| Slogan | "The really good bus company" |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1989 |
| Headquarters | Heanor, Derbyshire |
| Service area | Derbyshire, Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, Staffordshire, South Yorkshire |
| Service type | Bus, Coach, Tram |
| Hubs | Alfreton, Belper, Burton upon Trent, Leicester, Loughborough, Sheffield, Buxton, Derby, Heanor, Ilkeston, Long Eaton, Mansfield, Nottingham |
| Stations | Hucknall, Bulwell, Phoenix Park, Basford, Hyson Green, Nottingham |
| Daily ridership | 40,000,000 per annum |
| Fuel type | Diesel, Electric |
| Operator | Trent Barton, Notts & Derby, Kinchbus, Nottingham Express Transit, TM Travel, Midland General, Derby Community Transport |
| Web site | www.trentbarton.co.uk, www.tmtravel.co.uk, www.kinchbus.co.uk, www.felixbusandcoach.co.uk |
The Wellglade Group based in the East Midlands; it is a significant independent bus operator in the United Kingdom and in 2012 it will also have a stake in the Nottingham Express Transit Tram system in Nottingham a move which is a first for an independant bus company. It was originally formed as the result of merging Derbyshire's Trent Buses with Nottinghamshire's Barton Transport to create Trent Barton which is the main operating division for the group.
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Wellglade employs in excess of 1,000 people in various parts of Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire, running a fleet of more than 400 modern buses on a network of rural, urban and inter-urban bus routes carrying 40 million passengers per year.
The company is divided into distinct operating companies each with their own identity and brands.
Trent Barton operates services from Manchester in the north to Loughborough in the south as well as Ashbourne, Burton upon Trent, Chesterfield, Derby, Ilkeston, Mansfield, and Nottingham.
They advertise as 'The really good bus company', offering arguably the highest quality bus network in the UK; the drivers undergo a tough selection process.[1] Their marketing has been revolutionary with innovations such as Named Bus Routes e.g. the Indigo rather than traditional numbers or letters and they have pioneered the use of Smartcards among independant bus operators in the UK with the Mango product. The company style has been unlike the majority of bus operators in raising quality standards beyond normal bus design, as evidenced by the development of the new Optare Tempo SR specifically designed for the company. The company "frequently asks its passengers what they want through independent market research exercises, and aims to achieve this through a stringent qualit control regime backed up by a Customer Charter that includes a ‘money back for any reason’ guarantee" (BIA, 1999).[2] They claim to be the only transport provider in Europe to offer a no-quibble, on the spot, money back guarantee for anyone who is unhappy with their service.
Kinchbus is a bus operator based in Loughborough. It was originally an independent company established by Gilbert Kinch. It operates various local services around Loughborough, Route 2 from Leicester to Loughborough and Skylink from Derby to Loughborough and Leicester, via East Midlands Airport. It has a fleet of 31 buses. The Kinchbus fleet consists of low-floor buses, branded for each route. Service 5 and the Sprint use Optare Solos, services 11/12 use Optare Tempos, service 9 uses Dennis Darts, Skylink uses Plaxton Centros and service 2 uses Wright Eclipse Urbans.
Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Traction Ltd. (trading as Notts+Derby) operates a small number of local bus services, school buses and contract and private hire work in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire. They operate a fleet of vehicles, most of which previously operated with Trent Barton. The fleet consists of: 27 Northern Counties Paladins, 10 Optare Excels, 4 Optare Solos and 6 Dennis Darts. Also in the fleet are 15 Leyland Olympian's and Volvo Olympians, with various bodyworks. These were previously operated by Lothian, in Edinburgh.
TM Travel is a bus operator based in Halfway, Sheffield which operates passenger bus services in South Yorkshire and Derbyshire. Founded in 1995 as a family-owned operation with one bus, by March 2008 it had expanded to become the largest independent operator in Derbyshire. The company was taken over by the Wellglade Group in January 2010.[3]
On the 29th March 2011, Nottingham City Council had announced the preferred bidder for NET Phase Two was Tramlink Nottingham.[4] The consortium will be run by the Wellglade Group and Keolis; Alstom will provide 22 new trams for the line and Vinci will build the new route. (Vinci also holds the contract to build Nottingham Station's new multi storey car park.) In early 2012, Tramlink Nottingham will take over the running of the tram system, including Line One for 23 years. Construction of Lines two and three is due to begin in 2012 and the line is due to open in late 2014.
The most recent purchase has been the acquisition of Felix Bus & Coach which already shared two bus routes with TrentBarton these being Black Cat and Ilkeston Flyer. It remains to be seen whether these brands will be amalgamated to remove the Felix livery.[5]
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