 buses an hour between Welwyn GC and St Albans - which again was broadly the case from the mid 80s and 2 per hour between St Albans and Hemel, so there's not exactly been a huge retrenchment there.

The 44 has been an HCC contract for years and has changed hands several times - I think Centrebus have had that a while. Didn't Sovereign only pick that up when Semarks / Dunn Line collapsed ?

The 315 is similar and is only a Mon-Fri operation, again I thought Centrebus had held that for quite a while. I know Reg's had it at one time.

The 383/384 again had changed hands several times - at one point since deregulation Luton & District ran it.

And the 797 was the last of the Green Line London services from North or Mid Herts - and Uno tried to keep that one going with no joy, so not really fair to blame Arriva for not trying on that one. in fact at the original split of the Sovereign Stevenage operations, the 797 went to Luton & District and then returned to Sovereign. The Green Line network into London has been in freefall decline since the early 80s mainly because the rail service has continually improved.

Of those two SB routes which are contract services - I think they've been contracts for many, many years - ISTR Chambers Coaches operating the SB10 at one time in the 80s or 90s.

The vast majority of those you mention were contracts which had frequently changed hands, the basic Stevenage - St Albans - Hemel service pattern is still in place and the SB1 still runs as well.

 

[Deerfold]

The 301 has been withdrawn between Stevenage hospital and Hitchin station. It used to be the only direct bus between Stevenage Road, Hitchin and the station (though around twice a week a driver would tell me my PlusBus ticket wasn't valid. It was always the same driver).

Having one 797 a day north of Stevenage didn't work well. I could have caught it outside my house to outside my work and I didn't use it (I used it twice in 3 years), because as soon as you did different hours on different days or stayed after work for a drink, it wasn't worth getting a season ticket for the coach. If you didn't get a season ticket, the cost didn't compare well with a rail season ticket.

 

[A0]

The 301 has been withdrawn between Stevenage hospital and Hitchin station. It used to be the only direct bus between Stevenage Road, Hitchin and the station (though around twice a week a driver would tell me my PlusBus ticket wasn't valid. It was always the same driver).

Having one 797 a day north of Stevenage didn't work well. I could have caught it outside my house to outside my work and I didn't use it (I used it twice in 3 years), because as soon as you did different hours on different days or stayed after work for a drink, it wasn't worth getting a season ticket for the coach. If you didn't get a season ticket, the cost didn't compare well with a rail season ticket.

The Stevenage - Hitchin section was withdrawn some years ago - I could be wrong, but I thought that happened in Sovereign days.

Any extension to Hitchin station was certainly a later addition because the London Country terminus for the 300 / 303 (as they were) was St Mary's Square.

 

[RELL6L]

In Yorkshire Arriva are about to make drastic cuts to Saturday services.

We are making some temporary changes to our bus timetables in Yorkshire from 25th April.​

Bus companies across West Yorkshire have suffered from the UK-wide driver shortage over recent months, which has resulted in some last-minute cancellations. Buses not turning up because of last-minute cancellations goes completely against our service standards and what passengers rightly expect from us. We don’t want to let you down, and we’re sorry if we have done recently.

We know the scaled-back timetable we’re introducing isn’t a perfect solution, but we’ve worked hard to ensure critical routes continue to be served, while less-used routes are served with less frequency. We feel this is the least disruptive option available to us. These changes should mean we have enough drivers to operate the published timetable and to minimise disruption, whilst we work behind the scenes to recruit new drivers to help us restore our services.

We’d like to take this opportunity to thank our existing drivers, who continue to work extremely hard to run the level of service we do today. Their dedication is exemplary, and we’d like to thank them for their continued efforts.

If you know a friend or relative who would like to drive their career forward with Arriva Yorkshire, do please let them know we’re recruiting. We welcome applicants via arrivabusjobs.co.uk

Arriva Bus

www.arrivabus.co.uk

This then goes through all the services. Selby depot appears unchanged but all the West Yorkshire services appear to be unchanged Mon-Fri and Sun but on Saturday running to timetables with Sunday frequencies but with earlier starts, later finished and some services with slightly longer running time than Sundays.

Another nail in the coffin of bus travel?

 

[tomuk]

Confirmation of the changes in Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin

Service Changes in Shrewsbury​

Service Changes in Oswestry​

Service changes in Telford​

Plus both Shropshire and Telford haven't received any BSIP funding so some of the cuts which were postponed until September by extra council funding are likely to happen too.

