 East Lancs Esteem in 2020 | |
| Parent | Kishan Singh Chumber |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Blakenhall, Wolverhampton |
| Service area | Wolverhampton / West Midlands |
| Service type | Bus services |
| Routes | 6 |
| Depots | Dudley Road, Wolverhampton [1] |
| Fleet | 15 |
Travel Express is a bus company based in Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England. [2]
Travel Express was founded in 2000 by Kishan Singh Chumber. [3] Initially, the company ran services in Birmingham before switching operations to Wolverhampton. [4] [5]
Travel Express currently operate six main services around Wolverhampton including services 1 and 11 which compete with National Express West Midlands. Travel Express also operate four Transport for West Midlands tendered services - 63, 64, 65 and 303 to Willenhall [6] In addition positioning journeys are operated on service 3 and 529.
The current fleet consists of Alexander Dennis Enviro200s, they previously had a number of Dennis Darts in the fleet but these have since departed. [1] The company operates from the one-time Midland Red garage in Dudley Road, Wolverhampton.
The company came under fire in January 2015 following a public enquiry by Traffic Commissioner Nick Jones, with the investigation finding that buses were unsafe and dirty, basic safety principles were unmet and that the company employed no cleaner, whilst branding manager Kishan Chumber 'incompetent'. [4] [7] Chumber responded, stating that the results of the public enquiry were a "gross vilification of the business" and that Travel Express were being unfairly targeted. [3] The company had its number of allowed buses reduced from 13 to 8, [4] and its routes reduced from 4 to 2. [8] In September 2015, the company's licence was revoked for failing to comply with requirements imposed by the Traffic Commissioner. [9] [8] [10]
In 2016, Travel Express, now trading as ‘Let’s Go’ received a new licence to operate 8 vehicles, under three conditions:
In 2018, Travel Express' owner, Kishan Singh Chumber, applied to be re-instated as a Transport Manager for the company. At the January 2018 Traffic Commission meeting, he withdrew his application. [11]
Mobico Group, formerly National Express Group, is a British multinational public transport company with headquarters in Birmingham, England. Domestically it currently operates bus and coach services under brands including National Express. The company also operates transport services including trains abroad: in the Republic of Ireland, United States, Canada, Spain, Portugal, Malta, Germany, Bahrain, and Morocco, and long-distance coach services across Europe.
The West Midlands Metro is a light-rail/tram system in the county of West Midlands, England. The network has 33 stops with a total of 14 miles (23 km) of track; it currently consists of a single route, Line 1, which operates between the cities of Birmingham and Wolverhampton via the towns of Bilston, West Bromwich and Wednesbury, on a mixture of former railway lines and urban on-street running. The system is owned by the public body Transport for West Midlands, and operated by Midland Metro Limited, a company wholly owned by the West Midlands Combined Authority.
Birmingham is a major transport hub, due in part to its location in central England. The city is well connected by rail, road, and water. Public transport and key highways in the city are overseen by Transport for West Midlands (TfWM).
West Midlands Bus route 11, also known as the Birmingham Outer Circle, is a 27-mile (43 km) route that circumnavigates Birmingham via the A4040 apart from a small deviation via the B4182 and A4030 in Bearwood. It is operated by National Express West Midlands. It operated in both clockwise and anti-clockwise directions as routes 11C and 11A, however since July 2021 the service was split so 11A buses would terminate at Perry Barr and then return as an 11C to Acocks Green, with 11C buses terminating at Erdington, returning as a 11A service to Acocks Green.
National Express, also abbreviated NX, is an intercity and inter-regional coach operator providing services throughout Great Britain. It is a subsidiary of the British multinational public transport company Mobico Group. Most services are subcontracted to local coach companies. The company's head office is in offices above Birmingham Coach Station.
Stagecoach Group is a transport group based in Perth, Scotland. It operates buses and express coaches in the United Kingdom.
Transport for West Midlands (TfWM) is the public body responsible for co-ordinating transport services in the West Midlands metropolitan county in England. It is an executive body of the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA), with bus franchising and highway management powers similar to Transport for London. TfWM's policies and strategy are set by the Transport Delivery Committee of the WMCA.
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.
Stagecoach East is a bus operator providing local and regional services across the East of England, operating in the counties of Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire. The company is a subsidiary of the Stagecoach Group and is headquartered and registered in Cambridge.
National Express West Midlands (NXWM), also operating under the West Midlands Bus brand identity, is an English bus operator in the West Midlands, a subsidiary of Mobico Group. It is the largest bus operator in the region and one of the single largest in Britain.
National Express Coventry is a bus operator providing services in Coventry. It is a subsidiary of Mobico Group operating on the operators licence of National Express West Midlands.
Rotala Limited is a company established in 2005, which owns a number of bus operators in England. It was listed on the Alternative Investment Market from 2005 until 2024.
Express Motors was a bus and coach hire company based in Penygroes, Gwynedd. The company operated public bus services in the Caernarfon, Porthmadog, Blaenau Ffestiniog, Bangor and Llandudno areas, as well as long-distance TrawsCambria service T2 between Bangor and Aberystwyth.
McGill's Bus Services is a bus operator based in Greenock, Scotland. The company has grown to operate a network of routes covering much of the council areas of Inverclyde, East Renfrewshire, Renfrewshire, North Lanarkshire, Glasgow City, North Ayrshire, West Lothian, Falkirk and Dundee City. McGill's have several depots based in Greenock, Inchinnan, Johnstone, Edinburgh, Bannockburn, Balfron, Larbert, Livingston and Dundee. McGill's also formerly had depots in Dumbarton, Barrhead and Coatbridge.
Crosville Motor Services operated both contract hire and stage carriage bus services between 2011 and 2018 from its base in Weston-super-Mare, North Somerset, England. It also operated a fleet of heritage vehicles and continues to do so as 'Crosville Vintage'.
The Wright StreetDeck is an integral double-decker bus manufactured by Wrightbus since 2014, originally delivered as standard with a Daimler OM934 diesel engine. Hybrid-electric, full-electric and hydrogen-powered variants have subsequently been produced. Production of the StreetDeck range was briefly suspended when Wrightbus entered administration in September 2019.
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.
The West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive (WMPTE) was the public body responsible for public transport in the West Midlands metropolitan county in the United Kingdom from 1969 until 2016. The organisation operated under the name Centro from 1990, and was publicly branded as Network West Midlands from 2005.
Arriva UK Bus is a major bus operator in the United Kingdom based in Sunderland, England. It is a subsidiary of Arriva which runs transport services across Europe, which was a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn from 2010. As of 2024 Arriva will be owned by I Squared Capital.
The Alexander Dennis Enviro400 MMC is a low-floor double-decker bus produced by the British bus manufacturer Alexander Dennis since 2014, replacing the Alexander Dennis Enviro400. The Enviro400 MMC is produced at Alexander Dennis' Falkirk and Scarborough factories in the United Kingdom.
Bus operators in the West Midlands | ||
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| Herefordshire |  | |
| Shropshire | ||
| Staffordshire | ||
| Warwickshire | ||
| Transport for West Midlands | ||
| Worcestershire | ||
| National | ||