Dodgy Detail At Denby Dale (4)

Maybe Go By Bus?

But not from Sheffield. Back in those oft remembered good old days, Sheffield Transport was part of a joint service to Halifax, the X68.

This did not actually get to Denby Dale. You would have to alight at Sovereign Inn and catch something along to Wakefield Road.

Today, from Sheffield, you could catch any bus to Chapeltown; change to a 29 (not very frequent) to Penistone where, on a Thursday or Saturday ONLY, you could join a 350 to Denby Dale.

Alternatively, you could approach from Wakefield on a 435, 436 or an occasional 437.

This is operated every hour by Yorkshire Tiger ...

... the dominant operator in Denby Dale, as the West Yorkshire bus map shows.

In fact, only the 350 ...

... run by South Pennine Community Transport, is different from the rest. (A strike-busting 308 is pictured above).

The other approach is from Huddersfield using an 81, 82 or 83.

Yorkshire Tiger is, of course, Arriva in a striped skin. But it was not always so. Yorkshire Traction had a depot at Waterloo, on the outskirts of Huddersfield ...

... which became Stagecoach when Uncle Brian bought Traccy. It was not long before Stagecoach decided to dispose of the Huddersfield chunk of its newly acquired business, and all the talk was that Arriva would be the buyer. Then the local press reported a "shock horror" change of plan.

Dateline May 2008.

Bus company Stagecoach has sold its Huddersfield operations, the paper can reveal.

But passengers will be surprised to hear that the new operator is little known company Centrebus and not Arriva, as was initially thought.

And in a further twist, Centrebus revealed that it had also snapped up Honley based K-Line buses, a major operator in the Kirklees area and provider of the Huddersfield centre free town bus.

No one from K-Line was willing to talk to the paper but Centrebus director Julian Peddle said nothing would change in the short term and it would be “business as usual”.

Mr Peddle also confirmed that Centrebus had been involved in the negotations from the start although he did admit that Arriva held a 40% stake in the company.

None of the bus companies involved could explain why earlier reports had only mentioned interest from Arriva. And after Arriva lodged an application with the Government’s Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) in March, to use Stagecoach’s depot at Wakefield Road, Waterloo, as an operating centre for 35 vehicles, it had looked like the sale was a done deal.

Thus Stagecoach begat the Huddersfield Bus Company and, later, some shiny green motors appeared at Denby Dale.

But even this was not to last as Centrebus then sold their share of the business to Arriva! But it gets stranger again.

Arriva announced that the new services would be operated by a new unit called Yorkshire Tiger.

The manager was a young lad (VERY young) called Martijn Gilbert, seen above with the Tigers! (As the two cats are sitting in EXACTLY the same positions, fbb reckons they were stuffed. Either that or the four in the picture plus photographer were very brave men!

And yes, that is the Martijn Gilbert who is now GM of Reading buses and newly created Thames Valley (Slough).

Denby Dale's buses turned orange.

Tigers began to proliferate. The K-Line routes became Tiger Blue (brrr chilly) ...

... routes to Leeds Bradford Airport became Flying Tiger, a concept which has little basis in the animal world.

Latterly some cubs have been born!

It is all very un-Arriva-like with its new blue and silly logo.

And, for the residents of Denby Dale who have struggled with rail services withdrawn for engineering work and strikes, there is an interesting question.

Will Yorkshire Tiger accept Arriva Northern Rail tickets in times of crisis?

Hmm?

Despite its heading, this blog does, at least, suggest the bus information from WYMetro is of good quality and reliable. Travel South Yorkshire please note!

A few bits and pieces tomorrow from Denby Dale and elsewhere.

 Next bits and pieces blog : Sunday 28th January