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 Huntingdon is a market town in the Huntingdonshire district in Cambridgeshire, England. The town was given its town charter by King John in 1205. It was the county town of the historic county of Huntingdonshire. Oliver Cromwell was born there ...

. This followed an investigation in 1996 into its acquisition of Cambus Holdings which was deemed to have led to an unacceptable monopoly of bus operations in

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the ...

Corby Corby is a town in North Northamptonshire, England, located north-east of Northampton. From 1974 to 2021, the town served as the administrative headquarters of the Borough of Corby. At the 2011 United Kingdom census, 2011 Census, the built-up ...

East Northamptonshire East Northamptonshire was from 1974 to 2021 a local government district in Northamptonshire, England. Its council was based in Thrapston and Rushden. Other towns include Oundle, Raunds, Irthlingborough and Higham Ferrers. The town of Rushde ...

Kettering Kettering is a market and industrial town in North Northamptonshire, England. It is located north of London and north-east of Northampton, west of the River Ise, a tributary of the River Nene. The name means "the place (or territory) of ...

Wellingborough Wellingborough ( ) is a large market and commuter town in the unitary authority area of North Northamptonshire in the ceremonial county of Northamptonshire, England, 65 miles from London and from Northampton on the north side of the River Nen ...

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst ...

and Mid Bedfordshire. The assets of Milton Keynes Citybus were purchased on 2 May 1997 by bus entrepreneur

Julian Peddle Julian Peddle (born November 1954)Julian Henry Peddle
Company Check is an entrepreneur ...

, using a new company Premier Buses Limited both to operate in Huntingdon (under the Premier Buses brand name) and also as a holding company with which to purchase MK Metro. The operation was rebranded as MK Metro with a bright yellow and blue livery introduced. In February 2006, the business was purchased by

Arriva Arriva plc is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Sunderland, England.Arriva Shires & Essex subsidiary. The MK Metro brand was retained with a new logo introduced in 2007. On 25 April 2010, the Arriva brand and livery were introduced. Milton Keynes services began to operate under the sub brand of ''MK Star'', and the change of name coincided with a number of controversial service changes.

Fleet

The fleet ranged from mainly

Dennis Dart The Dennis Dart is a rear-engined single-decker midibus chassis that was introduced by Dennis Specialist Vehicles of Guildford, England in 1989, replacing the Dennis Domino. Initially built as a high-floor design, In 1996 the low-floor seco ...

s (high floor and low floor, with a variety of bodywork), to Mercedes-Benz minibuses and

Optare Solo The Optare Solo is a low-floor minibus/midibus with one or two doors manufactured by Optare in the United Kingdom since 1998. The Solo name is a play on its low-floor status, the manufacturer marketing its vehicle as having an entrance that is ...

s. Double-deck

Optare Spectra The Optare Spectra was a double-decker bus body built on the DAF (now VDL) DB250 chassis between 1991 and 2006. The vehicle was developed as a joint project between Optare and DAF; it was based on the designs of the successful MCW Metrobus, ...

s, and

Wright Solar The Wright Solar is a low entry single-decker bus body that was built on Scania L94UB and Scania K UB chassis by Wrightbus between 2000 and 2011. The Wright Solar Fusion is an articulated version. Most of the buses are fitted with the same ...

bodied

Scania L94UB The Scania 4-series low floor city bus and coach range was introduced by Scania in 1997 as a successor to the 3-series bus range. The 4-series bus range was first presented in September 1996, when the integral low-floor city bus OmniCity was ...

s were also operated.

Fleet summary

Dennis Dart SLF The Dennis Dart is a rear-engined single-decker midibus chassis that was introduced by Dennis Specialist Vehicles of Guildford, England in 1989, replacing the Dennis Domino. Initially built as a high-floor design, In 1996 the low-floor se ...

VDL SB120 VDL may refer to: * Vancouver Dodgeball League * Van Diemen's Land, the former name of the smallest Australian state of Tasmania * Van Diemen's Land Company in Tasmania * VDL Groep, Dutch manufacturing company * VDL (radio), a name used by two ...

Mercedes-Benz Vario The Mercedes-Benz Vario (model designation BM667/668/670) is a full-size commercial heavy van manufactured by Mercedes-Benz between 1996 and 2013. History The Vario was launched in 1996 as a facelifted version of the Mercedes-Benz T2. The bod ...

* Alexander Dennis Enviro300 *

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 ...

