Centrebus

Plaxton Pointer bodied Dennis Dart SLF in Leicester City Centre in October 2011
Slogan	It's a bus that takes you into The Centre!
Founded	2001 (South Yorkshire/North Yorkshire) 25 July 2010 (Centrebus West Yorkshire)
Defunct	13 September 2013 (Centrebus West Yorkshire)
Headquarters	Leicester
Service area	(Current Service Operations) Bedfordshire Hertfordshire Leicestershire Lincolnshire Northamptonshire Rutland (Former Service Operations) Leeds Wakefield Huddersfield
Service type	Bus services
Chief executive	Peter Harvey
Website	www.centrebus.info

Centrebus^[1] is a bus company operating services in Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire and Rutland. It is also has a shareholding in High Peak Buses.

History

Plaxton Centro bodied VDL SB120 in April 2007

Northern Counties Palatine bodied Volvo B10M-50 in September 2008

Centrebus was founded in 2001, it was previously known as Anstey Buslines. In 2002, the businesses of inMotion, Dunstable^[2][3] and Centrebus, Leicester merged to form the basis of the business today.

Expansion

The business expanded through acquisition. In January 2004, Centrebus acquired the St Albans operation of Blazefield.^[3] The business expanded with Hertfordshire contract wins, and taking over the Harpenden to Hemel Hempstead commercial route from Arriva Shires & Essex. In March 2008, Centrebus sold its St Albans operations to Uno.^[4]

On 12 February 2005, Centrebus commenced operating in Grantham, following the cessation of MASS Transit.^[5]

In June 2007, Centrebus purchased Bowers Coaches,^[6] a local bus operator based in Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire. Bowers operated services in Cheshire, Derbyshire and Greater Manchester. In April 2012 Centrebus transferred the business into a joint venture with the Wellglade Group to form High Peak Buses with Bowers operations relocated to Trent Barton's Dove Holes depot.^[7][8]

In May 2008, the Centrebus shareholders headed by director Julian Peddle, formed Centrebus Holdings with Arriva taking a 40% shareholding. Centrebus Holdings was an independent company from the main business, but was managed by Centrebus on a day-to-day basis. In September 2013, Arriva bought out its partners with the West Yorkshire operations rebranded as Yorkshire Tiger and the Hinckley operations as Hinckley Bus.^{[9][10][11][12]} Despite the name, Centrebus Holdings has never had any shareholding in Centrebus, and was formed to take over K-Line and Stagecoach Huddersfield, and subsequently the Hinckley operations of Arriva Midlands.

In September 2008, Centrebus purchased the local bus operations of the Woods Coaches, Leicestershire business. In August 2009, the business of Trustybus,^[13] with operations in Essex and Hertfordshire, was purchased by Centrebus.^[14] In August 2010 Centrebus took over the operations of Judges Mini Coaches, Corby with routes serving Kettering, Milton Keynes, Welford, Wellingborough, Wicken and Yardley Gobion.

In May 2011, Centrebus took over West End Travel^[15] and its fleet of buses and services in Melton Mowbray and Rural Rider services. In October 2011 Centrebus purchased Paul James Coaches,^[16] Saxby from Veolia Transport with 21 buses.

In July 2011 Centrebus took over the business of Kimes Buses, Folkingham. Kimes was founded in 1945 and sold in January 1997 to its employees.^[17] It operated a fleet of 23 vehicles at the time of the takeover. Its green and cream livery and the Kimes name were retained by Centrebus.^[18] In August 2013 the depot was closed with operations transferred to Centrebus' Grantham depot.^[19]

In November 2012, Centrebus closed its Harlow depot with most routes passing to Roadrunner Buses.^[20] The remaining routes moved to the Stevenage depot, allowing the business to consolidate its East Hertfordshire operations on a single site.

References

External links

• Media related to Centrebus at Wikimedia Commons
• Centrebus website

Centrebus Group Bus companies Centrebus Leicestershire Northampton Corby Lincolnshire Hertfordshire Bedfordshire High Peak Buses Derbyshire Greater Manchester Cheshire Former operations Bowers Coaches Derbyshire Greater Manchester Cheshire West Yorkshire Centrebus Holdings The Huddersfield Bus Company Tiger Blue

Major bus companies based in the East Midlands Derbyshire Arriva Derby High Peak Buses Hulleys of Baslow Kinchbus Stagecoach in Chesterfield Notts + Derby TM Travel Trentbarton Yourbus Leicestershire Arriva Fox County Centrebus First in Leicester (part of First Midlands) Kinchbus Trent Barton Lincolnshire Centrebus Delaine Buses Stagecoach in Lincolnshire Northamptonshire Centrebus Stagecoach in Northants (as part of Stagecoach Midlands) Nottinghamshire Centrebus Johnson Bros Tours Kinchbus Nottingham City Transport Stagecoach in Lincolnshire Stagecoach in Mansfield TM Travel Trentbarton Yourbus National Megabus National Express