Arriva buys out the remaining stake in Centrebus Holdings (Yorkshire) and re-names the Yorkshire operations.

[p]

Centrebus and Arriva both held an equal share of Centrebus Holdings in Yorkshire. Arriva have now fully completed the purchase of Centrebus share of the operation and have re-named the entire operation Yorkshire Tiger. This arm of Arriva will run separate from Arriva a bit like Wardle does down in Staffordshire. Services affected in Leeds include the University services 92, 93, 94, the Airport services 737, 747, 757, some journeys operated previously by Centrebus on the 9, the East Leeds routes 61, 62, 62A, 62C, 63 (note the 62/A also run out West to Armley, Pudsey and Shipley), some peak journeys Centrebus ran on the 38 as well as the West Leeds local route 80. As well as routes in Leeds, services in Halifax, Huddersfield and areas surrounding such as Denby Dale and Wakefield will also see services operated by Yorkshire Tiger. See www.yorkshiretiger.co.uk

[jonleeds]

Some of the bus routes have become ridiculous in the way they are run by different operators according to the time of day - or even direction you are travelling in, even on the same route!! For example, the number 9a bus that runs around the Leeds outer ring road used to be a handy bus for me to catch from right outside my flats to get to the Morrisons supermarket on Horsforth Town Street. However a year or so ago this service, which was already poorly serviced (1 bus per hour!) was furthur ruined by the operator changing from First Leeds running in the westerly direction yet the return service in the easterly direction being run by Centrebus, which meant it was impossible to use the Firstbus 'Dayrider' ticket. If I want to get a bus to Horsforth and back from where I live in West Park, only about a mile and a half away it costs £2.70 there and a similar amount back... Absolutely ludicrous. Now the buses that were run by Centrebus have been taken over by a company called 'Connexions' and they've been downgraded to a minibus sized thing. I wonder how many other peoples bus journeys have been wrecked by this ill thought out planning?

[raveydavey]

Thanks for the post.However, if Arriva are planning to run more services, why do they need a different company to do it through? Is it some sort of plan to make it look like there is more competition than there actually is?

[BIG N]

jonleeds wrote: However a year or so ago this service, which was already poorly serviced (1 bus per hour!) was furthur ruined by the operator changing from First Leeds running in the westerly direction yet the return service in the easterly direction being run by Centrebus, which meant it was impossible to use the Firstbus 'Dayrider' ticket. If I want to get a bus to Horsforth and back from where I live in West Park, only about a mile and a half away it costs £2.70 there and a similar amount back... Absolutely ludicrous. As a bus driver I've long had my suspicions about the reasoning behind this, it seems more than just a little coincidental that dividing routes up in this way seemed to happen around the same time as Metro launched their own day ticket. Company day ticket for around £4.50 with all the funds going to the individual operator versus Metro day ticket covering all operators for £5.40 with the bulk of the ticket cost going to Metro - Hmmm, I wonder

[BIG N]

raveydavey wrote: However, if Arriva are planning to run more services, why do they need a different company to do it through? Is it some sort of plan to make it look like there is more competition than there actually is? Ravey - arriva were already the major stake holder in Centrebus holdings, they held a 40% share along with two other company's, they have bought out their partners in the Yorkshire branch of the operation but not the rest of the country.Its long been known within the industry that they wanted certain routes in West Yorkshire like the airport services and several services from Huddersfield and Wakefield to places like Denby Dale and Holmfirth however they have been unsuccessful when tendering for these routes.The buying of Centrebus in Yorkshire make sense on two points, not only do they acquire the routes they want but they also better operating bases to run these routes from in Leeds and Huddersfield.As for re-naming the operation Yorkshire Tiger and not simply re-branding as Arriva, I believe ( but please don't quote me ) that monopolies and mergers have a say in it somewhere along the line but also keeping the operation as a stand alone company means they don't have to offer the current employee's the same pay and conditions as they do to Arriva employee's.On a personal note - its full circle for me as, having been sacked from Arriva at the end of 2012, I then went to work at Huddersfield bus ( Centrebus ) at the beginning of this year and I am now back at Arriva - hey ho.