Skylink (bus service)

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Skylink
YX20 OHG.jpg
A Skylink branded ADL Enviro200MMC in Loughborough in 2023.
Service area East Midlands Airport
Nottinghamshire
Leicester
Coalville
Loughborough
Service typeBus services
Stations St Margaret's Bus Station
Derby Bus Station
East Midlands Airport
Depots Nottingham and Loughborough
Fleet23 Enviro200 MMC , 2 Scania L94UB/Wright Solars, 1 Volvo B7RLE/Wright Eclipse Urban
Operator Trentbarton & Kinchbus
Website www.trentbarton.co.uk/services/skylinkclifton

Skylink is the brand name for bus services that serve East Midlands Airport in Leicestershire. Services are operated by Kinchbus and trentbarton, both a part of Derbyshire-based Wellglade Group.

Contents

History

Nottingham City Transport previously operated the Skylink Nottingham service until 2012 when the service was replaced by a new Skylink service operated by trentbarton via Long Eaton, which also replaced the indigo service between Long Eaton and Loughborough via East Midlands Airport and Sutton Bonington that ran between 2002 and 2012.

Following a local petition, [1] an hourly extension service to Coalville via Shepshed was introduced in September 2015.

Kinchbus have operated the Skylink service between Leicester and Derby since 2008. Prior to 2008, route was originally called AirLine Shuttle, and ran between Loughborough and Long Eaton then Derby via the airport. [2]

Arriva Midlands previously operated a limited-stop service (coloured light green) between Leicester and the airport via New Parks and the M1 between 2006 and 2009; this service was replaced by an extension of the now branded Skylink Derby service which runs down the A6 to Leicester via Birstall.

2022 Service Changes

During August 2022, Trent Barton and Kinchbus announced from 2 October 2022 that Skylink routes would undergo an overhaul; [3] [4] Skylink Derby buses ceased to serve Long Whatton and Diseworth from 3 October 2022. During September 2022, funding from Leicestershire County Council and Nottinghamshire County Council halted plans to withdraw all journeys of the Skylink Nottingham between EMA Gateway and Loughborough alongside journeys between EMA Gateway and Coalville operating overnight between 8pm and 5am would be withdrawn, the funding lasted until April 2023 when the changes were implemented. [5] These were withdrawn from 15 May 2023. [6]

Services

Scania L94UB/Wright Solar in the Skylink Express livery, Carrington Street, Nottingham Trentbarton 662 (FN54 AEZ).jpg
Scania L94UB/Wright Solar in the Skylink Express livery, Carrington Street, Nottingham

Skylink buses operate 24 hours a day 7 days a week on the Leicester/Derby and Nottingham routes, the Skylink Express buses no longer operate overnight but do operate from 4am until midnight.

ServiceRoute
Skylink Leicester & DerbyLeicester (St Margaret's Bus Station) - Birstall - Loughborough - Kegworth - East Midlands Airport - Castle Donington- Shardlow - Alvaston - Derby [7]
Skylink NottinghamNottingham - Beeston - Long Eaton - Castle Donington - East Midlands Airport - some daytime journeys then continue hourly to Coalville via Shepshed; [8] all other journeys terminate at East Midlands Gateway.
Skylink ExpressNottingham - Clifton - fast along Remembrance Way - East Midlands Airport [9]

Although not a part of Skylink brand, trentbarton also operate half-hourly extensions to East Midlands Airport on their My15 route between Ilkeston and New Sawley, while Diamond East Midlands extended their service AirLine 9 to East Midlands Airport in 2019, connecting the airport with Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Swadlincote and Burton-upon-Trent.. [10]

On 31 March 2024, Kinchbus increased the frequency of the Leicester-Derby service to every 15 minutes during the Monday to Saturday daytimes, an additional four vehicles are being refurbished from the trentbarton fleet. [11]

2017 Alexander-Dennis Enviro200MMC in the Skylink Nottingham livery Skylink bus and old milestone, East Midlands Airport (geograph 6187469).jpg
2017 Alexander-Dennis Enviro200MMC in the Skylink Nottingham livery
Nottingham City Transport Scania Omnicity formerly used on their Skylink service Bus at East Midlands Airport - geograph.org.uk - 3017816.jpg
Nottingham City Transport Scania Omnicity formerly used on their Skylink service

Fleet

Trent Barton operate 11 2017 Enviro200 MMCs on their Skylink Nottingham route while the Skylink Express services are currently using two 2004 Wright Solars which will be replaced by newer buses which are surplus from other Trent Barton services, including a 2009 Wright Eclipse Urban.

