Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council wa ...

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...

Greater London Greater may refer to: *Greatness, the state of being great *Greater than, in inequality (mathematics), inequality *Greater (film), ''Greater'' (film), a 2016 American film *Greater (flamingo), the oldest flamingo on record *Greater (song), "Greate ...

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian. Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first major city in Roman Britain and its first capital. Colches ...

Arriva UK Bus Arriva UK Bus is a major bus operator in the United Kingdom based in Sunderland, England. It is a subsidiary of Arriva which runs transport services across Europe, which has been a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn since 2010. Arriva UK Bus operates ...

Harlow Harlow is a large town and local government district located in the west of Essex, England. Founded as a new town, it is situated on the border with Hertfordshire and London, Harlow occupies a large area of land on the south bank of the upp ...

Ware Ware may refer to: People * Ware (surname) * William of Ware (), English Franciscan theologian Places Canada *Fort Ware, British Columbia United Kingdom *Ware, Devon *Ware, Hertfordshire *Ware, Kent United States * Ware, Elmore County, Al ...

London Country North East London Country North East was a bus operator in South East England and London. It was formed from the split of London Country Bus Services in 1986 and operated a fleet of around 350 buses from six garages, with its headquarters located in Hatf ...

London Country Bus Services London Country Bus Services was a bus company that operated in South East England from 1970 until 1986, when it was split up and later sold as part of the bus deregulation programme. History Formation London Country Bus Services Ltd was ...

Hertford Hertford ( ) is the county town of Hertfordshire, England, and is also a civil parish in the East Hertfordshire district of the county. The parish had a population of 26,783 at the 2011 census. The town grew around a ford on the River Lea, ne ...

West Midlands Travel National Express West Midlands (NXWM) is a bus operator in the West Midlands that operates services in Birmingham, Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall, Wolverhampton, and Solihull, as well as limited routes outside of the general area of Birmingham, su ...

National Express National Express Group is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Birmingham, England. It operates bus, coach, train and tram services in the United Kingdom, Ireland (National Express operates Eurolines in conjunction ...

Cowie Group Arriva plc is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Sunderland, England.Southend Transport and Colchester Borough Transport with its acquisition of

British Bus British Bus was a bus group in the United Kingdom. It was sold to the Cowie Group in August 1996. History British Bus was founded in November 1992 when the Drawlane Transport Group split its bus interests from its National Express in the lead u ...

in 1996. Both companies became part of Arriva East Herts & Essex, but in 2002 were transferred to

Arriva Southern Counties Arriva Southern CountiesCompanies House extract company no 20314 ...

together with the former County depot at Grays.

Harlow

Harlow Harlow is a large town and local government district located in the west of Essex, England. Founded as a new town, it is situated on the border with Hertfordshire and London, Harlow occupies a large area of land on the south bank of the upp ...

garage was opened by London Transport on 22 May 1963 to serve Harlow New Town and also to replace

Epping Epping may refer to: Places Australia * Epping, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney ** Epping railway station, Sydney * Electoral district of Epping, the corresponding seat in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly * Epping Forest, Kearns, a he ...

garage. Harlow was allocated 25

AEC Regent III RT AEC may refer to: Organizations * Catalan Space Agency (Agència Espacial de Catalunya) * Ars Electronica Center, Linz, Austria * Art Ensemble of Chicago, US Governance * African Economic Community * African Energy Chamber * Alaska Engineering ...

s, 16

AEC Routemaster The AEC Routemaster is a Front-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout, front-engined double-decker bus that was designed by London Transport Executive, London Transport and built by the Associated Equipment Company (AEC) and Park Royal Vehicles. The ...

s (to operate Green Line routes 718, 720 & 720A), seven RFs and two coach RFs. London Country North East and County Bus used the garage until The Cowie Group purchased County Bus in 1997. This was previously an Arriva East Herts & Essex garage, but it is now part of the

Tellings-Golden Miller Tellings-Golden Miller is a charter coach operator in England. It was a subsidiary of Arriva twice previously, but once again has returned to family ownership. The company is now a subsidiary of Falcon Coaches based in Byfleet, Surrey. History ...

subsidiary with buses are branded as Network Harlow.