'Hammer blow' for residents as Shropshire and Telford councils miss out on bus funding​

The county's bids for £140m to transform bus services have been left in tatters with no money at all awarded by the government.

 

[A0]

Confirmation of the changes in Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin

Service Changes in Shrewsbury​

Service Changes in Oswestry​

Service changes in Telford​

Plus both Shropshire and Telford haven't received any BSIP funding so some of the cuts which were postponed until September by extra council funding are likely to happen too.

Presumably the BSIP funding like the Restoring Your Railways funding was dependent on a good quality proposal with reasonably robust proposals and costings, rather than "pie in the sky", finger in the air guestimates - and Shropshire and Telford have failed to submit a sufficiently robust proposal.

 

[Deerfold]

Presumably the BSIP funding like the Restoring Your Railways funding was dependent on a good quality proposal with reasonably robust proposals and costings, rather than "pie in the sky", finger in the air guestimates - and Shropshire and Telford have failed to submit a sufficiently robust proposal.

The fact the available fund was cut by half won't have helped, either.

 

[londonteacher]

Does anyone know the service in Kent tomorrow? Can’t find confirmation anywhere.

 

[duncombec]

Does anyone know the service in Kent tomorrow? Can’t find confirmation anywhere.

A Sunday service, as with all "regular" public holidays.

However, you're quite right... it simply isn't on the website, and you have to divine this information for yourself (or look on bustimes!)

 

[RELL6L]

Arriva Northumbria are not running their enhancement of the X18 this year - in previous years they have run every 2 hours over the section north of Alnwick in the summer. They are continuing with the 4 hourly winter service. But Travelsure are running an X18 at the times between the Arriva ones which, with their existing 418, gives a roughly hourly service between Alnwick and Belford via Seahouses. I guess this is tendered by Northumberland. Sadly I assume it will mean they are not double deckers, since Travelsure do not possess such a beast.

Interestingly the Travelsure 418, which terminates at Belford with a 43 minute turnround time, is being extended on certain journeys to Holy Island, a 21 minute journey using service number H1. Which certain journeys depends on the tide! I guess this replaces the 477 which used to run there. Passengers from Berwick can change quite neatly from the X18 to the 418 at Belford to go to Holy Island.

 

[northern506]

Arriva Northumbria are not running their enhancement of the X18 this year - in previous years they have run every 2 hours over the section north of Alnwick in the summer. They are continuing with the 4 hourly winter service. But Travelsure are running an X18 at the times between the Arriva ones which, with their existing 418, gives a roughly hourly service between Alnwick and Belford via Seahouses. I guess this is tendered by Northumberland. Sadly I assume it will mean they are not double deckers, since Travelsure do not possess such a beast.

Interestingly the Travelsure 418, which terminates at Belford with a 43 minute turnround time, is being extended on certain journeys to Holy Island, a 21 minute journey using service number H1. Which certain journeys depends on the tide! I guess this replaces the 477 which used to run there. Passengers from Berwick can change quite neatly from the X18 to the 418 at Belford to go to Holy Island.

The H1 has ran in the past (possibly last year, or the year before), alongside the 477.

I don't think there are any plans for the 477 to be withdrawn.

 

[RELL6L]

The H1 has ran in the past (possibly last year, or the year before), alongside the 477.

I don't think there are any plans for the 477 to be withdrawn.

OK, good, I'd missed that.

 

[zero]

Does anyone know the single fare from Morpeth to Alnwick on the X15?

Just roughly will do as I want to work out whether I should get a North East day ticket which appears to be £8.60 - seems very cheap if you're going to travel a lot, but I may only need to make 2 journeys

 

[nesw]

The adult single is £6.10 and the return is £7.90.

 

[Class465pacer]

If I recall correctly there is a faster bus from Maidstone to aylesford anyway so so can see why bits of this happened

From Medway yes, the 101.

 

[jammy36]

From Medway yes, the 101.

No - the 101 does not serve Aylesford. It runs fast down Bluebell Hill straight to Maidstone.

 

[duncombec]

From Medway yes, the 101.

No - the 101 does not serve Aylesford. It runs fast down Bluebell Hill straight to Maidstone.

The nearest stop to Aylesford on the 101 is Ringlestone footbridge, which Google maps says is just under a 2 mile walk.

