Arriva North West

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Arriva North West
(GBR-Merseyside) Arriva Merseyside 4445 MX61AYD 75 2025-06-12.jpg
Arriva Merseyside Wright Gemini 2 bodied VDL DB300 in Liverpool in June 2025
Parent Arriva UK Bus
Founded2009;17 years ago (2009)
Headquarters Aintree
Locale North West England
Service area Merseyside
Cheshire
Lancashire
Service typeBus services
Hubs Wigan
Liverpool
Runcorn
St Helens
Southport
Widnes
Fleet605 (November 2023) [1] [ better source needed ]
Website Official website OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg

Arriva North West is a major bus operator running services in North West England in the Merseyside area. It is a subsidiary of Arriva UK Bus.

Contents

History

Wright Pulsar 2 bodied VDL SB200 boarding at Piccadilly Gardens bus station in September 2024 ANW 3133 R263.jpg
Wright Pulsar 2 bodied VDL SB200 boarding at Piccadilly Gardens bus station in September 2024

Arriva North West was originally formed following the split of Ribble Motor Services in preparation for privatisation in 1986, [2] [3] with the operations in Merseyside, West Lancashire and Wigan trading as North Western. The name was taken from the former North Western operations, which ran between 1923 and 1976. In 1988 the North Western operations were sold to Drawlane who was later sold to British Bus, [4] who also took over the operations of the Bee Line Buzz Company, who ran services in Greater Manchester. In 1996, British Bus was bought by the Cowie Group. [5] [6] In November 1997 Cowie was rebranded as Arriva, with North Western rebranded to Arriva North West in 1998. [7]

In February 2000, Arriva North West purchased MTL Trust Holdings, which created a dominant presence in the Merseyside area and more than doubled the size of the company. [8] [9] [10] To satisfy Competition Commission requirements resulting from Arriva's regional dominance, Arriva sold MTL's Gillmoss depot to a management buyout team later renamed Glenvale Transport, which took over operations from Arriva on 15 July 2001. [11]

In 2002, Arriva North West merged with Arriva Buses Wales to form Arriva North West & Wales. Three former Arriva Midlands depots in Crewe, Macclesfield and Winsford were transferred into the North West & Wales operation, [2] although Crewe closed in December 2005. [12] [ better source needed ]

In July 2005, Arriva purchased Blue Bus & Coach Services for £2.9 million, almost doubling their presence in Greater Manchester with the acquisition of two depots, 86 vehicles and 218 members of staff. Arriva closed Blue Bus' depot in Eccles and moved operations there to its St Andrew's Square depot, however the Bolton depot was retained. [13] In January 2009, the Wales operation was split from Arriva North West as Arriva Buses Wales, with the Arriva North West name resurrected for the North West England operations. [2]

Depots

The company has depots in:

Past depots, now closed or sold, have included:

Fleet

Metro liveried Alexander Dennis Enviro200 MMC at Queen Square bus station in June 2025 (GBR-Merseyside) Arriva Merseyside 2782 YY74RXS 76 2025-06-12.jpg
Metro liveried Alexander Dennis Enviro200 MMC at Queen Square bus station in June 2025
Mellor Strata bodied Mercedes-Benz Sprinter at the Trafford Centre in December 2024 ANW 4707 R18.jpg
Mellor Strata bodied Mercedes-Benz Sprinter at the Trafford Centre in December 2024

As of November 2023, the Arriva North West fleet consists of 605 buses operated out of the company's eight depots. [1] [ better source needed ]

Alternative fuels

During the 2010s, Arriva North West heavily invested in Wright Eclipse Gemini bodied Volvo B5LH hybrid electric double decker buses, operated mainly alongside its fleet of conventional diesel Alexander Dennis Enviro400s. Arriva first took delivery of 44 Volvo B5LH hybrids with Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 bodywork in spring 2013, with eleven delivered to Bolton and 33 delivered to Birkenhead for "CrossRiver" branded services. [15] [16] An additional 51 Volvo B5LH hybrids with Wright Gemini 3 bodywork later entered service at Green Lane and Speke depots in early 2017 on services in Liverpool, after initial use on rail replacement services. [17]

Alongside the large fleet of hybrid electric buses, Arriva North West has also invested in smaller amounts of zero-emissions buses. In 2014, nineteen Caetano EcoCity compressed natural gas-powered buses entered service with the company, [18] followed by a batch of twelve BYD Alexander Dennis Enviro200EV battery electric buses at Green Lane depot in November 2017, which were both the first fully electric powered vehicles operated by Arriva North West and the first Enviro200EVs to be delivered to an operator in the United Kingdom outside London. [19]

