First Chester & The Wirral
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 A First Chester and The Wirral Scania L94 bus with Wright bodywork in Bromborough, Wirral, |
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| Parent company | First PMT (FirstGroup plc) |
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| Founded | 1990 |
| Headquarters | Adderley Green, Stoke-on-Trent |
| Locale | North West |
| Service area | Cheshire, Merseyside |
| Service type | Bus |
| Hubs | Chester, Birkenhead, Liverpool, Ellesmere Port |
| Operator | First Group |
| Web site | First Chester & The Wirral Homepage |
First Chester & The Wirral is a division of bus operator First PMT Ltd, running local bus services in and around Chester and the Wirral, north west England. The company is a subsidiary of FirstGroup plc, the largest bus operator in Britain.
The operation consists of two depots in Chester and one in Rock Ferry, Wirral. One of the Chester depots is that of the former Chester City Transport, acquired in 2007; the other two depots originally belonged to the former Crosville Motor Services, and were purchased (along with the then Ellesmere Port depot) by Potteries Motor Traction in February 1990. This explains their geographical separation from the traditional PMT operating area, centred on Stoke-on-Trent, which makes up the remainder of First PMT, and is now known as First Staffordshire & South Cheshire. (This split used for marketing purposes does not match that required for licensing purposes, which places the south Cheshire operating centres in the North Western Traffic Area alongside Chester and the Wirral.)
The company also operates eleven Blue Bird AARE 60-seat school buses in the Wrexham area. Wrexham depot is classed as an outstation of Chester depot, although a separate operator's licence is held for these operations, as Wrexham is located in the Welsh Traffic Area.
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[edit] ChesterBus
On 21 June 2007, it was announced that Chester City Council had agreed to sell ChesterBus to FirstGroup, subject to Government approval [1]. ChesterBus, which operates services in and around the City of Chester, was the new name for Chester City Transport following a rebranding and updating of its core network in April 2005. Prior to its sale to FirstGroup, it was wholly owned by Chester City Council and was one of the few remaining municipal bus companies in the UK.
[edit] Depot
Unusually, the ChesterBus depot dates back to 1878, is located by the railway station in Chester, and was used in the horse and tram days; there are still some cobbles and original narrow gauge tram-lines on these premises. The company had hoped to move to a new site by the end of 2006, but the old depot was still in use at the beginning of 2008.
[edit] Liveries
ChesterBus's livery was cream with a 30 cm blue strip running along the base of the bus sides, sweeping up towards the rear of the bus, and two horizontal yellow bands. It was derived from the 'Blue Diamond' identity used on low-floor buses when they were first introduced; this livery was similar but without the sweeping rear treatment and with only one yellow band. The previous livery of maroon and cream was used on step-entrance vehicles until replaced by the ChesterBus livery.
The ChesterBus livery has now been completely superseded by FirstGroup's corporate livery. Eight BMC Falcon buses retain a special 'flake grey' Park & Ride livery.
[edit] Former fleet
At the time of sale to FirstGroup, the most numerous vehicles in the fleet were 17 Dennis Darts with Plaxton Pointer bodywork, dating from 1991-6. These have since been replaced, mainly by Scania/Wright low floor single deckers transferred in from other First subsidiaries. Seven Dart SLFs with Marshall Capital bodywork, bought new in 1999/2000, were among the few vehicles retained, and have been repainted into First livery. Eight BMC Falcons bought new in 2003/4 retain their special 'flake grey' livery for Park & Ride services.
Following the withdrawal of Dennis Dominators, the double-deck fleet at the time of takeover consisted of Leyland Olympians, the majority of which had Northern Counties bodywork. These have been replaced by Scania N113 double-deckers, cascaded from nearby Rock Ferry depot.
Seven open top double deck tour buses, which were operated under the City Sightseeing brand, were also disposed of. Replacements, in the form of Leyland Olympians, arrived at the beginning of the 2008 tourist season.
[edit] 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.[2]
In October 2006, Arriva North West and Wales registered 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 commenced an action in the High Court 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, though revised registrations for the 1/1A and 15 were made in January.
The claim centred on the allegation that Arriva were abusing a dominant position, but in a judgement dated 15 June 2007, it was held that Arriva had not been demonstrated to hold a dominant position, and the claim was therefore dismissed.
The agreement of the sale was announced on 21 June 2007. The sale left only 14 municipal bus operators remaining in Britain. Since then Arriva has started operating services that duplicate a number of ChesterBus's routes; most recently (from 3 September 2007), Arriva starting operating a route identical to that of ChesterBus's number 9 route. Although the Arriva buses have more expensive fares than ChesterBus (£1.00 for a single, £2.00 for a day ticket, compared with 70p for a single and £1.30 for a return on ChesterBus services), they run more frequently, every 10 minutes compared with ChesterBus's every 15 minutes.
