Arriva North West

Arriva North West

Wright Gemini 2s in Speke
Parent	Arriva
Founded	2009
Headquarters	73 Ormskirk Road Aintree Liverpool L9 5AE
Locale	North West England
Service area	Merseyside, Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Lancashire
Service type	Bus
Hubs	Bolton, Liverpool, Macclesfield, Manchester, Runcorn, St Helens, Southport, Widnes
Operator	Arriva
Web site	Arriva North West website

Arriva North West is a division of Arriva that operates bus services around North West England. It consists of two companies: Arriva North West Ltd and Arriva Merseyside Ltd.

Arriva North West as an operating division (distinct from the registered company Arriva North West Ltd) came into being in its present form in January 2009, when Arriva Buses Wales was separated out from Arriva North West and Wales,^[1] although it had existed as an operating division between 1997 and 2002.

Arriva North West has a fleet of buses numbering just under 1,000.

History

Arriva North West was originally formed following the split of Ribble Motor Services in readiness for privatisation in 1986,^[2] with the operations in Merseyside, West Lancashire and Wigan operating as North Western. The name was taken from the former North Western operations, which ran between 1923 and 1976. The current North Western operations were taken over by Drawlane (who would later be renamed as British Bus) in 1988, who would also took over the operations of the Bee Line Buzz Company, who ran services in Greater Manchester. In 1996, British Bus was bought by the Cowie Group, which subsequently became Arriva, with services renamed as Arriva North West in 1998.

In February 2000, the company acquired MTL Trust Holdings, which created a larger presence in the Merseyside area and more than doubling the size of the company. In 2002, Arriva North West merged with Arriva Cymru and renamed as Arriva North West and Wales. Three former Arriva Midlands depots in Crewe, Macclesfield and Winsford were transferred into the North West & Wales operation, although the depot at Crewe was closed in December 2005.^[2][3]

Arriva expanded more in July 2005 by taking over Blue Bus of Bolton,^[4] which almost doubled their presence in Greater Manchester. In January 2009, the Wales operation was split from Arriva North West as Arriva Buses Wales with the Arriva North West name resurrected for the North West England operations.^[1][2]

Although the company is officially known as Arriva North West, some operations were originally registered under alternative Arriva names. Former Bee Line operations were registered as Arriva Manchester, some Liverpool operations and, slightly confusingly, the former Blue Bus operations were registered as Arriva Liverpool. As of Autumn 2011 a large proportion of services in Merseyside remain registered under the separate Arriva Merseyside Ltd licence.

Operating centres

The company has depots in:

• Birkenhead - Laird Street.
• Bolton - Folds Road.
• Bootle - Hawthorne Road.
• Liverpool (Stoneycroft) - Green Lane.
• Liverpool (Speke) - Shaw Road (sometimes referred to as Woodend Avenue).
• Macclesfield - Lyme Green - Gaw End Lane. (Now regarded as an outstation of Winsford)
• Manchester - St Andrew's Square (near Manchester Piccadilly station).
• Runcorn - Beechwood.
• St Helens - Jackson Street.
• Southport - Canning Road.
• Winsford - Road Four, Winsford Industrial Estate.
• Wythenshawe (Manchester) - Greeba Road, Roundthorn Industrial Estate.

Past depots, now closed or sold, have included:

• Crewe - Delamere Street (closed December 2005)
• Gillmoss - East Lancashire Road (sold to Glenvale Transport in July 2001, in response to a Competition Commission requirement)
• Huyton - Wilson Road (closed 2006)
• Skelmersdale - Neverstitch Road (closed 23 July 2011)
• Warrington - Athlone Road (closed February 2002)

Routes

Main route network

As of May 2012

Cheshire

Greater Manchester

Lancashire

Merseyside

Night bus network

Fleet

The fleet consists of approximately 950 operational vehicles as of March 2012,^[5] consisting of a wide variety of makes and types. The fleet is about 79% single-deck and 94% low-floor. Arriva stated its intention to make its main routes serving Liverpool completely low-floor by 2008, and the whole of Merseyside by 2011.^[6]

Single deck

The Dennis Dart SLF, along with its smaller variant the MPD, still makes up a significant part of the fleet, accounting for just over 200 vehicles. The last step-entrance Dennis Darts have been withdrawn. More recently, the VDL SB120 and SB200 have become the standard single deck types, the majority featuring Wright Cadet, Commander and Pulsar bodywork; between them, these types now make up over a third of the fleet. Other new deliveries since 2007 have included ten Alexander Dennis Enviro300, four Alexander Dennis Enviro200 Darts and fifteen Optare Solos.

The only remaining step entry single deckers are seventeen Scania L113s with Northern Counties Paladin bodywork, sixteen of which are based at St Helens, the other being unallocated.

