Arriva Buses (including Greenline)

[plebb11]

The new timetables for Hertfordshire have gone up at;

Arriva Bus

www.arrivabus.co.uk

Watford
Service 9 is to be withdrawn – however the route/stops will be covered by the New Service 328.
Service 10 is to be withdrawn. Abbots Langley will be served in part by new service 328between Broomfield Rise and Watford, continuing to South Oxhey and Mount Vernon Hospital. The section between South Way and the stop at Broomfield Rise will not be served.
Service 20 will see its frequency increase from every 30 minutes to every 20 minutes between Tibbs Hill Road and Holywell Estate via Watford.
New school service 320 will operate from Hemel Hempstead, Leverstock Green, Woodside, Garston, Watford, Croxley Green and Rickmansworth Schools replacing the current Service 821.
New service 322 will replace 321 between Berry Lane Estate or Maple Cross, Croxley Green and Watford then continue to Hemel Hempstead, replacing 508 on this section. Watford to Hemel Hempstead will increase from two buses per hour to three.
New service 328 will replace 508 between Mount Vernon Hospital, Northwood and South Oxhey every 30 minutes, then continuing hourly to Leavesden Park replacing service 9 continuing to Abbots Langley (The Fairway).
Service 321 will no longer serve Croxley Green, Rickmansworth, Berry Lane or Maple Cross but instead operate from Luton to Watford General Hospital (Thomas Sawyer Way main entrance) via Harpenden and St Albans every 30 minutes.
New limited stop service 725 will operate from Rickmansworth Station to Stevenage (Lister Hospital) via Watford, St Albans, Hatfield Galleria & Welwyn Garden City, hourly.
Between Watford and St Albans services 321, 724 and 725 combine to provide 4 buses per hour.
Service 335/336 is to be withdrawn.
Hemel Hempstead
Service 2 frequency will reduce from every 15 minutes to every 20 minutes Monday to Friday.
Service 3 and 4 will see minor timetable changes.
Service 20 will see its frequency increase from every 30 minutes to every 20 minutes between Tibbs Hill Road and Holywell Estate via Watford.
Service 302 will be extended from its current terminus at Marlowes to Riverside and Hemel Hempstead Station.
New school service 320 will operate from Hemel Hempstead, Leverstock Green, Woodside, Garston, Watford, Croxley Green and Rickmansworth Schools replacing 821.
Service 508 is to be withdrawn. A new Service 322 will provide a more frequent offering between Hemel Hempstead, Watford, Rickmansworth & Maple Cross.
New limited stop service 721 will operate from Hemel Hempstead to Luton via St Albans, Harpenden every 30 minutes Mondays to Fridays.
Between Hemel Hempstead and St Albans services 302 and 721 combine to provide 4 buses per hour.
St Albans
Service 301 timetable changes to improve punctuality.
Service 302 is to be extended to Hemel Hempstead station, there will also be some timetable changes to improve punctuality.
A new Service 721 limited stop service linking Luton, Harpenden, St Albans and Hemel Hempstead. Service 721 will serve the full length of King Harry Lane.
New limited stop Service 725 linking Stevenage, Welwyn Garden City, Hatfield Galleria, St Albans, Watford and Rickmansworth.
Service 321 and 721 provide 4 buses per hour to Luton and Harpenden.
Service 302 and 721 provide 4 buses an hour to Hemel Hempstead.
Service 321, 724 and 725 provide 4 buses an hour to Watford.
Service 301, 302, 724 and 725 provide 6 buses an hour to Hatfield and Welwyn Garden City.

https://arriva.acquiadam.com/direct...p/5YKgA005S6oeLGLIKnHhRTVmEO6LWeeiQsL8nwWqozS

 

[overthewater]

Deutsche Bahn nears sale of red London bus operator Arriva

International transport group with strong UK presence being pursued by investor I Squared

www.ft.com

Has anyone had any dealings or knowledge with Infrastructure investor "I Squared Capital"

They own 20% of the Irish power market, they have fiber-optic network around the world, so just like last year when they tried to get hold of First I can't get my head around them wanting Arriva.