The nearest bus stop to Aylesford is on London Road by the British Legion Village - 0.8 miles from the village centre - where you can pick up the 71 and other London Road services to Maidstone. Aylesford is actually relatively well served with alternatives in both directions (including the train to Strood for the Medway Towns end).

 

[Class465pacer]

No - the 101 does not serve Aylesford. It runs fast down Bluebell Hill straight to Maidstone.

The nearest stop to Aylesford on the 101 is Ringlestone footbridge, which Google maps says is just under a 2 mile walk.

The nearest bus stop to Aylesford is on London Road by the British Legion Village - 0.8 miles from the village centre - where you can pick up the 71 and other London Road services to Maidstone. Aylesford is actually relatively well served with alternatives in both directions (including the train to Strood for the Medway Towns end.)

Apologies for the conclusion, I meant that the 101 is faster than the 155 from Chatham, not Aylesford.

 

[RELL6L]

Apologies for the conclusion, I meant that the 101 is faster than the 155 from Chatham, not Aylesford.

The point is that the 155 was a service for the villages, not for the end-to-end journey. Apart from school journeys and a token TTh shopping service Wouldham, Burham, Eccles and the village centre at Aylesford are unserved. That’s a big loss.

 

[Man of Kent]

The point is that the 155 was a service for the villages, not for the end-to-end journey. Apart from school journeys and a token TTh shopping service Wouldham, Burham, Eccles and the village centre at Aylesford are unserved. That’s a big loss.

It would be a big loss if reasonable numbers of passengers had used it. They didn't, and it has been withdrawn. There was no sign of the spirited multi-parish campaign to retain evening services when these were threatened some years ago. Time has moved on, Covid has killed demand on many routes including this one, and other withdrawals will follow.

 

[alex397]

It would be a big loss if reasonable numbers of passengers had used it. They didn't, and it has been withdrawn. There was no sign of the spirited multi-parish campaign to retain evening services when these were threatened some years ago. Time has moved on, Covid has killed demand on many routes including this one, and other withdrawals will follow.

You do have a good point, but it is still a big loss for these villages. Regardless of falling passenger numbers, these communities need more than just a school bus and the bare minimum of 2 return journeys a week for shoppers. I can understand Arriva’s decision, they are a business, but we need better funding for these communities. They may have been villages, but they were hardly little hamlets.

 

[Robertj21a]

You do have a good point, but it is still a big loss for these villages. Regardless of falling passenger numbers, these communities need more than just a school bus and the bare minimum of 2 return journeys a week for shoppers. I can understand Arriva’s decision, they are a business, but we need better funding for these communities. They may have been villages, but they were hardly little hamlets.

Sorry to say, this is going to be the same over much of the UK. In many areas we will be left with mainly urban services and some key interurbans. The small villages will only get served if a route has to go through there to get to a key destination.

 

[jammy36]

It would be a big loss if reasonable numbers of passengers had used it. They didn't, and it has been withdrawn. There was no sign of the spirited multi-parish campaign to retain evening services when these were threatened some years ago. Time has moved on, Covid has killed demand on many routes including this one, and other withdrawals will follow.

You do have a good point, but it is still a big loss for these villages. Regardless of falling passenger numbers, these communities need more than just a school bus and the bare minimum of 2 return journeys a week for shoppers. I can understand Arriva’s decision, they are a business, but we need better funding for these communities. They may have been villages, but they were hardly little hamlets.

In a way the above two replies sum up in a crux the issue/challenge facing rural bus services across much of the country. The hey-day of rural bus services has long-since passed, probably (certainly?) never to return. This is a long-term trend that extends back to the 1950s/60s and is the result of changing social factors (increased car-ownership, role of women in society, changing working- shopping, -leisure habits, etc, etc). Covid has accelerated these changes and added a new dimension. As @Man of Kent says Covid has killed (or severely reduced) demand on many services – but is this a blip or a permanent game changer…? Time will tell, but once the bus has gone and people have changed habits and found alternatives (or had to relocate because they have no alternative) it becomes nigh-on impossible to unpick the damage done.

So, what is the role of the rural bus – I’ve always felt that buses work best as mass people movers, not to act as public taxis for a handful of passengers… but for many of those passengers these marginal bus services provide a genuine lifeline – and it is often the most marginalised in society that are most reliant on these marginal routes. What cost to the taxpayer the harm done through loneliness, social exclusion, loss of educational and employment opportunities? How does this compare to the cost of providing a subsidised service (different pots of money of course so no joined up thinking and no metric to cost against). And what of the future vibrancy or rural villages like Eccles, Wouldham and Burham if they just become countryside-dormitories for a self-selecting demographic of people who fancy rural escapism and can do so because they work from home and/or have access to a car?

