Arriva Midlands

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Arriva Logo
An Arriva Midlands Dennis Dart in Leicester
An Arriva Midlands Dennis Dart in Leicester
An Arriva Wright Cadet arriving a Telford Central.
An Arriva Wright Cadet arriving a Telford Central.

Arriva Midlands is a division of Arriva. It operates bus services around the Midlands area of England and is made up of various previous bus operators.

Contents

[edit] Arriva Midlands North

Formerly part of Midland Red and latterly Midland Red North until been rebranded as Arriva in late 1997. This part of the business operated buses in:

Cheshire with depots at (Crewe, Macclesfield & Winsford)

Shropshire with depots at (Oswestry, Shrewsbury, Shifnal, Bridgnorth (since closed) & Wellington)

Staffordshire with depots at (Burton, Cannock, Stafford & Tamworth)

South Derbyshire Swadlincote Garage closed on 24th December 2007. All operations have now moved to Burton Depot.

In early 2003, the Cheshire garages passed to Arriva North West. The remaining part of Arriva Midlands North were combined with Arriva Fox County, forming Arriva Midlands. Buses still operate with Arriva Midlands North legal name (except Burton which uses Stevensons of Uttoxeter, trading as Arriva) but the headquarters changed from Cannock to Thurmaston (Leicester), the headquarters of Arriva Fox County.

Services cover Shropshire, Staffordshire around parts of the West Midlands county, most notably Walsall and Wolverhampton although several services stretch as far west as over the Welsh border into Powys and Wrexham and far south as Birmingham.

The logo for the Chase Linx brand.
The logo for the Chase Linx brand.

On 25th February 2007 Chase Coaches Limited sold out to Arriva Midlands and the operations merged into Cannock from 28th April 2007.

In late 2007 a new Chase Linx brand (similar to the Leicester Linx brand below) was introduced, reflecting the purchase of Chase Coaches. [1]

At the beginning of 2008, the vehicles on the Shrewsbury park and ride service that Arriva Midlands operates were painted in a new blue livery.

April 2008 saw the first of a new fleet of 10 Scania OmniLinks delivered for the Tamworth to Birmingham service. A number of Volvo B9TL/Wright Eclipse Gemini are also due.

[edit] Arriva Derby

The logo for the Town Linx brand.
The logo for the Town Linx brand.

Formerly Derby City Transport this part of the business originates from the Derby Corporation buses pre-deregulation. An extensive service operates within Derby although numerous services stretch beyond the city boundaries. In 2007, a new Town Linx brand was introduced to services in South Derbyshire and East Staffordshire, similar to the schemes in Leicester and Cannock. [2]

In early 2008, an order was announced for 59 new buses to update the fleet. The first 23 will be Scania OmniLinks and the first had already begun to arrive in April. Eight Optare Solo Slimlines are due for routes 28 and 32, all of these buses will be ready by October. To follow in 2009, 17 double deckers are due for routes 37/8 and for routes 60/61 11 single deckers.

[edit] Arriva Fox County

The logo for the Leicester Linx brand.
The logo for the Leicester Linx brand.
A Wright Commander with Local Linx branding.
A Wright Commander with Local Linx branding.

This was the part of Arriva responsible for operations throughout Leicestershire with a network largely based on the county town, Leicester. This part of the business was formerly part of Midland Red and latterly traded as Midland Red East and Midland Fox. Services stretch from Nottingham in the north and Coventry in the south.

In May 2006 Arriva launched Operation Overdrive in Leicestershire, with a new Leicester Linx brand. "Local Linx" is used for the more local routes, while "City Linx" is used for town-to-town express services. [3]

[edit] References

[edit] External links