 

[RELL6L]

The new timetables for Hertfordshire have gone up at;

Arriva Bus

www.arrivabus.co.uk

Interesting. The 321 and 721 take exactly the same time to get from Luton to St Albans and fit together to give a regular 15 minute frequency, which is good. So what is limited stop about the 721?

And they take ages to get from St Albans Girls School (used to be the bus garage stop) to St Peter’s Street - always used to be one minute!

 

[Man of Kent]

Interesting. The 321 and 721 take exactly the same time to get from Luton to St Albans and fit together to give a regular 15 minute frequency, which is good. So what is limited stop about the 721?

And they take ages to get from St Albans Girls School (used to be the bus garage stop) to St Peter’s Street - always used to be one minute!

If I recall correctly, St Peter's Street was highlighted in the Hertfordshire Bus Service Improvement Plan as the consistently worst source of delays to bus services in the county. Certainly in my experience it is usually a sticking point - on a recent visit on a Saturday morning, traffic levels increased notably in the hour or so I was there, with an impact on bus timekeeping.

 

[Tetchytyke]

Has anyone had any dealings or knowledge with Infrastructure investor "I Squared Capital"

They own 20% of the Irish power market, they have fiber-optic network around the world, so just like last year when they tried to get hold of First I can't get my head around them wanting Arriva.

There’s a thread on it in the main railway section of the forum.

Arriva Sold to I Squared by DB

Media reports say that DB is in negotiations with Miami-based infrastructure investor I Squared for them to acquire its Arriva unit. That would include Arriva's operation of bus and train services in the UK and elsewhere in Europe...

www.railforums.co.uk

 

[RELL6L]

If I recall correctly, St Peter's Street was highlighted in the Hertfordshire Bus Service Improvement Plan as the consistently worst source of delays to bus services in the county. Certainly in my experience it is usually a sticking point - on a recent visit on a Saturday morning, traffic levels increased notably in the hour or so I was there, with an impact on bus timekeeping.

Actually it must be the other girls’ school on the edge of town, the time from Harpenden would be too quick otherwise. But 12 minutes at 6.46 on Saturday morning?

There is no 721 at weekends so a reduction between Luton and St Albans on Saturdays. The 321 is pretty busy now, this will be a loss.

And there doesn’t seem to be anything limited stop or quick about the 721!

 

[duncombec]

But 12 minutes at 6.46 on Saturday morning?

There is an extensive market on St Peter's Street on a Saturday - perhaps this is peak setting-up time?

 

[A0wen]

There is an extensive market on St Peter's Street on a Saturday - perhaps this is peak setting-up time?

But there is nothing either side of that - you'd easily recover the time on the approach to and departure from St Albans (unless there are roadworks or an accident) at that hour of the day on a Saturday.

The new timetables for Hertfordshire have gone up at;

Arriva Bus

www.arrivabus.co.uk

Yes - and it has some very interesting things - I'm not going to hold my breath that these "new" routes are going to be particularly successful.

So the 908 between Stevenage and Welwyn Garden City runs via Ayot and Valley Road between Welwyn and Welwyn Garden City - the bit to Valley Road lost its regular service back in the late 1980s - because there's nothing there. And Valley Road for many years only had the recently reduced 366 - it's not the kind of place a bus service does well.

The 725 manages to have a reduced journey time between Welwyn Garden City and St Albans by running out of Welwyn GC along Parkway and then via Stanborough and along Comet Way, so avoiding the QE2 hospital, Hatfield Tesco, Hatfield Station and Hatfield Town Centre and not stopping until the Comet Roundabout - that's going to confuse alot of people. It is basically copying Uno's 601 (though the Uno bus does at least serve Hatfield Garden Village) - so once again BSIP funding is going into direct competion with commercially operated routes.