Routes

MK Metro ran over 30 services. Most routes passed through or served

Central Milton Keynes Central Milton Keynes is the central business district of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England and a civil parish in its own right, with a town council. The district is approximately long by wide and occupies some of the highest land in Mi ...

. However, routes 16 and 30/31 did not. The routes were generally numbered from 1 to 30, although there were some omissions and some routes in the 30s, as well as a new service numbered 300.here MK Metro – Bus Timetables
Accessed 9 November 2008. The key services were numbered 1 to 8, and ran every 10 to 20 minutes. Key services ran through the busiest parts of the city, for example to Bletchley and the District centres. Intermediate services ran from every 20 minutes up to every hour. These routes cover areas in more detail, for example serving through the grid squares, while key services mostly ran on the main roads. The other routes ran at a frequency of every hour or less. These services linked locations outside Milton Keynes into the city, or linked neighbourhoods into the nearest centre. ''Note that this list of routes is for historical interest. It is not a list of the current routes operated by Arriva Shires & Essex.''

Former key services

*1 / B / C: City Centre – Green Park – Newport Pagnell – Olney – Bedford / Northampton *2: Westcroft – Oxley Park – Grange Farm – City Centre – Willen – Poets Estate – Newport Pagnell *4 / A / E: Wolverton – Stony Stratford – City Centre – Hospital – Whaddon Way – Bletchley *5 / E: Wolverton – Bradville – City Centre – Hospital – Bletchley – Lakes Estate *7 / E: Wolverton – Stantonbury – City Centre – Bletchley – Newton Longville / Lakes Estate *7 A: Wolverton – Great Linford – Neath Hill – City Centre *8: Westcroft – Shenley Brook End – City Centre – Kingston – Bletchley / Woburn Sands

Intermediate Services

These routes were operated by MK Metro after its take-over by Arriva, but before the rebranding and new timetable launch on 24 April 2010. *2E: Wolverton – Heelands – City Centre – Willen – Poets Estate – Newport Pagnell *3E: Wolverton – Great Linford – City Centre – Shenley Church End – Furzton – Westcroft *6 / A: Wolverton / Bradville – Heelands – City Centre – Hospital- Emerson Valley – Bletchley *9 / A: City Centre – Shenley Lodge – Furzton – West Bletchley – Bletchley *12: Wolverton – Greenleys – Bradwell – City Centre – Kents Hill – Open University – Caldecotte *20: Bletchley – Tattenhoe – Westcroft – City Centre – Hospital – Walnut Tree *26E: Bletchley – Furzton – City Centre – Walnut Tree – Kingston Centre *29: Bletchley – Hospital – Oldbrook – City Centre – Crownhill – Shenley Church End *32: City Centre – Buckingham – Little Tingewick (peak hours) *39: Bletchley – Whaddon Way – Oldbrook – City Centre – Crownhill – Shenley Church End *300: City Centre – Broughton Gate – Kingston / Magna Park

Other former services

*11: Milton Keynes – Monkston – Kingston – Woburn Sands – Bow Brickhill – Bletchley *13: Stony Stratford – Stantonbury – City Centre – Bletchley – Lakes Estate *14: City Centre – Stony Stratford – Old Stratford – Deanshanger / Wicken *16: Bletchley – West Bletchley – Emerson Valley – Westcroft *17A: Milton Keynes – Moulsoe – Cranfield *17B: City Centre – Great Linford – Newport Pagnell – Cranfield *18: City Centre – Woolstone – Woughton Park – Simpson – Bletchley *30 / 31: Newport Pagnell – Wolverton – Stony Stratford – Bletchley *32A: Buckingham Town Service *33: Milton Keynes – Blue Bridge – Wolverton – Hanslope – Roade – Northampton *(NN)11 Northampton – Kingsley – Parklands – Links View – Kingsley – Northampton (only serves Links View on return from Parklands) *(NN)21 Northampton –

University A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...

Avenue Campus –

Kingsthorpe Kingsthorpe is a suburb and civil parish of Northampton, England. It is situated to the north of Northampton town centre and is served by the A508 and A5199 roads which join at Kingsthorpe's centre. The 2011 Census recorded the population of ...

–

Park Campus (ceased due to contract loss)

References

External links

*
www.mkmetro.co.uk/www.arrivabus.co.uk/mkstarFlickr gallery
{{Transport in Milton Keynes Arriva Group bus operators in England Transport in Milton Keynes 1997 establishments in England 2010 disestablishments in England Transport companies established in 1997 Transport companies disestablished in 2010 Former bus operators in Bedfordshire Former bus operators in Buckinghamshire Former bus operators in Northamptonshire