Arriva Midlands East
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (April 2010) |
- Midland Red East and Midland Fox redirect here
 | |
 An Arriva East Lancs Myllennium Lowlander. | |
| Headquarters | Norman Road, Thurmaston, Leicestershire |
|---|---|
| Service area | Leicester, Loughborough, Melton Mowbray, Coalville, Ashby de la Zouch, Burton upon Trent, Lutterworth, Rugby, Hinckley, Nuneaton, Blaby, Market Harborough |
| Service type | Urban and interurban bus services |
| Operator | Arriva |
| Chief executive | Alex Perry |
| Website | www.arrivabus.co.uk |
Arriva Leicester is a bus company operating in Leicester and Leicestershire. It is part of Arriva Midlands.
History
Arriva Leicester was formed in 1981, as Midland Red East with the breakup of the old Midland Red bus company, and then became known as Midland Fox in 1984.
In September 1996 the Leicester Sandacre Street depot closed,[1] and then from late 1997 the company was rebranded as Arriva Fox County. In 2003 Arriva Midlands was formed.
On 11 July 2009 the Southgates depot closed and then on 3 October 2011 the Thurmaston depot and head office moved to a new purpose built depot.[2]
Arriva operated services around the Hinckley area until August 2008 when the operations were sold to Centrebus Holdings, a joint venture between Centrebus and Arriva. During September 2013, Arriva purchased Centrebus' stake of Centrebus Holdings thus taking full control of the Hinckley depot, although, the services will be trading as Hinckley Bus.[3]
Services
Arriva operate most of their services around Leicester from either St Margaret's Bus Station and Haymarket Bus Station, Leicester but a number of services operate from on street stops within the City Centre.
Fleet
In late 2006, a new "Leicester Linx" brand was introduced for services in Leicester. By mid-2010, although the branding is evident on some vehicles the brand has been largely dropped due to a nationalisation of Arriva's website and standard national fleet. New vehicles introduced in 2009 were in standard Arriva livery and a reorganisation of the fleet in the Arriva Midlands group during 2010, saw a number of East Lancs Myllennium Lowlander brought to Leicester in standard Arriva livery to complement the small number already in Leicester. A number of Leicester Linx branded Wright Eclipse Gemini vehicles purchased in 2006 as part of operation overdrive have been moved to the Thurmaston depot. During 2011 some of the East Lancs Myllennium Lowlanders and Dennis Darts were repainted and their seating was updated into the standard arriva livery.[citation needed]
Most of the fleet is now low floor. The current buses in use are: Dennis Dart, Alexander ALX100, Optare Excel, Optare Solo, Optare Versa, DAF DB250 Alexander ALX400, East Lancs Myllennium Lowlander, Wright Commander, Wright Eclipse Gemini and Mercedes-Benz Citaro.
Depots
There are four depots located in Leicestershire, they are Thurmaston, Leicestershire (headquarters), South Wigston, Hugglescote and Hinckley.
See also
References
- ^ Midlandred.net Depots - Accessed 28 February 2009
- ^ Arriva Midlands Thurmaston depot and HQ moves to a new base
- ^ "Arriva takes control of East Mids bus operator". 11 September 2013. Retrieved 11 October 2013.
External links
Bus operators in the East Midlands | ||
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| Derbyshire |  | |
| Leicestershire | ||
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