And if confusing the punters isn't enough - the way the 721 will reach Hemel Hempstead means that there will now be Hemel bound buses on both sides of St Peter's Street - currently (and basically for as many years as I care to remember) the Hemel bound buses all departed northbound on St Peter's Street (back to the days of the 330/340) as the 302 does now. But the 721 will arrive from the north and depart south heading to Hemel. I have to admit I don't "get" the logic of running a Luton - Harpenden - St Albans - Hemel bus. It's too slow for end to end Luton - Hemel journeys where it takes about 1h 15 mins, so is slower that the 46 which runs through the villages and only takes 50 minutes. Harpenden - Hemel had a regular bus for some years - the 307 - which was a Herts County contract until being withdrawn due to poor use about 10 years ago. Whether St Albans - Hemel justifies 4 buses an hour is a moot point - it did for many years with Sovereign and later Arriva 300 / 301, but more recently Arriva curtailed the services from Stevenage at St Albans and started a standalone Welwyn Garden City - Hemel service running half-hourly.

If I was looking to add 2 buses an hour between St Albans and Hemel, I'd be more inclined to send them towards Hatfield where they might be used, than towards Harpenden, where they won't.

 

[overthewater]

There’s a thread on it in the main railway section of the forum.

Arriva Sold to I Squared by DB

Media reports say that DB is in negotiations with Miami-based infrastructure investor I Squared for them to acquire its Arriva unit. That would include Arriva's operation of bus and train services in the UK and elsewhere in Europe...

www.railforums.co.uk

Cheers for that, I dare say that is where most of the discussion will be about this topic.

 

[duncombec]

The deal with I Squared has been announced:

https://www.ft.com/content/ec540389-37eb-46b2-9f08-c4222106cb62 (apologies the formatting of the quote is awful - it stripped it out on copy!)

I Squared buys red London bus operator Arriva Miami-based infrastructure investor plans to invest over €2bn in transport operator with strong UK presence

Infrastructure fund I Squared Capital has said it will invest more than €2bn in growing and electrifying the fleet of Arriva after taking control of one of the biggest operators of red London buses and train services in the UK.
The Miami-based infrastructure investment group on Thursday announced a deal to acquire UK-based Arriva, Deutsche Bahn’s international transport business, and expressed interest in further transport deals in Europe.
Financial terms were not disclosed, but the deal is worth about €1.6bn including debt, the FT previously reported.
Mohamed El Gazzar, a senior partner at I Squared Capital, said in an interview that the deal represented a bet on both decarbonising transport and the UK more broadly.
“We are very confident on this as a megatrend . . . If you want to meet any target when it comes to decarbonisation you have to think about electrifying the fleet,” he said. “There is no solution but to continue to deploy capital in public transport.”
El Gazzar said I Squared would “absolutely” hunt for more deals in the public transport space, adding that the group was “bullish” on the UK.
“We focus on deploying capital when there is a large growth story, and for us this is about an energy transition effort,” he said.
I Squared, which has more than $37bn in assets under management, made a £1.23bn bid for UK-listed FirstGroup last year, which was rejected as “significantly undervaluing” the rail and bus operator. The group also has other investments in the UK including energy solutions group Aggreko and trailer leasing company TIP.
The deal comes after years of effort by Deutsche Bahn, the German state-owned railway company, to offload at least part of Arriva to raise cash to lower its debt and invest in its ailing domestic operations.
“The agreed sale is an important step to focus even more on additional growth in rail transport in Germany,” said Levin Holle, Deutsche Bahn’s chief financial officer, in a statement.
Deutsche Bahn had considered a partial sale as early as 2016, having bought Arriva in 2010 for £1.5bn. Arriva has also sold off its operations in some non-core markets in recent years.
Headquartered in Sunderland, Arriva has 35,500 employees and operates rail services, local buses, commuter coaches and trams, transporting 1.5bn rail and bus passengers a year.
The company is best known for its position as one of the largest bus operators in London, where it operates the city’s iconic red double-decker buses for Transport for London.
It also has a significant presence in other parts of the UK bus market, and is responsible for about 15 per cent of the UK passenger rail market, including running trains on the London Overground network, and the CrossCountry and Chiltern Railways franchises. Among its other European operations, Arriva operates buses in Spain and Italy, and trains in the Netherlands.
The transaction is expected to be completed next year subject to customary closing conditions, including approval by German officials.

