Centrebus

Centrebus[1] is a bus company based in Leicester operating services in Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and Rutland.

An Alexander Dennis Enviro 200 in Leicester City Centre in 2015
Slogan	Your local bus service provider
Founded	2001
Headquarters	Wenlock Way, Leicester
Service area	Bedfordshire Hertfordshire Leicestershire Lincolnshire Rutland
Service type	Bus services
Depots	Grantham Leicester Luton Stevenage
Fleet	250 buses (August 2018)
Chief executive	Julian Peddle
Website	www.centrebus.info

Centrebus also has a 50/50 shareholding in High Peak Buses alongside Wellglade Group and ownership of D&G Bus.

History

Plaxton Centro bodied VDL SB120 in April 2007

Northern Counties Palatine bodied Volvo B10M-50 in September 2008

Centrebus was founded in 2001, it was previously known as Anstey Buslines. In 2002, the businesses of inMotion, Dunstable,[2][3] Lutonian, Luton[4] and Centrebus, Leicester merged to form the basis of the business today.

Expansion

In January 2004, Centrebus acquired the St Albans operation of Blazefield although in March 2008 it was sold to Uno.[5] During February 2005 operations commenced around Grantham, following the closure of MASS Transit.[6]

In June 2007, Centrebus purchased Bowers Coaches,[7] 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.[8][9]

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.[10][11][12][13] 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,[14] with operations in Essex and Hertfordshire, was acquired by Centrebus.[15] 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[16] and its fleet of buses and services in Melton Mowbray and Rural Rider services. In October 2011 Centrebus purchased Paul James Coaches,[17] 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.[18] 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.[19] In August 2013 the depot was closed with operations transferred to Centrebus' Grantham depot.[20]

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.

Depots

Centrebus currently operates from five depots across England:

• Wenlock Way (Leicester also HQ),
• Tollemache Road South (for Grantham operations),
• Hallsteads, Dove Holes (for HighPeak buses operations),
• Dallow Road (for Luton operations),
• Whitworth Road (for Stevenage operations)

Fleet

As of February 2020 the fleet consists of 225 vehicles, mostly single-deck vehicles.[22]

Centrebus are rolling out a revised livery across their fleet with orange to the front of the vehicle and blue to the rear, separated by a broad white stripe.[23]

References

1. Companies House extract company no 3872099 Centrebus Limited
2. Companies House extract company no 4490145 LQT Limited
3. The proposed acquisition by Arriva plc of the business of Sovereign Bus & Coach Company Ltd Competition Commission December 2004
5. Expansion for Uno Oxford & Chiltern Bus Page issue 258 7 March 2008
6. Reliance of Great Gonerby Country Bus
7. Companies House extract company no 548351 Eric W Bowers Coaches Limited
8. Wellglade/Centrebus join up in Buxton Archived 22 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine Bus & Coach Professional 24 May 2011
9. New bus operator hits the road trentbarton
10. Centrebus (Holdings) Limited Arriva 9 September 2013
11. Arriva takes joint venture control Archived 22 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine Bus & Coach Professional 12 September 2013
12. Arriva unleases its Yorkshire Tiger Archived 18 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine Bus & Coach Professional 9 October 2013
13. Hinckley Bus Arriva
14. Companies House extract company no 4717739 Galleon Travel Limited
15. Centrebus Harlow Bus Travel Information
16. Companies House extract company no 3741213 Romdrive Limited
17. Companies House extract company no 4314235 Garrison Street Limited formerly Paul James Coaches Limited
18. Kimes of Folkingham Archived 21 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine Country Bus
19. Millar, Alan (September 2011). "Centrebus and Go-Ahead grow with latest takeovers". Buses. Ian Allan Publishing (678): 6.
20. Owner to close Kimes buses in Folkingham Archived 21 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine Grantham Journal 12 July 2013
21. Registrations Received and Service Changes Advised Intalink November 2012
22. {https://lutonbuspage.wordpress.com/fleet-lists/}
23. {https://www.centrebus.info/news/new-livery/}

External links

• Media related to Centrebus at Wikimedia Commons
• Centrebus website