Trivia: Which operator has taken on the most services forfeited by the big 3

[northwichcat]

I was thinking about how most of the what D&G Bus operate in Cheshire are former Arriva routes. Some they've just taken on due to the Macclesfield and Winsford depots being closed e.g. 31/37 Northwich to Crewe. Others they'd already taken on after Arriva withdrew the route e.g. the 130 Macclesfield to Handforth. Then there's some which transferred from Arriva to GHA Coaches, and then went to D&G after the GHA collapse e.g. the 88 Knutsford to Altrincham. In fact it's hard to find routes in the list of D&G Bus services in Cheshire that didn't used to be Arriva at some point. Even something like the 89 Northwich to Knutsford is the remaining part of the 289, which was once an Arriva route.

Are there any other companies who have taken on a greater proportion of routes from Arriva (or Stagecoach or First) giving up routes or depots?

 

[Stan_Butler]

McGills would surely win this with the Renfrewshire routes from Arriva, the Stirlingshire & West Lothian routes from First and the Dundee routes from National Express. Plus must be a few individual routes in Glasgow / Lanarkshire from First.

 

[Man of Kent]

McGills would surely win this with the Renfrewshire routes from Arriva, the Stirlingshire & West Lothian routes from First and the Dundee routes from National Express. Plus must be a few individual routes in Glasgow / Lanarkshire from First.

Although in all cases those are purchases, rather than an operator stepping in when Arriva gave up (as in the D&G example).

Lloyds of Machynlleth is an example where a large proportion of the business is built on territory abandoned by Arriva.

Chalkwell of Sittingbourne's local bus (non-school) network is now exclusively all routes once operated by Arriva.

 

[JD2168]

In South Yorkshire most of the services given up by First & Stagecoach went to TM Travel or Globe Holidays but in recent times South Pennine have take a few services on.

 

[Bus Lightyear]

McGills would surely win this with the Renfrewshire routes from Arriva, the Stirlingshire & West Lothian routes from First and the Dundee routes from National Express. Plus must be a few individual routes in Glasgow / Lanarkshire from First.

What are McGill's running in Lanarkshire these days?

 

[roadierway77]

The vast majority if not all of East Coast Buses' routes (subsidiary of Lothian Buses) are former First Scotland East routes, taken over when First left East Lothian in 2016. Though of course First no longer operate in central Scotland outwith greater Glasgow.

 

[Stan Drews]

What are McGill's running in Lanarkshire these days?

North: 23, 35, 312, X36, X37
South: 64/164/364, 165

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

The vast majority if not all of East Coast Buses' routes (subsidiary of Lothian Buses) are former First Scotland East routes, taken over when First left East Lothian in 2016. Though of course First no longer operate in central Scotland outwith greater Glasgow.

Again, wasn't that a purchase by Lothian rather than First simply vacating?

To be honest, I'd be thinking that the main beneficiary...has been Stagecoach. They picked up most of the Guildford work when Arriva packed up there, most of the remaining First stuff in Northampton, a bit of North Devon when they weren't allowed to buy it, the 84 in Cheshire.

The other one is D&G which really largly exists as a result of First's decline in the Potteries, initially after they had withdrawn routes after an O license cut in 2003 and then incrementally pulling off routes. D&G was then able to expand into Cheshire as Arriva declined and ultimately disappeared.

 

[vlad]

I was thinking about how most of the what D&G Bus operate in Cheshire are former Arriva routes....

Most of what they operate in Staffordshire used to be Arriva as well. Arriva pulled out of the area completely about 10 years ago now I think and D&G bought what they left behind. That's an interesting one, actually, as D&G had only sold their Stoke operations to Arriva a few years beforehand!

 

[LUYMun]

One example sprung to my mind are Falcon and Safeguard, who have been taking on routes given up by Arriva and Stagecoach in the Guildford and Woking areas.

In December 2021, following the announcement of Arriva's departure, Safeguard Coaches took on Guildford town route 18 alongside the Sunday operations on the 3. At the same time, Falcon Buses took on the 436 and 479 routes out of Woking and Guildford respectively, also previously operated by Arriva.

Stagecoach took the majority of Arriva's work, but after suffering a driver shortage throughout 2022, they gave up some urban routes to focus on the new key corridors by that September. One was the package of Woking shopper bus routes (39A/39B/39C/40) and route 81 going to Safeguard while simultaneously dropping the 18 from their portfolio, that route passing to Compass Travel. At the same time, Falcon took the Sunday operations of the 479 (then run by Stagecoach), now having full reins over the whole week.

 

[Cesarcollie]

There have actually been numerous examples over the last decade or so. Safeguard and Falcon in Guildford already mentioned, ditto Chalkwell in Sittingbourne and D&G in Cheshire. But also Stephensons in Bury St Edmunds and Braintree (ex First), Lynx in the Kings Lynn area (ex Stagecoach ex Norfolk Green ex First!) , and Sanders in North Norfolk. Stephensons again in Cambridgeshire (ex Stagecoach), Centrebus in Herts (mainly ex Arriva)……etc etc.

 

[Flange Squeal]

Reading Buses have done well out of taking on work dropped by some of the big groups. 2014 saw them take on the Reading to Arborfield/Wokingham route from Go-Ahead owned Thames Travel, after they closed their local depot following their loss of council contracts in the area a short time prior. 2015 saw First close their Bracknell depot, with Reading Buses taking on the Bracknell to Reading route. 2017 saw them take over the Bracknell to London Victoria Greenline service which First dropped. 2018 saw a couple of routes in Slough that First also dropped being taken on too, plus half of the Aldershot - Fleet - Reading route 7 which Stagecoach dropped the northern half of.

Indirectly they have other networks in their portfolio now that had previously been operated by the big groups, but these generally came as part of Reading Buses' acquisition of the independent Courtney Buses in 2019. Most of this work I believe was council contracts being won from the larger groups, rather than having been taken on because the big groups dropped them though (although the loss of the Bracknell contracts did contribute to First then closing their depot in the town). These include (over the years, not all in one go) the Maidenhead network won from First, Wokingham network and some Bracknell routes won from Go-Ahead Thames Travel, and the Bracknell network won from First Berkshire. These now trade as Reading Buses' Thames Valley division.

 

[43055]

Believe much of the Midland Classic/Diamond East Mids network around Burton is taken from former Arriva routes with Midland Classic taking on routes/revising routes which Arriva withdrew from before selling the Burton depot.