 

[Edvid]

Here's a letter from the UK Bus MD to all employees (as posted on Tangytango Proboards):

Dear colleagues,

This morning you will have received the news from our CEO, Mike Cooper, that our shareholder, Deutsche Bahn, has entered into an agreement with I Squared Capital – a leading global infrastructure manager – to purchase the whole of the Arriva Group.

This is a significant milestone for the Arriva Group and provides a strong platform for future growth, therefore I wanted to write to all UK Bus colleagues personally, as I appreciate you may have questions about what this means for you and for Arriva UK Bus going forward.

The first thing to say is that this very positive news for Arriva UK Bus and our long-term future. I Squared has an established track record of investing in service companies like ours and I am pleased to confirm that on completion of sale – which is expected in April 2024 at the latest – all roles and employment terms and conditions, including pension benefits, will be unchanged.

The second thing to note is that this is a significant vote of confidence in not only our business, but also our Fit for Future turnaround strategy. I Squared recognises the potential of our business and the opportunity to invest and improve our services, and they are committed to providing the long-term capital we need to decarbonise our fleet.

While the announcement of new owners and long-term investment is clearly an exciting step forward for the Group, in UK Bus we have to earn any future investment by demonstrating that we are a sustainable business. Therefore, our immediate focus does not change and we must all continue to focus our efforts on making Arriva UK Bus Fit for Future.

I’m pleased to see that we have already taken significant strides on that journey. Since launching Fit for Future in March this year, we have collated over 400 initiatives to reduce our cost base and improve the efficiency of our operations, including delivering on concession negotiations, improving our scheduling and driver efficiency, and improving our recruitment to reduce our reliance on agency costs.

I am confident that, with your continued support and engagement, we can deliver what is necessary to achieve our goal and ensure our business is Fit for the Future.

I am sure you will all have more specific questions and reaction to today’s announcement, and your managers have been briefed so they can have further conversations with you. Until the transaction is completed, let’s all continue to stay focused on the task at hand.

The UK Bus Executive Leadership Team and I feel very optimistic about the future of Arriva UK Bus and I am confident that, with the support of I Squared, we can unlock the long-term investment our business needs to achieve future profitable growth.

Thank you, as always, for your continued support and engagement.

Jens

For-Notice-Boards-Business-Update hosted at ImgBB

Image For-Notice-Boards-Business-Update hosted in ImgBB

ibb.co

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

The deal with I Squared has been announced:

https://www.ft.com/content/ec540389-37eb-46b2-9f08-c4222106cb62 (apologies the formatting of the quote is awful - it stripped it out on copy!)

Thank the lord for that, on two levels.

Firstly, it means the crayonistas can now stop colouring in their maps of the country as they sought to sell off each individual OpCo to someone else.

More seriously and importantly, it means that on completion of the deal, you might have an owner with a clear and necessary need and ability to invest in the business. However, it has been massively damaged by the DB ownership era. Perhaps some aim to develop the business rather than it continually circling the plughole.

 

[Deerfold]

Thank the lord for that, on two levels.

Firstly, it means the crayonistas can now stop colouring in their maps of the country as they sought to sell off each individual OpCo to someone else.

I doubt it will.

Now they'll be debating who I Squared well be selling each one to.

Clearly, at the moment we don't know what their strategy will be. It may be cost cutting and trying to improve profits or it might be selling some of the more marketable areas to fund improving the others. It may be wholesale closing of areas they think have no future.

