Kinchbus bus 761 (YN08 CWT), 1 October 2011

Kinchbus is a bus operator in

Loughborough Loughborough ( ) is a market town in the Charnwood borough of Leicestershire, England, the seat of Charnwood Borough Council and Loughborough University. At the 2011 census the town's built-up area had a population of 59,932 , the second larg ...

, England. Since 1998 it has been a subsidiary of the

Wellglade Group The Wellglade Group (WG), is a transport group operating bus and tram services in the English Midlands. History Wellglade was formed in 1986 when Brian King and Ian Morgan purchased Trent Buses from the National Bus Company in a managem ...

History

G K Kinch Leyland Atlantean Loughborough

Kinchbus bus 321 (YJ07 VSX) 2007 Optare Tempo, Loughborough, 16 April 2011

Kinchbus was founded in 1987 by former

Leicester City Football Club Leicester City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Leicester in the East Midlands of England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home ...

director Gilbert Kinch trading as GK Kinch and based in

Barrow Upon Soar Barrow upon Soar is a large village in northern Leicestershire, in the Soar Valley between Leicester and Loughborough, with a population at the 2011 census of 5,856. Geography Barrow lies on the east bank of the River Soar, where the riv ...

. Before moving into local bus services, Kinch had operated coaches from nearby Mountsorrel since at least 1972. In the early 1990s Kinchbus began to expand with services around

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...

and

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...

, including the purchase of Loughborough Bus and Coach from Midland Fox, giving the company its presence in Loughborough. In 1998 Kinchbus was sold to the

. Since 2008 Kinchbus has operated the Skylink service between

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gai ...

and

. In April 2009 after the withdrawal of the

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 ...

service it was extended into

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

via the A6. In January 2013, Kinchbus reintroduced service 9 between Loughborough and Nottingham, following the collapse of

Premiere Travel Premiere Travel was a bus company in Nottinghamshire. History Premiere Travel commenced trading in 2003 with a pair of ex Nottingham City Transport Leyland Nationals working school contracts. The company expanded in to the coach hire, day exc ...

During September 2022, it was announced that current managing director Jeff Counsell will retire in February 2023 and will be succeeded by Tom Morgan who is the current commercial director for Kinchbus and fellow

subsidiary

Trentbarton Trentbarton operates both local and regional bus services in Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and Staffordshire, England. It is a subsidiary of the Wellglade Group. History In October 1913, Trent Motor Traction Company was foun ...

Services

Kinchbus are the main provider of bus services within the

area alongside services to

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...

and

running 7 days a week, Kinchbus also provide Skylink services between Leicester and Derby via

East Midlands Airport East Midlands Airport is an international airport in the East Midlands of England, close to Castle Donington in northwestern Leicestershire, between Loughborough (), Derby () and Nottingham (); Leicester is () to the south and Lincoln () nort ...

Service Cutbacks

In August 2022, Kinchbus announced their long established number 2 service between Loughborough and Leicester would be cut back to

Sileby Sileby is a former industrial village and civil parish in the Soar Valley in Leicestershire, between Leicester and Loughborough. Nearby villages include Barrow upon Soar, Mountsorrel, Ratcliffe-on-the-Wreake, Seagrave and Cossington. The popul ...

from 4 September 2022 as a result of driver shortages and lower passenger numbers. As part of a

post

Covid-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

review of services across the network from 2 October 2022, Skylink will no longer serve

Long Whatton Long Whatton is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Long Whatton and Diseworth, in the North West Leicestershire district, in the English county of Leicestershire. It is south of East Midlands Airport, off Junctions 23 and 23 ...

and

Diseworth Diseworth is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Long Whatton and Diseworth, in theNorth West Leicestershire district, in the English county of Leicestershire. It is south of East Midlands Airport and off Junction 23A of t ...

Fleet

As of September 2022, the fleet consists of 35 buses of varying models, including twelve Alexander-Dennis Enviro200MMCs and ten Optare Solos. During 2020, Kinchbus upgraded services 11/12 with

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.Trent Barton Trentbarton operates both local and regional bus services in Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and Staffordshire, England. It is a subsidiary of the Wellglade Group. History In October 1913, Trent Motor Traction Company was foun ...

and replaced Optare Tempos which were used on the service since new in 2007, As a result of the now abandoned Leicester clean air zone, the Skylink fleet was also upgraded with 12 new Enviro200 MMCs which replaced a fleet of eleven

Mercedes-Benz Citaro The Mercedes-Benz Citaro is a single-decker, rigid or articulated bus manufactured by Mercedes-Benz/EvoBus. Introduced in 1997, the Citaro is available in a range of configurations, and is in widespread use throughout Europe and parts of Asia ...

Liveries

Most buses wear a two-tone yellow and blue livery, split diagonally along the side of the bus, with the yellow in front. This livery was originally introduced in 2007, and was given a facelift in 2013 starting with the vehicles used on Kinchbus 9. Most of Kinchbus's services are route-branded, as in common with their sister company, Trentbarton. Skylink buses are the exception to branding on the standard livery as they are mostly yellow with branding for the service.

References

External links

Kinchbus
official website {{Leicestershire buses Bus operators in Derbyshire Bus operators in Leicestershire Bus operators in Nottinghamshire Companies based in Leicestershire Transport in Leicestershire 1987 establishments in England