Ware

Ware Ware may refer to: People * Ware (surname) * William of Ware (), English Franciscan theologian Places Canada *Fort Ware, British Columbia United Kingdom *Ware, Devon *Ware, Hertfordshire *Ware, Kent United States * Ware, Elmore County, Al ...

garage replaced the Hertford depot in 1993. It runs part of route 724 along with

Harlow Harlow is a large town and local government district located in the west of Essex, England. Founded as a new town, it is situated on the border with Hertfordshire and London, Harlow occupies a large area of land on the south bank of the upp ...

garage. Operation of London bus route 327 was transferred from Ware to

Arriva London Arriva London is a major bus company operating services in Greater London. It is a subsidiary of Arriva UK Bus and operates services under contract to Transport for London. It was formed in 1998 from a fusion of previously separate Arriva s ...

's Enfield garage on 3 January 2009. Ware did briefly become an Arriva The Shires garage in late 2010, before transferring back to Arriva East Herts & Essex. On 4 September 2010 routes 250 and 251 transferred from Harlow to Ware.

Arriva The Shires

Arriva The Shires Limited is based in

Luton Luton () is a town and unitary authority with borough status, in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 census, the Luton built-up area subdivision had a population of 211,228 and its built-up area, including the adjacent towns of Dunstable an ...

and operates bus garages in

Luton Luton () is a town and unitary authority with borough status, in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 census, the Luton built-up area subdivision had a population of 211,228 and its built-up area, including the adjacent towns of Dunstable an ...

,

Milton Keynes Milton Keynes ( ) is a city and the largest settlement in Buckinghamshire, England, about north-west of London. At the 2021 Census, the population of its urban area was over . The River Great Ouse forms its northern boundary; a tributary ...

,

High Wycombe High Wycombe, often referred to as Wycombe ( ), is a market town in Buckinghamshire, England. Lying in the valley of the River Wye surrounded by the Chiltern Hills, it is west-northwest of Charing Cross in London, south-southeast of Ayl ...

,

Aylesbury Aylesbury ( ) is the county town of Buckinghamshire, South East England. It is home to the Roald Dahl Children's Gallery, David Tugwell`s house on Watermead and the Waterside Theatre. It is in central Buckinghamshire, midway between High Wy ...

,

Stevenage Stevenage ( ) is a large town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, about north of London. Stevenage is east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1(M), between Letchworth Garden City to the north and Welwyn Garden City to the south. In 1946, Stevena ...

,

Hitchin Hitchin () is a market town and unparished area in the North Hertfordshire Districts of England, district in Hertfordshire, England, with an estimated population of 35,842. History Hitchin is first noted as the central place of the Hicce peopl ...

and

Hemel Hempstead Hemel Hempstead () is a town in the Dacorum district in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of London, which is part of the Greater London Urban Area. The population at the 2011 census was 97,500. Developed after the Second World War as a ne ...

. Arriva The Shires evolved from the purchase of the Luton, Aylesbury and Hitchin depots of

United Counties The Province of Ontario has 51 first-level administrative divisions, which collectively cover the whole province. With two exceptions, their areas match the 49 census divisions Statistics Canada has for Ontario. The Province has four types of ...

by Luton & District Transport in a

management buy-out A management buyout (MBO) is a form of acquisition in which a company's existing managers acquire a large part, or all, of the company, whether from a parent company or individual. Management-, and/or leveraged buyout became noted phenomena of 1 ...

in 1987. Depots at Watford, High Wycombe, Hemel Hempstead, Amersham and Slough were acquired with

London Country North West London Country North West was a bus operator in South East England and London. It was formed from the split of London Country Bus Services in 1986, and operated a fleet of around 360 buses from five garages, with its headquarters located in Gar ...

in 1990, although Amersham has since closed and Slough was later sold to Bee Line. LDT was bought in 1994 by British Bus, itself bought in 1996 by The Cowie Group. LDT's was renamed Arriva The Shires in April 1998. paragraph 2.4

Aylesbury

Aylesbury Aylesbury ( ) is the county town of Buckinghamshire, South East England. It is home to the Roald Dahl Children's Gallery, David Tugwell`s house on Watermead and the Waterside Theatre. It is in central Buckinghamshire, midway between High Wy ...