 

[M803UYA]

Here's a letter from the UK Bus MD to all employees (as posted on Tangytango Proboards):

"While the announcement of new owners and long-term investment is clearly an exciting step forward for the Group, in UK Bus we have to earn any future investment by demonstrating that we are a sustainable business. Therefore, our immediate focus does not change and we must all continue to focus our efforts on making Arriva UK Bus Fit for Future."

For-Notice-Boards-Business-Update hosted at ImgBB

Image For-Notice-Boards-Business-Update hosted in ImgBB

ibb.co

Thank the lord for that, on two levels.

More seriously and importantly, it means that on completion of the deal, you might have an owner with a clear and necessary need and ability to invest in the business. However, it has been massively damaged by the DB ownership era. Perhaps some aim to develop the business rather than it continually circling the plughole.

I'm drawn to a sentence from the employee notice, which I've copied and pasted in above.

When I worked for them, it was fairly clear that investment would only happen when the company achieved it's targets. As the targets were fairly unachievable and never achieved, there was no investment.

If the company will continue to persist with this approach then presumably we'll continue to see the continued lack of investment in substantial numbers of new vehicles to replace the ones which have become worn out. There isn't even any sort of approach which puts in new equipment to the best routes in companies, so nothing to filter down the fleet.

If Arriva UK Bus is to have any sort of long term future, it needs to develop and fund a long term plan to invest in the latest vehicles. In the low floor revolution of the 2000s, Stagecoach had Gold, First had some sort of interior specification, Go Ahead had some decent standard and high profile branding alongside marketing. Arriva, well they developed an app.

There needs to be some sort of new idea that will take the operation forwards. The present state of suspended animation helps no one. Perhaps introducing zero emission vehicles is that new idea - properly funded it could generate lots of new passengers to the bus.

DB is heavily loss making and in debt itself - only profitable bits of it were DB Schenker and Arriva which have been milked fairly dry. Perhaps I'm being cynical but I can see further consolidation of Arriva's operations with more depot closures. Possible that those wouldn't fit into a long term strategy in any event. Somewhere like Selby depot would be a location I wouldn't see surviving - they serve marginal bus territory middle to elderly fleet that ideally tacks onto First/Transdev operations.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

I'm drawn to a sentence from the employee notice, which I've copied and pasted in above.

When I worked for them, it was fairly clear that investment would only happen when the company achieved it's targets. As the targets were fairly unachievable and never achieved, there was no investment.

If the company will continue to persist with this approach then presumably we'll continue to see the continued lack of investment in substantial numbers of new vehicles to replace the ones which have become worn out. There isn't even any sort of approach which puts in new equipment to the best routes in companies, so nothing to filter down the fleet.

If Arriva UK Bus is to have any sort of long term future, it needs to develop and fund a long term plan to invest in the latest vehicles. In the low floor revolution of the 2000s, Stagecoach had Gold, First had some sort of interior specification, Go Ahead had some decent standard and high profile branding alongside marketing. Arriva, well they developed an app.

There needs to be some sort of new idea that will take the operation forwards. The present state of suspended animation helps no one. Perhaps introducing zero emission vehicles is that new idea - properly funded it could generate lots of new passengers to the bus.

DB is heavily loss making and in debt itself - only profitable bits of it were DB Schenker and Arriva which have been milked fairly dry. Perhaps I'm being cynical but I can see further consolidation of Arriva's operations with more depot closures. Possible that those wouldn't fit into a long term strategy in any event. Somewhere like Selby depot would be a location I wouldn't see surviving - they serve marginal bus territory middle to elderly fleet that ideally tacks onto First/Transdev operations.

Arriva has had to elbow its way to the table to get precious little investment and think that line does nod to that. In any business, investment must be backed up with a business case so I'm not reading it quite as being the "same old" approach.

