ChesterBus
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
ChesterBus is a local public transport service for the City of Chester in England. It is wholly owned by Chester City Council and is one of the few remaining municipal bus companies in the UK. Formerly Chester City Transport, its new name is the result of rebranding and updating of its core network in April 2005.
The service has a universal fare, £1.30 for an adult single, or £2 for a return (formerly £1.20 and £1.80 respectively, until fuel prices forced the fares up).
All bus stops, displaying a picture and the words "Chester City Council", display the timetable for this bus company. Buses, in general, visit destinations further away from the central bus exchange every hour (e.g. Christleton), and destinations closer to the centre every 15 minutes (e.g. Vicars Cross).
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[edit] Bus Depot
Unusually, the operator's depot dates back to 1878, is located by the railway station in Chester, and was used in both the horse and tram days; there are still some cobbles and original narrow gauge tram-lines on these premises. The company hoped to move to a new site by the end of 2006.
[edit] Liveries
The company's livery is cream with a 30 cm blue strip running from the base of the bus along the side that sweeps up towards the rear of the bus. The livery contains two horizontal yellow bands, a throwback to the mid-1990s when early low floor buses arrived. These were branded as 'Blue Diamond', were logically in blue but without the sweeping rear treatment and operated with only one yellow band. A declining number of buses still sport part of the former Chester City Transport livery of maroon and cream (with a yellow band at the skirt of the bus), which was used in its current form from 1997, at which time the amount of cream increased.
[edit] Fleet
The ChesterBus fleet is made up of Dennis Darts with Plaxton Pointer bodywork bought between 1991-5, and Dart SLFs with Marshall Capital bodywork (one batch bought new in 1999/2000, and some 1997 examples bought from Halton in 2004). They also operate the relatively rare all-Marshall Minibus. For Park & Ride services (in a special 'flake grey' livery) are eight BMC Falcons bought new in 2003/4 and four Scania L113s with Wright bodywork, bought out of a batch of six new in 1997/8, the other two used on normal work. They also operate four Solos, bought in 2003.
Double decks are quite varied. ChesterBus has Dennis Dominators with Northern Counties bodies, bought new between 1981-3 and also with East Lancs, bought second hand during the mid- to late-1980s (again dating from 1981-3). Also operated are four Leyland Olympians with Northern Counties bodywork dating from 1985, and two similar examples from Derby, dating from 1982 (purchased by ChesterBus in 1987). Three Leyland Olympians with Alexander RL bodywork came to the fleet in late 1991, and were ex-Scottish Bus Group examples, one of which dates from 1984, and the remainder from 1986. Two ex-WYPTE buses are also in the fleet, with bus no. 8 (HTU 785X, UWW 1X) being significant as it was the first Olympian new to WYPTE in 1981. The other is UWW 2X, which is an open top bus. There is one surviving Leyland Fleetline, which is closed top and dates from 1980 and is an ex-GMPTE example, via GMPTE's then Lancashire United subsidiary. ChesterBus' newest double decks are one all-Leyland Olympian bought second-hand in 1991 (and dating from 1988), two unique Cummins L10-engined Leyland Olympians from 1989. They also operate open top tours under the City Sightseeing brand, with one Leyland Olympian and six Leyland Fleetlines bought new between 1979-80.
[edit] Routes
| Service | Route | Daytime frequency (first bus) | Evening frequency (last bus) | Sunday frequency (service hours) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1, 1A | Chester Exchange - Blacon - Chester Exchange (circular) | 15 min (0540) | 30 min (2325) | 30 min (0720-2300) |
| 3, 3A | Chester Exchange - Countess of Chester Hospital - Blacon - Chester Exchange (circular) | 30 min (0650) | No Service (1810) | No Service |
| 4 | Chester Exchange - Waverton | 60 min (0745) | No Service (1830) | No Service |
| 5, 5A | Chester Exchange - Huntington | 30 min (0635) | 1 service (2340) | 60 min (0820-2258) |
| 8 | Chester Exchange - Cliveden | No Service (1900) | 60 min (2328) | No Service |
| 9 | Chester Exchange - Pipers Ash | 15 min (0630) | 60 min (2335) | No Service |
| 10A, 10B | Chester Exchange - Whitchurch Road | No Service | No Service | 60 min (0900-2335) |
| 14 | Chester Exchange - Eccleston | 3 services (0835) | No Service (1640) | No Service |
| 15/15A/15B | Chester Exchange - Saughall | 15 min (0630) | 60 min (2328) | No Service |
| 21 | Chester Exchange - Green Lane Shops | 15 min (0645) | 60 min (2308) | No Service |
| 25 | Chester Exchange - Westminster Park - Chester Exchange (circular) | 60 min (0930) | No Service (1545) | No Service |
| 26 | Chester Exchange - Countess of Chester Hospital -Blacon - Chester Exchange (circular) | 30 min (0650) | 30 min (1810) | No Service |
| 28 | Chester Railway Station - Western Avenue - Chester Railway Station (circular) | 60 min (0905) | No Service (1405) | No Service |
| 35 | Chester Exchange - Guilden Sutton | 60 min (0905) | No Service (1745) | No Service |
| 41, 41A | Chester Exchange - Whitchurch | 60 min (0650) | 60 min (2259) | 120 min (0915-2223) |
| 52 | Chester Exchange - Kingsway - Newton - Chester Exchange (circular) | No Service (2145) | 60 min (2310) | No Service |
[edit] Prospective sale
There was speculation in the summer of 2006 that ChesterBus would be sold to a private operator, and the sale was confirmed in August with Chester City Council announcing that 12 companies were interested in buying.[1] Given Blackburn Transport's sale to Transdev Blazefield in October 2006, if the ChesterBus sale goes through there will be only 14 municipal bus operators remaining in Britain.
In October 2006, Arriva North West and Wales registered[2] a network of services, to commence in January 2007, which duplicated a number of ChesterBus's routes. On 11th October 2006, ChesterBus and Chester City Council started an High Court action[3] against Arriva, claiming that the registrations were anti-competitive under the Competition Act 1998, and asking for an injunction requiring Arriva to de-register them. In December, the registrations were cancelled[4]. In January 2007, revised registrations for the 1/1A [5] and 15 [6] were made, to commence in April 2007.
