Arriva Buses Wales

Arriva Buses Wales^[2] (Welsh: Bysiau Arriva Cymru) is a bus operator providing services in North Wales and Chester. It is a subsidiary of Arriva.

History

Open top Leyland Olympian on tour of Llandudno in 2010

Wright Cadet bodied VDL SB120 in Bangor in April 2009

Alexander Dennis Enviro400 on Sapphire route 1 at Chester Business Park

Plaxton Pointer 2 bodied Dennis Dart in Wrexham in May 2013

Crosville Motor Services was formed in 1919 and operated services in Wales and northern England.^[3] It became a subsidiary of National Bus Company before its Welsh operations were split into Crosville Cymru in preparation for sale in 1987 through a management buyout.

In 1989 Crosville Cymru was sold to National Express. In 1991 it was sold again to British Bus.^[4][5]

In August 1996 British Bus was purchased by the Cowie Group. It traded as Arriva Cymru until February 2002, when it merged with Arriva North West to form Arriva North West & Wales.^[3][6]

In August 2008 Arriva purchased routes 9 and 9A with seven buses from KMP.^[7][8]

In January 2009, Arriva North West & Wales was split, with the Welsh operations being managed by a new management team based at Llandudno Junction depot.^[3][6][9]

Services

Arriva Buses Wales operates services across North Wales from Holyhead to Chester and Wrexham.^[10] During the summer months open top buses operate services in Rhyl.

Arriva Buses Wales previously operated some Trawscambria services.

Depots

Arriva Buses Wales operates four depots:

• Bangor - Llandygai Industrial Estate, Llandygai (headquarters)
• Hawarden (near Chester) - Manor Lane Industrial Estate, Manor Lane
• Rhyl - Ffynnongroew Road
• Wrexham - Berse Road, Caego

There are also smaller outstations or sub-depots at other locations, including Llandudno, Holyhead and Amlwch (outstations of Bangor). Caelloi Motors share their depot with Arriva in Pwllheli.

The former regional headquarters and depot at Llandudno Junction closed in April 2013.^[11] Aberystwyth depot, along with its outstations at New Quay and Lampeter closed on 21 December 2013, along with Dolgellau, latterly an outstation of Wrexham depot.^[12] Councillors and AMs criticised the short notice given by Arriva, leading to fears that communities could be left without bus services;^[13] however, other operators took over the running of the routes.

Fleet

Dennis Darts, of the low-floor SLF and MPD varieties, make up just over a third of the fleet as at spring 2014 (down from around half the fleet in 2011). More recent deliveries have been VDL SB120 and SB200 with Wright Cadet, Commander and Pulsar bodywork, and Optare Solos. Other types operated include a pair of Optare Versas used on service X44 between Chester and Mold; seven Volvo/Wright Eclipse acquired from K.M.P. in 2008 along with the Llandudno-Bangor-Caernarfon services on which they were then used; and a pair of Van Hool Alizée coaches transferred in from Arriva Midlands, initially for use on service 20 between Cardiff and Aberystwyth.

Double-deckers feature in the allocations of all of the four depots. Bangor (and its outstations) operate five double-deckers on dedicated duties; in spring 2014, long-serving Volvo Olympians were in the process of being replaced by cascaded low-floor DAFs from the Midlands. Seven DAF DB250LF (ex London cascades) are based at Rhyl. During January 2012 Rhyl depot took delivery of ten brand new Wright Gemini 2 double-deckers for use on the 11-series Rhyl-Chester "Cymru Coastliner" routes. Rhyl depot is also home to a small fleet of open-top double-deckers for use on the 1 Towyn - Rhyl - Talacre summer route. During 2014, several ex-London DAF DB250LF were being converted to open-top configuration to replace the Leyland Olympians previously used. Chester depot have brand new Alexander Dennis Enviro 400's in Sapphire for route 10 from Chester - Connahs Quey and 10A from Chester - Holywell.

During March 2010 Arriva Buses Wales announced that the fleet was 100% low floor (except open-tops and college/school duties),^[14] although high-floor Van Hool coaches were subsequently brought in to replace Optare Tempos on Aberystwyth-Cardiff duties.

29 April 2013 saw the introduction of the first Sapphire concept of all UK regional ARRIVA Bus fleets. Nine refurbished Alexander Dennis Enviro400 buses, representing a £650,000 investment^[15] were introduced on route 1 between Wrexham and Chester.^[16] Two batches of brand new Sapphire specification Alexander Dennis Enviro400s were introduced in 2014 and 2015 respectively - twenty for Rhyl depot^[17] and nine for Chester depot.^[18]

In mid 2015 a batch of eleven Alexander Dennis Enviro200s with an 8.9 metre length were introduced to the fleet - with six being allocated to Wrexham depot and the other five allocated to Rhyl depot.

See also

• List of bus operators of the United Kingdom

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Arriva Buses Wales.

• Arriva Buses Wales website

Major bus companies operating in Wales Companies Arriva Buses Wales Bath Bus Company Cardiff Bus Edwards Coaches Express Motors First Cymru GHA Coaches Lloyds Coaches NAT Group Newport Transport Richards Bros Stagecoach South Wales Tanat Valley Coaches Long-distance Megabus National Express TrawsCambria TrawsCymru