Arriva Buses Wales

Arriva Buses Wales

A VDL SB200, Wright Commander in Llangollen on a TrawsCambria X94 service.
Parent	Arriva
Founded	2009
Headquarters	Llandudno
Locale	North Wales
Service area	Chester, Wrexham, Flintshire, Denbighshire, Conwy, Gwynedd, Isle of Anglesey, Ceredigion
Service type	Bus
Hubs	Chester, Wrexham, Rhyl, Llandudno, Bangor, Dolgellau, Aberystwyth
Web site	Arriva Buses Wales website

Arriva Buses Wales is a division of Arriva that operates bus services in north Wales. It has its origins in the former Crosville Motor Services. Arriva Buses Wales has approximately 700 employees. The company's official name is Arriva Cymru Ltd.

History

The original predecessor of Arriva Buses Wales was Crosville Motor Services, who ran services in Wales and northern England.^[1] The company was split following deregulation in 1986, with the Welsh operation called Crosville Cymru. The English operations would eventually be split between Arriva Midlands, Arriva North West and First Chester & The Wirral.

Crosville Cymru was bought by its management team in 1987 before being taken over by National Express Group in 1989. Drawlane would buy the company in 1991, with Drawlane eventually re-named as British Bus and then Arriva. The company would be known as Arriva Cymru until 25 February 2002, when it merged with Arriva North West, forming part of Arriva North West and Wales.^[1][2] However, on 1 January 2009, the Welsh operations were split off again, under a new managing director, Michael Morton, and a management team based at Llandudno Junction.^[1][2][3]

Operating centres

The company has depots in:

• Aberystwyth - Park Avenue.
• Bangor - Llandygai Industrial Estate, Llandygai.
• Hawarden (near Chester) - Manor Lane Industrial Estate, Manor Lane.
• Llandudno Junction - Glan-y-Mor Road.
• Rhyl - Ffynnongroew Road.
• Wrexham - Berse Road, Caego.

There are also smaller outstations or sub-depots at other locations, including Pwllheli, Holyhead and Amlwch (outstations of Bangor depot), Dolgellau, Machynlleth, New Quay, Lampeter and Pencader (outstations of Aberystwyth depot).

Fleet

Dennis Darts, of the low-floor SLF and MPD varieties, make up about half of the fleet. More recent deliveries have been VDL SB120 and SB200 with Wright Cadet, Commander and Pulsar bodywork, and Optare Solos. Other types operated include the Optare Tempo, eleven of which are used on TrawsCambria services south from Aberystwyth.

Double-deckers allocations are concentrated with six Volvo Olympians with Northern Counties Palatine bodywork, operated by Bangor (and its outstations) on dedicated duties. Ten DAF DB250LF (ex London cascades) have in recent times been introduced to Rhyl and Aberystwyth, with Wrexham depot also expected to receive examples of the type. The open-top double-deckers are operated in Rhyl, for use on the 120 Pensarn - Rhyl - Talacre summer route. Some examples find occasional use for special event private hires, such as football victory parades.

During March 2010 Arriva Buses Wales announced that the whole fleet is now 100% low floor (except open-tops and College/School duties).^[4]

During January 2012 Arriva Buses Wales' Rhyl depot took delivery of ten brand new Wright Gemini 2 double deckers for use on the X11 Rhyl-Chester "Cymru Coastliner" route.

Fleet summary

Double deck (low floor)
Chassis	Count	Body type(s)	Image(s)	Allocated to
DAF DB250	14	Alexander ALX400		Aberystwyth (3), Rhyl (8) and Wrexham (3)
VDL DB300	10	Wright Gemini 2		Rhyl (10)
Total - double deck (low floor)	24
Double deck (step entry)
Chassis	Count	Body type(s)	Image(s)	Allocated to
Volvo Olympian	8	Northern Counties Palatine		Bangor (8)
Leyland Olympian (open top)	6	Alexander R Type ECW		Llandudno (3) and Rhyl (3)
Scania N113 (open top)	1	Northern Counties		Rhyl (1)
Total - double deck (step entry)	15
Single deck (low floor)
Chassis	Count	Body type(s)	Image(s)	Allocated to
Dennis Dart MPD/SLF	104	Plaxton Pointer Plaxton Pointer II		All depots
VDL SB200	43	Wright Commander Wright Pulsar		Aberystwyth (12), Bangor (14), Rhyl (13) and Wrexham (4)
Optare Solo M880SL/M950SL	24	Optare		Bangor (8), Chester (6), Rhyl (2) and Wrexham (8)
VDL SB120	18	Wright Cadet		Aberystwyth (1), Bangor (6) and Chester (11)
Volvo B7RLE	7	Wright Eclipse		Bangor (7)
Optare Versa V1110	2	Optare		Chester (2)
Total - single deck (low floor)	209
Coaches
DAF SB4000	2	Van Hool Alizee		Aberystwyth (2)
Total - coaches	2

See also

• List of bus operators of the United Kingdom

1. Photos of Arriva Buses in North Wales [1]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Arriva Buses Wales

• Arriva Buses Wales website

v t e Major bus companies operating in Wales Companies Arriva Buses Wales Cardiff Bus Edwards Coaches Express Motors First Cymru GHA Coaches Lloyds Coaches Newport Transport Padarn Bus Richards Bros Stagecoach Wales Tanat Valley Coaches Veolia Transport Cymru National Megabus National Express TrawsCambria