depot was a depot of United Counties acquired by LDT in 1987. Later in 1987 LDT also acquired the long-established Aylesbury independent company, Red Rover. The Aylesbury depot predominantly operates long distance services, such as the X9/X90 (previously 300/X30) to High Wycombe, X5 (previously 500) to Hemel Hempstead and X7 (previously 280)/X8 to Oxford. They previously ran town routes 2, 4, 8 and 9 plus country routes 16, 50, 55, 60/60A, 61 and 110, and inter urban routes 150 (now X4) and X60 (now X6) in the town, as well as the 18 between Buckingham and Bicester but all have passed onto other operators (with exception to 150 (Now X4) and X60 (Now X6) which are still with Arriva but have since transferred to the Milton Keynes depot). In May 2024 Arriva proposed the closure of their Aylesbury depot, with

Carousel Buses Carousel Buses is a bus company based in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England. Originally an independent company, it is a subsidiary of the Go-Ahead Group. It is grouped together with Oxford Bus Company and Thames Travel, both of Oxfordshire, ...

saying they would take over any withdrawn services.

Hemel Hempstead

Hemel Hempstead Hemel Hempstead () is a town in the Dacorum district in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of London, which is part of the Greater London Urban Area. The population at the 2011 census was 97,500. Developed after the Second World War as a ne ...

was a depot of London Country Bus Services (North West) (one of the companies into which

London Country Bus Services London Country Bus Services was a bus company that operated in South East England from 1970 until 1986, when it was split up and later sold as part of the bus deregulation programme. History Formation London Country Bus Services Ltd was ...

was divided in 1986), acquired by Luton & District Transport in 1988. The Hemel Hempstead depot runs a small number of local routes in the town as well as the 300/302 to St Albans and Welwyn Garden City, 320 to Rickmansworth, 500 to Aylesbury and 508 to Watford. In 2016, this depot took over operation of Watford local services 8 and 10.

High Wycombe

YX17NMO Arriva the Shires ADL Enviro200MMC (37148094810)

BD12DJE Arriva the Shires Mercedes-Benz Citaro (37892132422)

High Wycombe High Wycombe, often referred to as Wycombe ( ), is a market town in Buckinghamshire, England. Lying in the valley of the River Wye surrounded by the Chiltern Hills, it is west-northwest of Charing Cross in London, south-southeast of Ayl ...

was another depot of London Country Bus Services (North West), acquired by LDT in 1988. In 2000 Arriva also bought the High Wycombe depot of the

Go-Ahead Group The Go-Ahead Group plc is a passenger transport company based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, with operations in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Singapore, Norway and Germany. Formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange, in 2022 it was purchased ...

's

Oxford Bus Company Oxford Bus Company is the trading name of The City of Oxford Motor Services Ltd. Company Number 91106 It is a bus operator serving the city and surrounding area of Oxford, England. It is a subsidiary of the Go-Ahead Group. History Horse trams ...

(which had bought it from the Bee Line in 1990). In 2005 High Wycombe garage moved to a new purpose built depot following the closure of the old bus station in the town, where the previous garage was. The High Wycombe depot operates a number of services both locally and further afield, reaching Reading on the 800/850. In May 2024 Arriva proposed the closure of their High Wycombe depot, with

Carousel Buses Carousel Buses is a bus company based in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England. Originally an independent company, it is a subsidiary of the Go-Ahead Group. It is grouped together with Oxford Bus Company and Thames Travel, both of Oxfordshire, ...

saying they would take over any withdrawn services.