Kinchbus upgraded the Leicester-Derby route with 12 ADL Enviro200 MMCs to help meet the now cancelled Leicester clean air zone requirements which was due to come into force during late 2020, an additional four vehicles are being refurbished from the trentbarton fleet for the uplift in service. [12] [13] These new buses replaced Mercedes-Benz Citaro's. A 2017 ADL Enviro200MMC was transferred to Kinchbus and repainted from the Skylink Nottingham livery into the Skylink Derby livery following a frequency increase at the end of March 2024.

Spare buses in the liveries of the services' respective operators are also used when necessary.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">East Midlands</span> Region of England

The East Midlands is one of nine official regions of England. It comprises the eastern half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. It consists of Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, and Rutland. The region has a land area of 15,624 km2 (6,032 sq mi), with an estimated population 4,934,939 in 2022. With a sufficiency-level world city ranking, Nottingham is the only settlement in the region to be classified by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">East Midlands Airport</span> Airport in the East Midlands of England

East Midlands Airport is an international airport in Castle Donington, North West Leicestershire, England. The airport is situated between Loughborough, Derby and Nottingham ; Leicester is 20 miles (32 km) to the south and Lincoln 43 miles (69 km) northeast. It serves the majority of the East Midlands region consisting of the counties of Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, Southern Lincolnshire, Rutland and Derbyshire. The airfield was originally built as a Royal Air Force station known as RAF Castle Donington in 1943, before being redeveloped as a civilian airport in 1965.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shepshed</span> Town and civil parish in Leicestershire, England

Shepshed is a market town and civil parish in the Charnwood Borough of Leicestershire, England with a population of 14,875 at the 2021 census. It is the second biggest settlement in the borough, after the town of Loughborough.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West Bridgford</span> Town in Nottinghamshire, England

West Bridgford is a town and the administrative centre of the Borough of Rushcliffe, in the county of Nottinghamshire, England. It lies south of Nottingham city centre, east of Wilford, north of Ruddington and west of Radcliffe-on-Trent; it is also south-west of Colwick and south-east of Beeston, which are on the opposite bank of the River Trent. The town is part of the Nottingham Urban Area and had a population of 36,487 in the 2021 Census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ivanhoe line</span>

The Ivanhoe line was the local passenger service operated on the Midland Main Line between Leicester and Loughborough between 1993, when three intermediate stations were re-opened, and June 2005, when the separate Leicester–Loughborough service was withdrawn. Intermediate stations on the route are now served by East Midlands Railway's hourly service between Leicester, Nottingham and Lincoln.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trentbarton</span> Bus operator in the East Midlands of England

Trentbarton is a bus operator providing both local and regional services in Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and Staffordshire, England. It is a subsidiary of the Wellglade Group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stapleford, Nottinghamshire</span> Town and civil parish in Nottinghamshire, England

Stapleford is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Broxtowe, Nottinghamshire, England, 6 miles (9.7 km) west of Nottingham. The population of the civil parish at the 2001 census was 14,991, at the 2011 census it was 15,241, and 15,453 at the 2021 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Loughborough railway station</span> Railway station in Leicestershire, England

Loughborough is a Grade II listed railway station in the town of Loughborough, Leicestershire; it is on the Midland Main Line and is located 111 miles (179 km) north of London St Pancras. The station is sited to the north-east of the town centre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sileby</span> Human settlement in England

Sileby is a former industrial village and civil parish in the Soar Valley in the Charnwood borough of Leicestershire, England. It is located between Leicester and Loughborough. The village is close to Barrow upon Soar, Mountsorrel, Ratcliffe-on-the-Wreake, Seagrave and Cossington. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 7,835, rising to 8,959 at the 2021 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Attenborough, Nottinghamshire</span> Village in Nottinghamshire, England

