Arriva
Arriva plc is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Sunderland, England.North West England and
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...
. It was made up from several previous bus operators including North Western (in
Merseyside
Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Mersey Estuary and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wi ...
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly.
The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...
), most of MTL North (formerly Merseybus), the Bee Line Buzz Company (in
Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tam ...
), and most of what was once
Crosville Motor Services
Crosville Motor Services was a bus operator based in the north-west of England and north and mid-Wales.
History
On 27 October 1906, Crosville Motor Company was formed in Chester by George Crosland Taylor and his French business associate Geo ...
(in Cheshire and
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...
).
In January 2009, the Welsh depots were separated into a new division named
Arriva Buses Wales
Arriva Buses Wales ( cy, Bysiau Arriva Cymru) is a bus operator providing services in northern Wales and Chester in northern England. It is a subsidiary of Arriva UK Bus.
History
Crosville Motor Services was formed in 1919 and operated serv ...
, with the remainder of the division reverting to its previous title of
Arriva
Arriva plc is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Sunderland, England.Stagecoach and
FirstGroup
FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland.North Western operation this strap-line was ''serving the North West''. In Spring 1998 Arriva decided to give an ''Arriva'' identity to the many companies which comprised Arriva Passenger Services and as a consequence North Western Road Car Co. Ltd became Arriva North West Ltd with the associated Bee Line and Liverline operations becoming Arriva Manchester Ltd and Arriva Merseyside Ltd respectively.
Apart from the adoption of the Arriva corporate identity, not too much was different between Arriva North West and North Western as the 1990s drew to a close. In late Summer 1998, Arriva North West (rather than
GMPTE
Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive was the public body responsible for public transport in Greater Manchester between 1974 and 2011, when it became part of Transport for Greater Manchester.
SELNEC PTE
Until 1969, the conurbati ...
) became responsible for the management of the bus station at the new
Trafford Centre
The Trafford Centre is a large indoor shopping centre and entertainment complex in Greater Manchester, England. It opened in 1998 and is third largest in the United Kingdom by retail space.
Originally developed by the Peel Group, the Trafford C ...
shopping mall. In 1999 Arriva North West made its first major acquisition of
Winsford
Winsford is a town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the River Weaver south of Northwich and west of Middlewich. It grew around the salt mining industr ...
based Nova Scotia Travel which allowed it to strengthen its operations from its Winsford depot considerably in and around the former
Vale Royal
A vale is a type of valley.
Vale may also refer to:
Places Georgia
* Vale, Georgia, a town in the Samtskhe-Javakheti region
Norway
* Våle, a historic municipality
Portugal
* Vale (Santa Maria da Feira), a former civil parish in the municipa ...
borough of Cheshire. However the Nova Scotia acquisition would soon prove a minor event for Arriva North West's future development which significantly changed as a consequence of the impending bankruptcy and sale of Merseyside's largest bus operator MTL Trust Holdings.
Acquisition of MTL Trust Holdings Ltd
On 18 February 2000 Arriva plc acquired Merseyside's largest bus operator MTL Trust Holdings Ltd. The former Merseybus operation and the many companies which were acquired or created by MTL were amalgamated by Arriva North West into a 'new' Arriva Merseyside Ltd with the former Arriva Merseyside Ltd (Liverline) becoming Arriva Liverpool Ltd. As a consequence of Arriva's acquisition of MTL, the management of the Arriva North West depot at
Winsford
Winsford is a town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the River Weaver south of Northwich and west of Middlewich. It grew around the salt mining industr ...
was transferred to
Arriva Midlands North
Arriva Midlands is a bus operator providing services in the East Midlands and West Midlands areas of England. It is a subsidiary of Arriva UK Bus.
Arriva Midlands North Operations
In September 1981 Midland Red North was formed with 230 bus ...
.
Arriva's acquisition of MTL significantly increased its presence within Merseyside's bus market with the effect that Aintree based CMT Buses remained its only meaningful competitor. This concerned 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 ...
who ordered Arriva North West to sell one of its depots in order to avoid a public inquiry over its purchase of MTL. Gillmoss depot in north
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...
was the depot chosen to be sold, although its sale became a rather protracted affair. In early 2001 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 ...
seemed ready to purchase Gillmoss, considering it to have similar characteristics to its
Go North East
Go North East operates both local and regional bus services in County Durham, Cumbria, Northumberland, North Yorkshire and Tyne and Wear, England. It was previously known as the Northern General Transport Company and Go-Ahead Northern. The comp ...
operation. However, at the 11th hour, this deal broke down and instead Go Ahead acquired Arriva Croydon & North Surrey Ltd merging it into its established Metrobus operation. Arriva North West put a proposal to the Competition Commission for substantial investment in Gillmoss if the Commission withdrew its stipulation that Arriva had to sell the depot. However the Competition Commission did not accept this proposal and a buyer for Gillmoss had to be found.