Luton

Luton Luton () is a town and unitary authority with borough status, in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 census, the Luton built-up area subdivision had a population of 211,228 and its built-up area, including the adjacent towns of Dunstable an ...

depot is purpose-built and is at 487 Dunstable Road. It replaced the previous depot at Castle Street. It also houses the Head Office for Arriva The Shires & Essex as well as the UK bus team. The majority of the Luton depot's routes are within the Luton and Dunstable boundary, including four on the Luton-Dunstable Busway. Busway routes F70 and F77 reach out as far as Milton Keynes and the 321 operates to Watford, the latter being taken over from Garston (Watford) in 2016. Luton operates

Green Line Coaches Green Line is a commuter coach brand in the Home counties of England. The trademark is owned by Arriva, with services operated by Arriva Shires & Essex and Reading Buses. Green Line had its origin in the network of coach services established ...

routes 755 and 757 and previously had an outstation at

Stansted Airport London Stansted Airport is a tertiary international airport serving London, England, United Kingdom. It is located near Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex, England, northeast of Central London. London Stansted serves over 160 destinations acros ...

which operated the EB2 an

easyBus easyBus is part of the EasyGroup. It was founded by entrepreneur Stelios Haji-Ioannou in 2003. It initially also offered intercity services within the UK in addition to city to airport low-cost bus transfers. History easyGroup first announce ...

contract. It also operated

Green Line Green Line may refer to: Places Military and political * Green Line (France), the German occupation line in France during World War II * Green Line (Israel), the 1949 armistice line established between Israel and its neighbours ** City Line ( ...

748, 758, 759 and 768 between late 2019 and their withdrawal in December 2021.

Hitchin/Stevenage

The

Hitchin Hitchin () is a market town and unparished area in the North Hertfordshire Districts of England, district in Hertfordshire, England, with an estimated population of 35,842. History Hitchin is first noted as the central place of the Hicce peopl ...

depot was a depot of United Counties acquired by LDT in 1987. Hitchin services have been worked from Stevenage garage since January 2007 following the closure of the old former United Counties garage in Fishponds Road. Services around the Hitchin area have been reduced, and many are operated by other contractors including

Centrebus Centrebus is a bus company based in Leicester operating services in Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and Rutland. Centrebus have a 51% shareholding in High Peak Buses and since December 2019 through c ...

. When

London Country Bus Services London Country Bus Services was a bus company that operated in South East England from 1970 until 1986, when it was split up and later sold as part of the bus deregulation programme. History Formation London Country Bus Services Ltd was ...

was broken up in 1986, the Stevenage depot passed to London Country North East, sold in 1988 to AJS Group who established the Sovereign brand. Most of the operation was sold in 1990 to Luton & District Transport, and therefore became part of Arriva in 1996. In 1996 Arriva took over several vehicles and routes from Sovereign, by then owned by the

Blazefield Group Transdev Blazefield is a bus group, which operates local and regional bus services across Greater Manchester, Lancashire, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire, England. Formed in August 1991, the group has been a subsidiary of French-based operato ...

, in exchange for the London

Green Line route 797 Green Line is a commuter coach brand in the Home counties of England. The trademark is owned by Arriva, with services operated by Arriva Shires & Essex and Reading Buses. Green Line had its origin in the network of coach services established ...

. In 2004 Arriva acquired the last remaining Sovereign operation. Blazefield had already sold its London operations to Transdev London and its St Albans depot and routes to

Centrebus Centrebus is a bus company based in Leicester operating services in Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and Rutland. Centrebus have a 51% shareholding in High Peak Buses and since December 2019 through c ...

. Arriva currently have two depots in the town; Babbage Road (ex Sovereign) and Bessemer Road. The site at Norton Green closed during August 2021 for redevelopment, with vehicles temporarily moving to a new site at Bessemer Road. Eventually all buses operating from Stevenage will be based at an expanded Babbage Road site. As well as operating a number of local services, the Stevenage depot also runs to Letchworth on route 55, Luton on the 100/101, St Albans on route 301 and the 97/98 between Hitchin and Stotfold/Baldock.

Milton Keynes

In February 2006 Arriva bought the operations of

MK Metro MK Metro was a bus company operating in Milton Keynes from 1997 until 2010. History In 1997, Stagecoach was ordered by the Office of Fair Trading to divest of its operations in Milton Keynes and Huntingdon. This followed an investiga ...

for £5.6 million, and operational control transferred to The Shires & Essex. The purchase was subsequently considered by the

Office of Fair Trading The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) was a non-ministerial government department of the United Kingdom, established by the Fair Trading Act 1973, which enforced both consumer protection and competition law, acting as the United Kingdom's economic ...

for possible referral to the

Competition Commission The Competition Commission was a non-departmental public body responsible for investigating mergers, markets and other enquiries related to regulated industries under competition law in the United Kingdom. It was a competition regulator under t ...