Double deck

On the double-deck side of the fleet, a total of 47 new VDL DB300s with Wright Gemini 2 bodywork are being delivered to Speke and Winsford depots, the bulk of the order, 44 buses, intended for the former. 35 Alexander Dennis Enviro400s entered service in 2009, mainly displacing Volvo Olympians. Twenty-three of the Enviro400s were for routes through the Mersey Tunnels, these being the first vehicles in the fleet to carry the interurban (now standard) variant of Arriva livery, apart from a solitary demonstrator. The other twelve were for services between Bootle and Aigburth Vale. Previously, 30 Volvo B7TL with Alexander ALX400 bodywork had entered service on services between Liverpool and Garston in 2006. The low floor double-deck fleet has been boosted by over 50 DAF DB250 with Alexander ALX400 bodywork and six Wright Eclipse Gemini-bodied Volvos from Arriva London, and three Dennis Tridents with Plaxton President bodywork that were acquired with the Blue Bus business in Bolton.

The dwindling fleet of step-entrance double-deckers consists mainly of around thirty Northern Counties bodied Volvo Olympians.

Unusual vehicles

Unusual vehicles in the fleet include the Ikarus 481 and Polaris bodies on DAF SB220 chassis, acquired with the Blue Bus fleet. The seven Polaris bodies account for a majority of those imported. There are also four MAN 14.220s with East Lancs Myllennium bodywork based at Bolton. Until October 2008, twelve Neoplan N4016 were operated on service 18A from Liverpool to Croxteth Park, and were the only vehicles of their type in Britain.

Speke depot received a total of ten Mercedes-Benz Citaro articulated buses from Arriva London in 2011. Two branded vehicles arrived for use on the AirLink 501 route in June 2011,^[7] and from September 2011, a further eight standard livery examples found use on service 699 between the University of Liverpool and Carnatic Halls. In November 2011, articulated vehicles were first used on the AirLink 500 route between Liverpool city centre and Liverpool John Lennon Airport.

Fleet summary

Double deck (low floor)
Chassis	Count	Body type(s)	Image(s)	Allocated to
VDL DB300	47	Wright Gemini 2		Speke (44) and Winsford (3)
DAF DB250	43	Alexander ALX400		Birkenhead (8), Bootle (20), Manchester (9), Unallocated (3), Winsford (3)
Volvo B7TL	36	Alexander ALX400 Wright Eclipse Gemini		Birkenhead (6), Southport (8) and Speke (22)
Alexander Dennis Enviro400	35	Alexander Dennis Enviro400		Birkenhead (23) and Bootle (12)
Dennis Trident 2	3	Plaxton President		Birkenhead (3)
Total - double deck (low floor)	164
Double deck (step entry)
Chassis	Count	Body type(s)	Image(s)	Allocated to
Volvo Olympian	30	East Lancs Pyoneer Northern Counties Palatine Northern Counties Palatine II		Bolton (10), Southport (5), Speke (3), Unallocated (5) and Winsford (7)
DAF DB250	5	Northern Counties Palatine II		Bolton (5)
Total - double deck (step entry)	35
Single deck (low floor)
Chassis	Count	Body type(s)	Image(s)	Allocated to
VDL SB200CS	276	Wright Commander Wright Pulsar Wright Pulsar 2		All depots except Winsford
Dennis Dart SLF/SPD/MPD	214	Alexander ALX200 Marshall Capital Plaxton Pointer Plaxton Pointer 2		All depots except Speke
DAF SB120 VDL SB120	109	Plaxton Centro Wright Cadet		Birkenhead (19), Bolton (4), Bootle (4), Runcorn (35), Speke (20), St Helens (8) and Winsford (19)
DAF SB220	53	Alexander ALX300 East Lancs Myllennium Ikarus Polaris Ikarus 481 Plaxton Prestige		Birkenhead (14), Bolton (9), Green Lane (9), Manchester (5), Speke (14) and Unallocated (2)
Volvo B10BLE	32	Wright Renown		Bolton (2), Green Lane (6), Southport (7) and St Helens (17)
Optare Solo M880SL	13	Optare Solo		Bolton (5), Manchester (8) and St Helens (4)
Alexander Dennis Enviro300	10	Alexander Dennis Enviro300		Manchester (10)
Mercedes-Benz Citaro G	10	Mercedes-Benz Citaro		Speke (10)
Alexander Dennis Enviro200 Dart	4	Alexander Dennis Enviro200 Dart		Southport (4)
MAN 14.220	4	East Lancs Myllennium		Bolton (4)
Volvo B7L	1	Wright Eclipse		Bolton (1)
Total - single deck (low floor)	726
Single deck (step entry)
Chassis	Count	Body type(s)	Image(s)	Allocated to
Scania L113	14	Northern Counties Paladin		St Helens (13) and Unallocated (1)
Total - single deck (step entry)	14

See also

• List of bus operators of the United Kingdom

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Arriva North West

• Arriva North West website

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