Gillmoss was eventually purchased on 15 July 2001 by two former MTL managers - Dominic Brady and Ian Campbell who formed
Glenvale Transport
Glenvale Transport (GTL) was a bus company that operated services in Liverpool between July 2001 and July 2005.
Overview
In 2003, Glenvale transport controlled 30% of the Liverpool regional bus market. It was operating a fleet of 330 buse ...
(GT). Furthermore, the Competition Commission stipulated Arriva North West couldn't compete with GT's core service network in North Liverpool and
Kirkby
Kirkby ( ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley, Merseyside, England. The town, historically in Lancashire, has a size of is north of Huyton and north-east of Liverpool. The population in 2016 was 41,495 making it the largest ...
for three years. GT began expanding its service network against Arriva North West and in June 2003 acquired CMT Buses, further strengthening its position in Liverpool, in particular. By 2004 the Competition Commission ban against Arriva North West competing with GT was over and gradually copycat services were introduced on most of GT's routes. GT, £7 million in debt and with an aging bus fleet, was taken over on 11 July 2005 by the Stagecoach Group who renamed it
Stagecoach Merseyside
Stagecoach Merseyside is a major operator of bus services in the city of Liverpool and the surrounding Merseyside region. It is a sub-division of Stagecoach Merseyside and South Lancashire.
Stagecoach Merseyside was formed in July 2005 with ...
.
Relations between Arriva and Stagecoach on Merseyside seem reasonably cordial and from 2005 both operators gradually withdrew most of the competing services against each other leaving Stagecoach to become the main operator in North Liverpool and Kirkby and Arriva North West & Wales the dominant operator in most of the rest of Merseyside.
Further developments and acquisitions
Arriva North West became responsible for the management of Arriva Cymru Ltd from 25 February 2002, and to reflect this, the name for this division of Arriva became Arriva North West & Wales. Arriva North West and Wales expanded further when the Crewe, Macclesfield and Winsford depots of Arriva Midlands North Ltd were transferred to it on 1 February 2003 and this has enabled Arriva North West and Wales to assume control of much of what was Crosville Motor Services with the exception of the
Rock Ferry
Rock Ferry is an area of Birkenhead on the Wirral Peninsula, England. Administratively it is a ward of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral. Before local government reorganisation on 1 April 1974, it was part of the county of Cheshire. At the ...
-
Birkenhead
Birkenhead (; cy, Penbedw) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England; historically, it was part of Cheshire until 1974. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the south bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liver ...
Ellesmere Port
Ellesmere Port ( ) is a port town in the Cheshire West and Chester borough in Cheshire, England. Ellesmere Port is on the south eastern edge of the Wirral Peninsula, north of Chester, south of Birkenhead, southwest of Runcorn and south of ...
(now closed) depots which are part of
First Chester & The Wirral
First Chester & Wirral was a British bus operator operating in the Cheshire and Merseyside regions between February 1990 and January 2013. It was a subsidiary of FirstGroup.
History
In February 1990, the Chester, Ellesmere Port and Rock Ferry ...
.
Arriva North West has also pursued acquisitions and on 2 August 2004 Liverpool based independent Merseyline Travel of Garston was acquired, perhaps to strengthen Arriva Merseyside's competitive moves against GT before it was acquired by Stagecoach. In Greater Manchester it acquired one of the major independent operators in that region Blue Bus of Bolton enabling a good strategic fit with the Arriva Manchester operation and expansion into
Bolton
Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish weavers settled in the area in the 14th ...
,
Salford
Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...
and
Wigan
Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the north-east and Warrington t ...
.
Some of the operations of KMP of Llanberis were acquired by Arriva in August 2008 and merged with Arriva Cymru. This removed competition along the route between Llandudno and Bangor. The rest of KMP was acquired by independent
Padarn Bus
Padarn Bus was a bus company based in Llanberis, Gwynedd. It operated 21 routes in North Wales plus three summer services in Snowdonia National Park. Many of its vehicles and routes were acquired when it merged with larger company KMP. The o ...
in April 2009.
From 1 January 2009, the Wales operations were split from Arriva North West and became
Arriva Buses Wales
Arriva Buses Wales ( cy, Bysiau Arriva Cymru) is a bus operator providing services in northern Wales and Chester in northern England. It is a subsidiary of Arriva UK Bus.
History
Crosville Motor Services was formed in 1919 and operated serv ...
with a separate Managing Director.
From 23 July 2011, Skelmersdale Depot was closed down, losing 19 jobs. All services (apart from service 313 Skem-Wigan) transferred to the other depots.