, but it decided not to. Vehicles and publicity for the Milton Keynes operation continued to use the MK Metro name until April 2010, when they were rebranded as Arriva Milton Keynes, temporarily using the brand name ''MK Star''. The change of name coincided with a number of controversial service changes. Many services were improved in frequency as part of the rebranding but others were reduced or withdrawn and some journey times were increased. There are various local services operated. In 2021, the depot was awarded the contract to operate routes 33/33A to Northampton and also have responsibility for routes X4 (previously the 150) and X6 (previously the X60) to Aylesbury. The company's garages are in

Old Wolverton Wolverton is a constituent town of Milton Keynes, England. It is located at the northern edge of Milton Keynes, beside the West Coast Main Line, the Grand Union Canal and the river Great Ouse. It is the administrative seat of Wolverton and G ...

.

Waltham Abbey

Arriva The Shires previously operated 2 routes in the Waltham Abbey area: * 251, Upshire to Hammond Street * 250, Debden Broadway to Waltham Cross Route 250 remained in competition with route 255 operated by Harlow-based Roadrunner buses. Earlier in 2013 Arriva withdrew route 250 service to provide a stronger service on the 251 and to expand onto the 310 route from Waltham Cross to Ware. Many of the buses used on the 250 service can now be seen on the 251 service operating from Upshire to Hammond Street more frequently.

Former garages

Watford (Garston)

As of May 2015,

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

garage operated London routes

142 142 may refer to: * 142 (number), an integer * AD 142 Year 142 ( CXLII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known in the Roman Empire as the Year of the Consul ...

,

258 Year 258 ( CCLVIII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Tuscus and Bassus (or, less frequently, year 1011 ''Ab urbe condit ...

,

268 __NOTOC__ Year 268 ( CCLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Paternus and Egnatius (or, less frequently, year 1021 ...

,

288 Year 288 ( CCLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. In the Roman Empire, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Maximian and Ianuarianus (or, less frequently, year 1041 ...

,

303 __NOTOC__ Year 303 ( CCCIII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. It was known in the Roman Empire as the Year of the Consulship of Diocletian and Maximian (or, less frequently, y ...

,

305 Year 305 ( CCCV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Constantius and Valerius (or, less frequently, year 1058 '' Ab urbe c ...

,

340 Year 340 (Roman numerals, CCCXL) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Acindynus and Valerius (or, less frequently, year 1093 ...

,

631 __NOTOC__ Year 631 ( DCXXXI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 631 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar er ...

,

642 __NOTOC__ Year 642 ( DCXLII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 642 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era ...

, H2, H3, H18 and H19. It also operated LSP route 8, and school routes. As part of a decision to consolidate all of Arriva's Transport for London routes, Watford garage was transferred to

Arriva London Arriva London is a major bus company operating services in Greater London. It is a subsidiary of Arriva UK Bus and operates services under contract to Transport for London. It was formed in 1998 from a fusion of previously separate Arriva s ...

on 1 January 2016. Due to high running costs, Watford depot closed in 2018, with the routes being transferred to

Hemel Hempstead Hemel Hempstead () is a town in the Dacorum district in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of London, which is part of the Greater London Urban Area. The population at the 2011 census was 97,500. Developed after the Second World War as a ne ...

. On Sunday 8 April 2018, the Amersham & District Motorbus Society held its annual running day in honour of the depot, with the theme being 'Farewell to Garston garage'. In 2019, the site was sold to Fairview New Homes with the vision to convert it into 165 residential houses.

History

Watford was a depot of

London Country Bus Services London Country Bus Services was a bus company that operated in South East England from 1970 until 1986, when it was split up and later sold as part of the bus deregulation programme. History Formation London Country Bus Services Ltd was ...

(North West) (one of the companies into which London Country Bus Services was divided in 1986), acquired by Luton & District Transport in 1990.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Arriva Shires and Essex Shires and Essex Transport in the Borough of Brentwood Transport in the City of Chelmsford Transport in Epping Forest District Transport in Harlow Transport in Hertfordshire 1998 establishments in England