That said, the current management approach is entrenched and I'm not convinced that they will be able to transform that any time soon. Similarly, whilst always at pains not to highlight specific depots, there are a few areas where you think that the rot advanced so far that they are beyond redemption.

 

[RELL6L]

Nobody could do worse, with the recent timetable changes they have wrecked the service in the High Wycombe area. Boards missing every day, there must be some drivers short too as some buses are parked up at the bus station at times when nothing ought to be. On the 850, the last time the 17.15 departure from Reading - height of the evening peak hour - operated at all was over two weeks ago, on 4 October, when it left Reading 56 minutes late. Every other day it has been cancelled. yesterday the 19.15 didn't run either! (BusTimes shows it a bit but it was clearly running empty - just look at its previous journey on the 800 where it seems to have got lost in Caversham and gone all over the place, going from 26 minutes late to 94 minutes late in one minute of official journey time)

3008 - BJ12 YPT

Mercedes-Benz Citaro O530

bustimes.org

 

[Tetchytyke]

When I worked for them, it was fairly clear that investment would only happen when the company achieved it's targets. As the targets were fairly unachievable and never achieved, there was no investment.

If the company will continue to persist with this approach then presumably we'll continue to see the continued lack of investment in substantial numbers of new vehicles to replace the ones which have become worn out. There isn't even any sort of approach which puts in new equipment to the best routes in companies, so nothing to filter down the fleet.

I’m not as negative.

As @TheGrandWazoo says, DB are under financial pressure and so any revenue from Arriva went straight back to Germany. It’s been like that for years, Arriva supposedly making minimal profits because of large “management fees” heading to Berlin.

I don’t know much about I Squared but my belief is they’ve bought it as it was available at a discount and that they believe they can add value to the business.

Infrastructure-sector PE are generally in it for the longer term. As I said in the other three, infrastructure sector PE are usually after consistent long-term returns, they’re not usually after quick returns from flipping a business. At the very least, they’d be in to develop it to sell at a profit.

I’m sure some depots may be sold off, but I don’t see the new owners engaging in a wholesale disposal of OpCos, as you don’t add value by flogging everything off.

 

[pm2304877]

I’m not as negative.

As @TheGrandWazoo says, DB are under financial pressure and so any revenue from Arriva went straight back to Germany. It’s been like that for years, Arriva supposedly making minimal profits because of large “management fees” heading to Berlin.

I don’t know much about I Squared but my belief is they’ve bought it as it was available at a discount and that they believe they can add value to the business.

Infrastructure-sector PE are generally in it for the longer term. As I said in the other three, infrastructure sector PE are usually after consistent long-term returns, they’re not usually after quick returns from flipping a business. At the very least, they’d be in to develop it to sell at a profit.

I’m sure some depots may be sold off, but I don’t see the new owners engaging in a wholesale disposal of OpCos, as you don’t add value by flogging everything off.

The North Wales operation should be sold INTACT to the Welsh Government/Senedd Cymru in order to preserve networks . A combination of smaller firms would be a disaster, like GHA was .
However the Chester City operations on routes 14 and 15 could become full Stagecoach operations as these are not in Wales in the way the cross border routes are.


North West minus Wythenshawe should remain one unit .
I wonder if the name could eventually rebranded as British Bus? Arriva started out as an inoffensive name but has acquired a toxicity of its own!

 

[M803UYA]

I’m not as negative.

As @TheGrandWazoo says, DB are under financial pressure and so any revenue from Arriva went straight back to Germany. It’s been like that for years, Arriva supposedly making minimal profits because of large “management fees” heading to Berlin.

I don’t know much about I Squared but my belief is they’ve bought it as it was available at a discount and that they believe they can add value to the business.

Infrastructure-sector PE are generally in it for the longer term. As I said in the other three, infrastructure sector PE are usually after consistent long-term returns, they’re not usually after quick returns from flipping a business. At the very least, they’d be in to develop it to sell at a profit.

