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Arriva Sapphire is a premium brand used by various
As at November 2022, there were 32 Arriva Sapphire routes.
Arriva
Arriva plc is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Sunderland, England.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 ...
announced that it would launch a premium service under the Sapphire brand for its bus services in the United Kingdom. It is similar to the Stagecoach Gold
Stagecoach Gold is a luxury bus sub-brand used by various Stagecoach bus subsidiaries in the United Kingdom.
Stagecoach Gold (originally Goldline) was launched in 2007 and was designed to attract more middle-class passengers to choose bus travel ...
brand launched by Stagecoach Group in 2007.
Arriva initially launched the Sapphire brand on four pilot routes:
*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 ...
' route 1 Wrexham
Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...
to Chester
*Arriva Midlands
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 bu ...
' route 31/31a Oadby
Oadby is a town in the borough of Oadby and Wigston in the county of Leicestershire, England. Oadby is a district centre south east of Leicester city centre on the A6 trunk road. Leicester Racecourse is situated on the border between Oadby ...
to Leicester this route now uses any vehicles
* Arriva North East's route 7 Darlington to Durham Durham most commonly refers to:
*Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham
*County Durham, an English county
* Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States
*Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...
* Arriva Shires & Essex's route 280 Aylesbury to Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
In 2014, the brand was extended to 11 more routes with another six scheduled for conversion in late 2015.
In 2017, Arriva Sapphire was rebranded with a new logo and livery, in line with the switchover to the new Arriva brand. In 2018, the Arriva Sapphire logo was updated again, to reflect the new brand.
In 2019, Arriva Midlands routes 1, 2, 2E running between Walsall and Cannock/Huntington were downgraded to regular buses after six years of Sapphire. Further routes across the country have since been withdrawn or removed from the Sapphire brand.
In 2022, Arriva started to phase out the Sapphire brand nationally, with the majority of buses being repainted into the standard Arriva livery or replaced with new buses.
Routes
As at November 2022, there were 32 Arriva Sapphire routes.
Former services
Vehicles
Buses have leather seats, freeWiFi
Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio wa ...
, power ports, and a modified two tone blue livery. The initial pilot routes commenced with a mix of refurbished double deck buses and new Wright Pulsar
The Wright Pulsar was a single-decker bus body built on the VDL SB200 single-decker bus chassis by Wrightbus between 2006 and 2014.
A total of 639 Pulsars were built. Arriva was the main customer, with large numbers entering service at its Ken ...
bodied VDL SB200
The VDL SB200 (originally the DAF SB200) was a light-weight 12m low floor single decker bus chassis produced from 2001 by VDL Bus & Coach (formerly DAF Bus International). It superseded the SB220.
It is originally designed for use by Arriva (VD ...
s. Mostly since then, new buses have been purchased, primarily Alexander Dennis Enviro400s, Wright StreetLite
The Wright StreetLite is a low-floor midibus introduced by Wrightbus in 2010. It was originally available in only one body style (wheel forward) before the door forward and StreetLite Max variants were introduced in 2011 and 2012 respectively. ...
s and Wright StreetDeck
The Wright StreetDeck is an integral double-decker bus that was manufactured by Wrightbus from 2014, originally delivered as standard with a Daimler OM934 diesel engine. Hybrid-electric, full-electric and hydrogen-powered variants have subseq ...
s. A number of Wright Pulsar
The Wright Pulsar was a single-decker bus body built on the VDL SB200 single-decker bus chassis by Wrightbus between 2006 and 2014.
A total of 639 Pulsars were built. Arriva was the main customer, with large numbers entering service at its Ken ...
/Pulsar 2 vehicles have been refurbished to operate Sapphire routes. In 2020 a selection of Optare Versa
The Optare Versa is a low-floor midibus that was manufactured by Optare at its Sherburn-in-Elmet factory. In total 883 were produced between 2007 and 2018.Yorkshire
Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...
were repainted into the new Arriva Sapphire livery.
See also
*Arriva Max
Arriva MAX is a premium brand used by various Arriva bus subsidiaries in the United Kingdom.
History
In September 2014, Arriva launched the MAX brand for interurban express services. The first services were launched by Arriva North East, which ...
*Stagecoach Gold
Stagecoach Gold is a luxury bus sub-brand used by various Stagecoach bus subsidiaries in the United Kingdom.
Stagecoach Gold (originally Goldline) was launched in 2007 and was designed to attract more middle-class passengers to choose bus travel ...
References
External links
* * {{Arriva Group UK, state=collapsed 2013 establishments in the United KingdomSapphire
Sapphire is a precious gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum, consisting of aluminium oxide () with trace amounts of elements such as iron, titanium, chromium, vanadium, or magnesium. The name sapphire is derived via the Latin "sa ...
Bus transport brands
Luxury brands