Arriva North West took delivery of ten Alexander Dennis Enviro400FCEV fuel cell buses funded by the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority in early 2023, intended for use on service 10A between Liverpool and St Helens via Knowsley in partnership with Stagecoach Merseyside and South Lancashire, [20] [21] however issues with the supply of hydrogen fuel have meant that Arriva's Enviro400FCEVs entered service sporadically between 2023 and 2024, [22] and it was announced in December 2025 that the buses were to be converted to battery electric power. [23]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Arriva Buses Wales and Arriva North West fleet list" (PDF). UK Buses. Retrieved 1 February 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 "History - North West". Arriva. Archived from the original on 28 May 2012. Retrieved 27 September 2011.
  3. ↑ "NBC carve-up is settled". Commercial Motor . Vol. 163, no. 4163. Sutton: Transport Press. 22 March 1986. p. 44. Retrieved 28 February 2023.
  4. ↑ "North Western Road Car flies National Bus Company nest". Commercial Motor. Vol. 168, no. 4264. Sutton: Reed Business Publishing. 24 March 1988. p. 17. Retrieved 28 February 2023.
  5. ↑ Jones, Stuart (21 June 1996). "Cowie to buy British Bus". Bus & Coach Buyer. No. 363. Spalding: Glen-Holland Limited. p. 9. Retrieved 9 October 2025.
  6. ↑ Morgan, Mike (22 June 1996). "Last of the big deals?". Coach & Bus Week. No. 223. Peterborough: Emap. p. 5. Retrieved 9 October 2025.
  7. ↑ "New livery for North Western". North West, Merseyside & Wirral Daily Post. 20 January 1998. p. 26. Retrieved 24 January 2026– via Newspapers.com.
  8. ↑ Harrison, Michael (25 January 2000). "Staff drive off with £13,400 windfalls as Arriva buys MTL" . The Independent. London. Retrieved 28 February 2023.
  9. ↑ Bannister, Nicholas (25 January 2000). "There'll be £13,500 along for bus drivers employees". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 February 2023.
  10. ↑ "MTL becomes Arriva Merseyside". Buses . No. 541. Hersham: Ian Allan Publishing. April 2000. p. 7. Retrieved 24 April 2024.
  11. ↑ Izatt, Andy (21 July 2005). "Glenvale, never the bookies' favourite". routeone. No. 87. Peterborough: Expo Publishing. pp. 4–5. Retrieved 24 January 2026.
  12. ↑ "Arriva news". UK Business Park. 20 December 2005. Archived from the original on 7 January 2009. Retrieved 4 October 2013.
  13. ↑ "Blue Bus to ride again?". Coach & Bus Week. No. 690. Peterborough: Emap. 4 August 2005. p. 9. Retrieved 24 January 2026.
  14. 1 2 Deakin, Tim (24 April 2023). "Arriva exits Macclesfield and Winsford as others move in". routeone. Retrieved 25 April 2023.
  15. ↑ "Arriva invests £15.5m in green buses for NW". Coach & Bus Week. Peterborough. 5 March 2013. Retrieved 28 February 2023.
  16. ↑ Pattinson, Rob (9 March 2013). "Arriva unveils new cross-river service fleet of hybrid "green" buses in Birkenhead through £9m scheme". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 28 February 2023.
  17. ↑ "Arriva Volvo hybrids arriving". Coach & Bus Week. Peterborough. 24 January 2017. Retrieved 28 February 2023.
  18. ↑ "Arriva goes green as the first gas buses arrive in Runcorn". Arriva North West. Archived from the original on 8 March 2014. Retrieved 27 February 2014.
  19. ↑ "Liverpool joins the electric bus revolution with a dozen BYDs". routeone. 3 October 2017. Retrieved 28 February 2023.
  20. ↑ "Alexander Dennis recieves[sic] first order for new H2.0 platform". Coach & Bus Week. Peterborough. 7 September 2021. Retrieved 1 February 2024.
  21. ↑ Thorp, Liam (27 July 2021). "Futuristic new buses to hit streets of the Liverpool City Region". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 1 February 2024.
  22. ↑ Thorp, Liam (26 August 2023). "Why you haven't seen Merseyside's new hydrogen buses on the roads". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 1 February 2024.
  23. ↑ "Liverpool hydrogen buses to go battery-electric amid investment". routeone. 16 December 2025. Retrieved 17 December 2025.
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