I’m sure some depots may be sold off, but I don’t see the new owners engaging in a wholesale disposal of OpCos, as you don’t add value by flogging everything off.

I really hope I'm proved wrong - I guess we're going to see.

Or in my case, I'm going to see the immediate effects of these changes as they operate what is left of our local bus service.

 

[Deerfold]

The North Wales operation should be sold INTACT to the Welsh Government/Senedd Cymru in order to preserve networks . A combination of smaller firms would be a disaster, like GHA was .
However the Chester City operations on routes 14 and 15 could become full Stagecoach operations as these are not in Wales in the way the cross border routes are.


North West minus Wythenshawe should remain one unit .
I wonder if the name could eventually rebranded as British Bus? Arriva started out as an inoffensive name but has acquired a toxicity of its own!

I doubt anything will be sold or reorganised in a hurry.

Arriva is far more than its British bus operations. Many of its European operations have a good reputation.

 

[M803UYA]

The North Wales operation should be sold INTACT to the Welsh Government/Senedd Cymru in order to preserve networks.

How do you feel the Welsh Government would improve the operation from where it is presently?

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

The North Wales operation should be sold INTACT to the Welsh Government/Senedd Cymru in order to preserve networks . A combination of smaller firms would be a disaster, like GHA was .
However the Chester City operations on routes 14 and 15 could become full Stagecoach operations as these are not in Wales in the way the cross border routes are.


North West minus Wythenshawe should remain one unit .
I wonder if the name could eventually rebranded as British Bus? Arriva started out as an inoffensive name but has acquired a toxicity of its own!

I'm not certain about the line highlighted - I don't think there's any suggestion that I Squared is looking to break up Arriva Cymru and not certain that it can really reduce much further.

It should be pointed out that there has always been a substantial presence of independent operators in North Wales who have lower overheads than the corporates/NBC/municipals.

Also, as @Deerfold points out, Arriva is still a major European player. British Bus was not exactly a by-word for quality in the industry either

 

[Tetchytyke]

I really hope I'm proved wrong - I guess we're going to see.

Definitely! They’re talking of up to £1bn investment into the business, it’ll be interesting to see what (if any) of this appears.

 

[overthewater]

Definitely! They’re talking of up to £1bn investment into the business, it’ll be interesting to see what (if any) of this appears.

Is that £1bn investment across the whole Arriva empire? Doesn't sound like much for UK bus, if it has to compete with the rest of the groups operations.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Is that £1bn investment across the whole Arriva empire? Doesn't sound like much for UK bus, if it has to compete with the rest of the groups operations.

The article says £2bn

 

[Voyager 2093]

Nobody could do worse, with the recent timetable changes they have wrecked the service in the High Wycombe area. Boards missing every day, there must be some drivers short too as some buses are parked up at the bus station at times when nothing ought to be. On the 850, the last time the 17.15 departure from Reading - height of the evening peak hour - operated at all was over two weeks ago, on 4 October, when it left Reading 56 minutes late. Every other day it has been cancelled. yesterday the 19.15 didn't run either! (BusTimes shows it a bit but it was clearly running empty - just look at its previous journey on the 800 where it seems to have got lost in Caversham and gone all over the place, going from 26 minutes late to 94 minutes late in one minute of official journey time

 

[450.emu]

The North Wales operation should be sold INTACT to the Welsh Government/Senedd Cymru in order to preserve networks . A combination of smaller firms would be a disaster, like GHA was .
However the Chester City operations on routes 14 and 15 could become full Stagecoach operations as these are not in Wales in the way the cross border routes are.


North West minus Wythenshawe should remain one unit .
I wonder if the name could eventually rebranded as British Bus? Arriva started out as an inoffensive name but has acquired a toxicity of its own!

