Centrebus was founded in 2001, it was previously known as Anstey Buslines. In 2002, the businesses of inMotion, Dunstable, [2] [3] Lutonian, Luton and Centrebus, Leicester merged to form the basis of the business today.
In January 2004, Centrebus acquired the St Albans operation of Blazefield although in March 2008 it was sold to Uno. [4] During February 2005 operations commenced around Grantham, following the closure of MASS Transit. [5]
In June 2007, Centrebus purchased Bowers Coaches,which through a joint venture with Wellglade Group became High Peak Buses in 2012. [6] based in Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire. Bowers operated services around Cheshire, Derbyshire and Greater Manchester. In April 2012 Centrebus transferred the business into a joint venture with the Wellglade Group to form High Peak Buses with Bowers operations relocated to Trent Barton's Dove Holes depot. [7] [8]
Centrebus shareholders formed Centrebus Holdings in May 2008 with Arriva taking a 40% shareholding. Centrebus Holdings was an independent company from the main business, but was managed by Centrebus on a day-to-day basis. In September 2013, Arriva bought out its partners with the West Yorkshire operations rebranded as Yorkshire Tiger and the Hinckley operations as Hinckley Bus. [9] [10] [11] [12] Despite the name, Centrebus Holdings has never had any shareholding in Centrebus, and was formed to take over K-Line and Stagecoach Huddersfield, and subsequently the Hinckley operations of Arriva Midlands.
In September 2008, Centrebus purchased the local bus operations of the Woods Coaches, Leicestershire business. In August 2009, the business of Trustybus, [13] with operations in Essex and Hertfordshire, was acquired by Centrebus. [14] In August 2010 Centrebus took over the operations of Judges Mini Coaches, Corby with routes serving Kettering, Milton Keynes, Welford, Wellingborough, Wicken and Yardley Gobion.
In May 2011, Centrebus took over West End Travel of Melton Mowbray [15] and its fleet of buses and services in Melton Mowbray and Rural Rider services. In October 2011 Centrebus purchased Paul James Coaches, [16] Saxby from Veolia Transport with 21 buses.
In July 2011 Centrebus took over the business of Kimes Buses, Folkingham. Kimes was founded in 1945 and sold in January 1997 to its employees. [17] It operated a fleet of 23 vehicles at the time of the takeover. Its green and cream livery and the Kimes name were retained by Centrebus. [18] In August 2013 the depot was closed with operations transferred to Centrebus' Grantham depot. [19] [20]
Network contraction
In November 2012, Centrebus closed its Harlow depot with most routes passing to Roadrunner Buses. [21] The remaining routes moved to the Stevenage depot, allowing the business to consolidate its East Hertfordshire operations on a single site.
In June 2017, Centrebus closed its Saxby depot, citing rising costs and declining patronage with all services passing to either Leicester or Grantham depots. [22]
In October 2019, Centrebus closed its Corby depot, citing rising costs and declining patronage with services passing to other depots or operators. [23]
In May 2021, Stevenage Depot was closed by Centrebus with most services moved to Luton depot. [24] some routes were transferred to Luton while others were transferred to other operators, with Trustybus, Richmonds, A2B Travel and Chiltern Automotive all taking on former Centrebus routes.