Clearly not Arriva’s problem – if the passenger numbers don’t warrant a service and no-one is willing to subsidise it, then plainly it must go, but as @alex397 says it is still a loss to these villages, even if that loss is most keenly felt by too small a number of people.

 

[duncombec]

Have noticed whilst looking for something else that the first batch of accounts for the year ending 31 December 2020 have started to appear on Companies House (the PDFs are too large, and not active, to link to directly, but they can be found by searching for the company at https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/. Like last year, I've taken the figures from the "Review of Business" section on page 4 of the respective PDFs, which is the amount before tax. The "government grants" figures seem to be the most likely way of working out any Coronavirus support, unless anyone more financially minded can correct me).

Durham County: Profit of £89,000 (2019: £1,836,000. Government grants of £11,664,000, 2019 £3,581,000).
Arriva London North: Loss of £2,509,000 (2019: Profit £5,562,000. Government grants of £4,015,000, 2019 £1,670,000)
Arriva London South: Profit of £5,146,000 (2019: £9,923,000. Government grants of £1,530,000, 2019 £759,000. Haven't read more closely to see why the discrepancy in the London companies)
Midlands: Loss of £881,000 (2019: Profit £330,000. Government grants of £13,379,000, 2019 £2,968,000)
Northumbria: Loss of £158,000 (2019: profit of £2,134,000. Government grants of £8,405,000, 2019 £2,333,000).

It almost goes without saying that the reasons for the changes are down to Covid, and in all cases are mitigated by Coronavirus Bus Service Support Grant and Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme payments.

Companies posting accounts in April/early May:

Cymru: Loss of £1,515,000 (2019: profit £975,000. Government grants of £4,905,000. 2019 £2,609,000).
Midlands North: Loss of £2,260,000 (2019: Loss of 5,327,000. Government grants of £9,696,000. 2019 £1,956,000).
North West: Profit of £591,000 (2019: Loss of 1,550,000. Government grants of £15,070,000. 2019 £2,454,000).
The Shires: Profit of £511,000 (2019: Profit of £2,445,000. Government grants of £15,442,000. 2019 £3,268,000).
Yorkshire: Loss of £249,000 (2019: Profit of £2,041,000. Government grants of £13,291,000. 2019 £3,780,000).

Other companies (e.g. Kent and Surrey, Kent Thameside, Merseyside) remain outstanding.

 

[TheSel]

Arriva Merseyside (Southport garage) Enviro 400 '4579' - YX64VPU - has been outshopped in a 'Liz 2 Platinum Jubilee' wrap - including full window coverings (contravision) on the offside. Series of shots below, taken on Southport's Lord Street within the last hour.

 

[alex397]

Arriva Merseyside (Southport garage) Enviro 400 '4579' - YX64VPU - has been outshopped in a 'Liz 2 Platinum Jubilee' wrap - including full window coverings (contravision) on the offside. Series of shots below, taken on Southport's Lord Street within the last hour.

View attachment 114367View attachment 114368View attachment 114369View attachment 114370

Oh no, the dreaded contravision. I’m sure most passengers would prefer to see out of the window clearly

 

[Blindtraveler]

Do we know what if anything arriva are doing in terms of new vehicle orders for this financial year and where they are destined?

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Do we know what if anything arriva are doing in terms of new vehicle orders for this financial year and where they are destined?

Nothing for the North East apparently

With service cuts etc, I suspect that you won't see too many except where ZEBRA funded schemes are in play (and they might not be this year)

 

[M803UYA]

Do we know what if anything arriva are doing in terms of new vehicle orders for this financial year and where they are destined?

It would depend on whether the operating company achieved it's budget targets for the year. New vehicle investment by Arriva is conditional on achieving budget. So if a company is loss making, it won't receive new vehicles. If Arriva as a whole loses money, there is no new investment. Additionally, new vehicles are expected to generate passenger growth, by being new vehicles. If they don't, then they go elsewhere.
Whether or not the fleet needs replacement is immaterial......

 

[Blindtraveler]

Thank you for that genuinely interesting insight into the way the things go at arriva. I assume this differs in London where are there are some slightly more stringent requirements.