I think names like "British Bus" will take it backwards and damage chances abroard, it's too similar to the current jingoistic name being planned for BR... hopefully this is Arriva's "Postecoglu Moment" (football reference) and Tottenham Bus Garage can be just as successful (hopefully) as the football team of similar name up the High Road Arriva had lost their way, certainly being eclipsed by Go Ahead in orders of electric buses but am glad to see retention of the 243 and it hopefully moving to electric buses. The 279 is awaiting its electrics to start on the route.

A lot of the London fleet is tired, the if the SB200's have been working as hard as their DB300 siblings, they are long overdue replacement. Hopefully an end to the practise of tired London buses being single doored then made to work a second life in the Provinces.

I wonder if they're busy scraping off the "A DB Company" vinyls yet?

 

[pm2304877]

I'm not certain about the line highlighted - I don't think there's any suggestion that I Squared is looking to break up Arriva Cymru and not certain that it can really reduce much further.

It should be pointed out that there has always been a substantial presence of Weindependent operators in North Wales who have lower overheads than the corporates/NBC/municipals.

Also, as @Deerfold points out, Arriva is still a major European player. British Bus was not exactly a by-word for quality in the industry either

I think names like "British Bus" will take it backwards and damage chances abroard, it's too similar to the current jingoistic name being planned for BR... hopefully this is Arriva's "Postecoglu Moment" (football reference) and Tottenham Bus Garage can be just as successful (hopefully) as the football team of similar name up the High Road Arriva had lost their way, certainly being eclipsed by Go Ahead in orders of electric buses but am glad to see retention of the 243 and it hopefully moving to electric buses. The 279 is awaiting its electrics to start on the route.

A lot of the London fleet is tired, the if the SB200's have been working as hard as their DB300 siblings, they are long overdue replacement. Hopefully an end to the practise of tired London buses being single doored then made to work a second life in the Provinces.

I wonder if they're busy scraping off the "A DB Company" vinyls yet?

I was under the impression that DB was only selling the British operations therefore British Bus was a suggestion. Fragmentation of the North Wales operation would be a dsiaster because it would take a lot of small firms to cover what Arriva does in the coastal strip and Wrexham.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

I was under the impression that DB was only selling the British operations therefore British Bus was a suggestion. Fragmentation of the North Wales operation would be a dsiaster because it would take a lot of small firms to cover what Arriva does in the coastal strip and Wrexham.

Where does the suggestion of fragmentation of Arriva Cymru come from though? It's not coming from Arriva/DB/ISC

 

[duncombec]

Nobody could do worse, with the recent timetable changes they have wrecked the service in the High Wycombe area. Boards missing every day, there must be some drivers short too as some buses are parked up at the bus station at times when nothing ought to be. On the 850, the last time the 17.15 departure from Reading - height of the evening peak hour - operated at all was over two weeks ago, on 4 October, when it left Reading 56 minutes late. Every other day it has been cancelled. yesterday the 19.15 didn't run either! (BusTimes shows it a bit but it was clearly running empty - just look at its previous journey on the 800 where it seems to have got lost in Caversham and gone all over the place, going from 26 minutes late to 94 minutes late in one minute of official journey time)

3008 - BJ12 YPT

Mercedes-Benz Citaro O530

bustimes.org

Is this purely from bustimes, purely from observation using bustimes as a back-up, or a mixture of both?

There were roadworks in Caversham on the day you quote (at least according to local news and council websites, and Reading Buses), starting at approx. 7pm. It seems as though the driver of that vehicle got a bit lost - perhaps confused because they weren't expecting them, being due there before 7pm? Perhaps due to having to follow inadequate guidance (trying to divert using Google maps on a phone and not break the law at the same time? Perhaps because of vehicles setting up the roadworks meaning some turns were inaccessible? - but made it to Reading eventually. Not sure you can tell for certain that the 850 journey was "clearly running empty" either - as it left 75 minutes late, it may have only carried a few infill passengers and run fast where appropriate. Otherwise, why run through Marlow, rather than sticking with the A404 as far as Handy Cross?