Arriva Buses Wales

Arriva Buses Wales is a bus operator providing services in North Wales and Chester. It is a subsidiary of Arriva.

History
Crosville Motor Services was formed in 1919 and operated services in Wales and northern England. It became a subsidiary of National Bus Company before its Welsh operations were split into Crosville Cymru in preparation for sale in 1987 through a management buyout.

In 1989 Crosville Cymru was sold to National Express. In 1991 it was sold again to British Bus.

In August 1996 British Bus was purchased by the Cowie Group. It traded as Arriva Cymru until February 2002, when it merged with Arriva North West to form Arriva North West & Wales.

In August 2008 Arriva purchased routes 9 and 9A with seven buses from KMP.

In January 2009, Arriva North West & Wales was split, with the Welsh operations being managed by a new management team based at Llandudno Junction depot.

Services
Arriva Buses Wales operates services across North Wales from Holyhead to Chester and Wrexham. During the summer months open top buses operate services in Rhyl.

Arriva Buses Wales previously operated some Trawscambria services.

Depots
Arriva Buses Wales operates four depots:
 * Bangor - Llandygai Industrial Estate, Llandygai (headquarters)
 * Hawarden (near Chester) - Manor Lane Industrial Estate, Manor Lane
 * Rhyl - Ffynnongroew Road
 * Wrexham - Berse Road, Caego

There are also smaller outstations or sub-depots at other locations, including Llandudno, Holyhead and Amlwch (outstations of Bangor). Caelloi Motors share their depot with Arriva in Pwllheli.

The former regional headquarters and depot at Llandudno Junction closed in April 2013. Aberystwyth depot, along with its outstations at New Quay and Lampeter closed on 21 December 2013, along with Dolgellau, latterly an outstation of Wrexham depot. Councillors and AMs criticised the short notice given by Arriva, leading to fears that communities could be left without bus services; however, other operators took over the running of the routes.

Fleet
Dennis Darts, of the low-floor SLF and MPD varieties, make up about half of the fleet. More recent deliveries have been VDL SB120 and SB200 with Wright Cadet, Commander and Pulsar bodywork, and Optare Solos. Other types operated include a pair of Optare Versas used on service X44 between Chester and Mold; seven Volvo/Wright Eclipse acquired from K.M.P. in 2008 along with the Llandudno-Bangor-Caernarfon services on which they are used; and a pair of Van Hool Alizée coaches transferred in from Arriva Midlands for use on service 20 between Cardiff and Aberystwyth.

Double-deckers allocations are concentrated with five Volvo Olympians with Northern Counties Palatine bodywork, operated by Bangor (and its outstations) on dedicated duties. Severn DAF DB250LF (ex London cascades) have are based at Rhyl. During January 2012 Rhyl depot took delivery of ten brand new Wright Gemini 2 double-deckers for use on the X11 Rhyl-Chester "Cymru Coastliner" route. Rhyl depot is also home to seven open-top double-deckers for use on the 1 (formerly 120) Pensarn - Rhyl - Talacre summer route. Some examples find occasional use for special event private hires, such as football victory parades.

During March 2010 Arriva Buses Wales announced that the fleet was 100% low floor (except open-tops and college/school duties), although high-floor Van Hool coaches were subsequently brought in to replace Optare Tempos on Aberystwyth-Cardiff duties.

29 April 2013 saw the introduction of the first Sapphire concept of all UK regional ARRIVA Bus fleets. Nine Sapphire buses, representing a £650,000 investment where introduced on route 1 between Wrexham and Chester.

Double deck

 * VDL DB300/Wright Gemini 2
 * Alexander Dennis Trident II/Alexander Dennis Enviro400
 * DAF DB250/Alexander ALX400
 * Leyland Olympian(open top)/Alexander R Type ECW
 * Volvo Olympian/Northern Counties Palatine

Single deck

 * Dennis Dart 8.8 m MPD/Marshall Capital
 * Dennis Dart 10.1 m/10.7m SLF/Plaxton Pointer II
 * VDL SB200/Wright Commander
 * VDL SB200/Wright Pulsar
 * VDL SB200/Wright Pulsar 2
 * Optare Solo
 * VDL SB120/Wright Cadet
 * Volvo B7RLE/Wright Eclipse
 * Optare Versa
 * DAF SB4000/Van Hool Alizée