Attenborough is a village in the Borough of Broxtowe in Nottinghamshire, England. It forms part of the Greater Nottingham area and is 4+12 miles (7.2 km) to the south-west of the city of Nottingham, between Long Eaton and Beeston. It adjoins the suburbs of Toton to the west and Chilwell to the north. The population of the ward, as at the 2011 Census, was 2,328.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">East Midlands Parkway railway station</span> Railway station in Nottinghamshire, England

East Midlands Parkway railway station is located north of Ratcliffe-on-Soar on the Midland Main Line in the East Midlands of England. It provides park and ride facilities for rail passengers on the routes from Leicester to Derby and Nottingham. It is also the closest station to East Midlands Airport, some 4 miles (6.4 km) away, but without public transport link.

St Margaret's Bus Station is located on Gravel Street to the north of Leicester City Centre, England. It is named after St Margaret's Church, which stands just across Burleys Way.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Transport in Nottingham</span> Overview of the transport network of Nottingham, England

Nottingham is the seventh largest conurbation in the United Kingdom; despite this, the city's transport system was deemed to be poor for its size in the 1980s. In the early twenty-first century, the UK government invested heavily in the transport network of Nottingham, which has led to the re-opening of the Robin Hood Line and the construction of a light rail system, Nottingham Express Transit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Broadmarsh bus station</span> Bus station in Nottingham, England

Broadmarsh bus station is a bus station serving the city of Nottingham, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kinchbus</span> Loughborough bus operator, part of Wellglade

Kinchbus, formerly G.K. Kinch, is a bus operator in Loughborough, England. Since 1998 it has been a subsidiary of the Wellglade Group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Premiere Travel</span>

Premiere Travel was a bus company in Nottinghamshire.

Star Trak was a real-time bus information system operating in Leicester and Derby between 2000 and 2011. It was run by the Leicester City Council.

The Wellglade Group (WG), is a transport group operating bus and tram services in the English Midlands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexander Dennis Enviro200 MMC</span> Single-decker bus produced since 2014

The Alexander Dennis Enviro200 MMC, also marketed as the Alexander Dennis Enviro200, is a single-decker city bus produced by Alexander Dennis since 2014 as the successor to the Enviro200 midibus and Enviro300 full-size bus. The first Enviro200 MMCs entered service with National Express West Midlands in 2015. Notably, Enviro200 MMCs have been modified by Fusion Processing to be used as the basis for the first driverless bus trials in the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diamond East Midlands</span> Bus company from Staffordshire, England

Diamond East Midlands, formerly Midland Classic, is a bus company from Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England. Since August 2022, the company is a subsidiary of Rotala.

References

  1. Jarram, Matt (13 December 2014). "Petition launched to get Skylink stop for Shepshed". loughborough. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
  2. "Vehicle Operator Licensing". www.vehicle-operator-licensing.service.gov.uk. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
  3. "Skylink 2022 changes".
  4. Garrett, Lee (12 September 2022). "Under-threat airport bus route saved from axe". LeicestershireLive. Retrieved 13 September 2022.
  5. Moorhouse, Sam (27 February 2023). "Crucial cross-county Skylink bus 'must be saved' say residents". West Bridgford Wire. Retrieved 6 March 2023.
  6. "Student news - Changes to bus services - University of Nottingham". www.nottingham.ac.uk. Retrieved 11 May 2023.
  7. "Service map - skylink Derby - operated by Kinchbus".
  8. "Service map - skylink Nottingham - operated by Kinchbus".
  9. "Service map - skylink Nottingham - operated by Kinchbus".
  10. "welcome - my15 - run by trentbarton". www.trentbarton.co.uk. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
  11. "Skylink Changes March 2024". www.kinchbus.co.uk. Retrieved 27 March 2024.
  12. "Fleet News". www.derbybusdepot.co.uk. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
  13. "Alexander Dennis secures order for green buses". Daily Business. 3 March 2020. Retrieved 17 June 2021.