[edit] Fleet
The table describes the current fleet as at May 2008, including the former ChesterBus operations as First continue to merge their Chester operations.
| Image | Chassis | Body | Number | Year(s) built |
Number series |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rock Ferry | Chester | Total | |||||
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Scania L94 | Wright Solar | 0 | 9 | 9 | 2004-2005 | 657xx |
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Scania L94 | Wright Axcess-Floline | 11 | 3 | 14 | 1998-2001 | 60xxx 61xxx |
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Scania L113 | Wright Axcess-Ultralow | 22 | 24 | 46 | 1997-1998 | 60xxx 61xxx |
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BMC Falcon | BMC | 0 | 8 | 8 | 2004 | 62xxx |
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DAF SB220 | Optare Delta | 4 | 0 | 4 | 1990 | 600xx |
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DAF SB220 | Ikarus Citibus | 2 | 2 | 4 | 1992 | 600xx |
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Leyland Olympian | ECW / Leyland (includes 6 open-top) |
0 | 12 | 12 | 1984-1989 | 300xx 399xx |
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Scania N113DRB | Alexander RH | 0 | 5 | 5 | 1990-1991 | 31xxx |
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Scania N113DRB | Northern Counties | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1990 | 31xxx |
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Volvo Olympian | Alexander Royale | 6 | 0 | 6 | 1998 | 3080x |
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Volvo Olympian | Alexander R Type | 13 | 0 | 13 | 1997 | 342xx |
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Dennis Dart MPD | Plaxton Pointer 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1999 | 40042 |
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Dennis Dart SLF | Marshall Capital | 0 | 7 | 7 | 1999 | 41xxx |
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Dennis Dart SLF | Plaxton Pointer 2 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 1998 | 401xx |
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Dennis Dart | Plaxton Pointer | 4 | 8 | 12 | 1993-1997 | 401xx |
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Dennis Dart | Marshall C37 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1994 | 401xx |
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Optare Solo | Optare Solo | 0 | 3 | 3 | 1999 | 40xxx |
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Mercedes-Benz Vario | Plaxton Beaver 2 | 0 | 8 | 8 | 1997-1998 | 500xx |
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Blue Bird AARE | Blue Bird AARE | 0 | 11* | 11 | 2002 | 600xx |
| Overall Totals | 64 | 84* | 148 | 1984-2005 | |||
* Includes 11 school buses operated from Wrexham outstation
Both the former ChesterBus depot and First's original depot are included under 'Chester'
[edit] Routes
| No. | Description | Depot | Vehicle type(s) (most common) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Liverpool - Queensway Tunnel - Birkenhead - Bromborough - Ellesmere Port - Cheshire Oaks - Chester Zoo - Chester | Chester | Scania L94/Wright Solar |
| 1/1A | Chester - Blacon - Chester | Chester | Scania L113/Wright Axcess-Ultralow |
| 3 | Chester - Rivacre | Chester | Dennis Dart/Plaxton Pointer (step-entrance) |
| 3/3A | Chester - Countess of Chester Hospital - Blacon - Chester | Chester | Dennis Dart/Plaxton Pointer (step-entrance) |
| 5/5A | Chester - Boughton- Huntingdon | Chester | Scania L113/Wright Axcess-Ultralow |
| 8 | Chester - Cliveden Road - Chester | Chester | Scania L113/Wright Axcess-Ultralow |
| 9 | Chester - Piper's Ash - Chester | Chester | Dennis Dart SLF/Marshall Capital |
| 10/10A/10B | Chester - Piper's Ash or Green Lane - Chester (Sundays only) | Chester | |
| 14 | Chester - Eccleston - Chester | Chester | Dennis Dart/Plaxton Pointer (step-entrance) |
| 15/15A/15B | Chester - Countess of Chester Hospital - Saughall - Chester | Chester | Dennis Dart SLF/Marshall Capital |
| 16 | Chester - Saltney | Chester | Scania L113/Wright Axcess-Ultralow |
| 21 | Chester - Green Lane - Chester | Chester | Dennis Dart SLF/Marshall Capital |
| 25 | Chester - Belgrave Road - Chester | Chester | |
| 26/26A | Chester - Westminster Park - Cliveden Road - Chester | Chester | Dennis Dart SLF/Marshall Capital |
| 30 | Chester - Boughton Heath Park & Ride | Chester | BMC Falcon and Scania L113/Wright Axcess-Ultralow |
| 31 | Chester - Sealand Road Park & Ride | Chester | BMC Falcon and Scania L113/Wright Axcess-Ultralow |
| 32/32A | Chester - Upton Zoo Park & Ride | Chester | BMC Falcon and Scania L113/Wright Axcess-Ultralow |
| 32/33 | New Brighton - Kingsway Tunnel - Liverpool | Rock Ferry | Scania/Wright Axcess-Ultralow and Axcess Floline |
| 33 | Chester - Wrexham Road Park & Ride | Chester | BMC Falcon and Scania L113/Wright Axcess-Ultralow |
| 38 | West Kirby - Moreton - Birkenhead - Bebington - (Clatterbridge Hospital or Poulton Lancelyn) | Rock Ferry | Volvo Olympian; Dennis Dart (step-entrance); DAF SB220 |
| 39 | Liscard - Leasowe - Birkenhead | Rock Ferry | Dennis Dart (step-entrance); Volvo Olympian |
| 41/42 | Woodchurch - Birkenhead - Bromborough - Mill Park | Rock Ferry | Scania/Wright Axcess-Ultralow and Axcess Floline |
| 51 | Chester - Plas Newton | Chester | Mercedes-Benz Vario |
| 52 | Chester - Kingsway - Newton - Chester | Chester | |
| 53 | Chester - Kingsway | Chester | Mercedes-Benz Vario |
| 71/72 | Heswall - Arrowe Park Hospital - Birkenhead - Queensway Tunnel - Liverpool | Rock Ferry | Scania/Wright Axcess-Ultralow and Axcess Floline |
| A | Chester railway station - Chester "City Rail Link" circular | Chester | Optare Solo |
The table above shows regular Monday-Friday services. At weekends, some Merseytravel subsidised services are operated on the Wirral, and some additional services operate in the Chester area. On Tuesdays and Wednesdays, bus services operate to and from the Tesco store in Bidston. [3]
[edit] External links
[edit] See also
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