Centrebus Group-owned D&G Bus reintroduced a historic bus fleet name last week as it took over the reins of the Cannock depot from Arriva. Richard Sharman looks at the operation during its first week and finds out what customers in the area can look forward to as the brand develops
The middle of a pandemic seems a strange time to take over a depot, but the bus industry is known for its resilience and pandemic or not, the bus services are still operating to provide essential travel to key workers throughout Cannock, Stafford and beyond. So it’s by no means business as usual, but as the schools are not open it means a slightly reduced peak vehicle requirement (PVR) and less traffic, allowing for a slightly easier transition in terms of preparing vehicles and getting driving staff used to a new way of working.
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Changes at Arriva
Back in March 2019 German railway operator and owner of Arriva Deutsche Bahn (DB) announced it was exploring options for selling Arriva in a bid to lower its debt pile, which news agency Reuters reported to be around €20bn at the time, after its €1bn investment in high-speed trains in 2018.
DB, which acquired 100% of the shares in Arriva in 2010, in a statement confirmed that its supervisory board had instructed its management board to assess the option of selling up to 100% of its shares in Arriva, with the option of an initial public offering (IPO).
In the interim period a number of potential buyers were mooted to be in line to purchase the group, including Apollo Global Management and the Carlyle Group, whilst Stagecoach and Keolis were rumoured to be only interested in acquiring certain divisions of the group.
Fast forward to 2021 and the sale of Arriva has not moved on much from its original position, the only progress being the sale of some depot sites – which have then been leased back – and the announcement last week that the Arriva Bus & Coach dealership in Cleckheaton is to close in March this year.
The purchase of the Cannock depot and operations by Centrebus Group division D&G Bus is the first positive sign that things are starting to happen.
In a statement to its customers, Simon Mathieson, Area Managing Director for Arriva Midlands North said: “Although we will be sad to hand over operations of our Cannock depot, we are delighted that it will be in the hands of D&G Bus, a well-known local bus company, and know that they will take great care of the depot, customers and all the employees.”
Recent changes to Arriva’s operating divisions means that Midlands North still operates depots in Oswestry, Shrewsbury, Tamworth and Telford. It will also continue to maintain a presence in Stafford with services 5 and S905 from Telford via Oakengates, Lilleshall, Newport and Haughton every 30 minutes, but no Arriva services will operate into Cannock.
Bringing back Chaserider
If you know your bus industry history, you will know that Chaserider is one of the historic local fleet names used by Midland Red during the National Bus Company era. It also returned under deregulation when Midland Red was split up for sale into different divisions. Chaserider fell under the Midland Red North division and buses from the Delta Way depot in Cannock carried the name on two different style liveries until 1992, when the company reverted to all over red with Midland fleet names prior to local liveries being swept away completely by the Arriva corporate livery of aquamarine and stone in December 1997 (and more recently by the current lighter turquoise livery).
Matt Evans, Managing Director for D&G Bus said: “We will welcome all staff who will transfer as part of the recent acquisition of the Cannock and Stafford operations from Arriva. We are committed to building a new refreshing brand and we very much look forward to working in partnership with all stakeholders. Most importantly a ‘big hello’ to all our future customers and we look forward to seeing you out and about on our services soon.”
Additionally, bus routes operated by Select Bus Services are shown in the Chaserider timetable books and route maps. These are the 11, 11A, 36, 67, 71, 71A, 877, 787 along with D&G Bus’ 841.
Ticketing
The launch of Chaserider has given D&G’s new customers various ticketing choices, as it is using myTrip from Passenger, a Bournemouth-based company developing technology to ‘power sustainable transport.’
Passenger says myTrip is the first multi-operator app to be designed, built and priced for smaller operators. It allows for cashless and contact-free transactions and helps operators and users manage social distancing requirements. Users can also see detailed information about each vehicle (including accessibility features) and can gift tickets via the app.
Talking about the company’s ticket machines, Operations Director Kevin Crawford said: “Arriva did have the same Ticketer ticket machine as D&G Bus; however, a decision was made to invest in new Ticketer ticket machines for Chaserider, meaning all our buses now have brand-new machines.”
This, along with the myTrip app, allows its customers to make contactless payments, including Apple Pay and Google Pay on all of its buses for transactions up to £45.
Additionally, a number of daily, weekly and monthly passes are available, some of which include travel on D&G Bus services 14 and 841 within Stafford. Other tickets accepted include the nBus and nNetwork tickets within the West Midlands area; Swift Go for travel along the full lengths of routes 2, 3 and 70; and The Knot for a day’s travel wholly within Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent. For £7 per day it allows unlimited one-day travel on Chaserider and on buses operated by Arriva Midlands, D&G Bus, First Potteries, Midland Classic (including buses between Burton and Swadlincote), National Express West Midlands and Select Bus Services.
Group travel tickets on the whole network also offer good value, with one day costing £13 for up to five people travelling together or £9 in the Cannock and Stafford zone, ideal for when lockdown restrictions are ended.
