Resurrection And Competition!
The story so far is shown on the above crude diagram crudely superimpoised on a geographical map.
D1 - was 233 - rebranded Denby Darts
X1 - was 435/436/437 - rebranded Holmfirth Explorer
319 - rebranded Huddsquick
320 - rebranded Huddsquick
This leaves us with Kirkheaton, not to be confused (as fbb did in his preparation!) with Kirkburton which is on the D1.
Kirkheaton means church (kirk) in the high (heah) town (tun) and the community is now very much a "commuting" suburb of Huddersfield.
From a public transport point of view, the village sits on a bus route from Huddersfield to Mirfield and, historically on to Dewsbury.
Once a County Motors of Lepton route ...
... the service and the company were absorbed into Yorkshire Traction.
After a brief dalliance with expansion, Traccy sold out to Stagecoach ...
... but Uncle Brian's lads were never really happy with the depots at Waterloo and Elland. The Huddersfield area was out on a limb from the Barnsley heartland and, as is so often said, performance did not come up to expectations. So Stagecoach sold to Centrebus ...
... who had a go at local branding with the aptly named ...
... Huddersfield Bus!
It was not long before Centrebus opted out and the network was bought by Arriva from their former West Riding Road Car base in Wakefield.
Presumably, facing similar commercial challenges to Stagecoach, Arriva invented the brand Yorkshire Tiger in the capable hands of Mr Dynamic, Martijn Gilbert.
Launched with a couple of frighteningly realistic stuffed tigers ...
... and a bright and dramatic livery ...
... the Tiger promised a whole new deal for passengers; better buses, improved services, in essence a whole new deal for passengers. After Mr Gilbert departed for greener grass elsewhere, bus watchers began to suspect that the Tiger was beginning to suffer from the mange!
The results of Arriva's negative management have been seen recently in the poor state of many of the buses - as witnessed recently by Roger French.
So Transdev buys - and promises almost exactly what Yorkshire Tiger promised!
The sale, however, did not include the service between Huddersfield, Kirkheaton and Mirfield which has remained with Arriva, by now extended to Heckmondwike (with some journeys to Cleckheaton) rather than Dewsbury.
The evening "short" journeys are operated on tender by First Huddersfield. The above timetable makes sense, but the version from Arriva is confusing. There is no mention of First Bus evening journeys and the route number is now 261 for the main service although it is identical with First's 262.
In this situation, Team Pennine has made this announcement:-
KirkheatonQuick 262 Huddersfield-Kirkheaton
A brand new bus for Kirkheaton, designed in consultation with local residents who were unhappy with the present service 261. We will start every hour, and run quickly along Waterloo Road into town. It will serve Upper Heaton, Waterloo Road, Waterloo and Wakefield Road, reinstating the popular link from Waterloo to Upper Heaton and Kirkheaton.
We are so pleased to be back in Kirkheaton – do please support us, as we’re really keen to build on this and make the route more regular and to add more links for you. Buses will be in a bright new KirkheatonQuick identity with free wifi, USB power, next stop announcements and posh & comfy seats!Suffice it to say, attractive pink buses will be joining boring blue buses to offer Kirkeaton residents ... ... a choice of competitive bus companies for their ride into Huddesfield.
AND, give team Pennine a chocolate peanut, the timetable makes it clear that there is a loop at the outer terminus.
AND by using the same route number as First's existing evening journeys, Metro West Yorkshire don't have to redraw their map!
What effect will the competition have on Arriva's 261? fbb predicts that this route will be handed over to the Pinkies very soon!
Meanwhile, we are promised improvements to a Halifax local service ...
... the 533 and 534.
533 and 534 Halifax-Stump Cross & Northowram
Many of you have asked for a better service to the Shibden Valley so the 533 and 534 will now run every hour along Kell Lane, Brow Lane and Lands Head Lane to Northowram and back.The rest of the new timetables will be uploaded shortly.
It is not a huge change, but, again, shows that Transdev means business.
Puzzle Picture - answer postponed until tomorrow.
Next Variety blog : Saturday 21st August
Huddersfield Bus Company was a joint venture between Centrebus (technically the directors rather than the company itself) & Arriva and it was actually Arriva that purchased Waterloo depot from Stagecoach as their contribution with the Centrebus contribution being the purchase of K-Line. As the PTE moved towards closer partnership demanding greater management time it became harder to manage as a remote unit of a small business leading to Centrebus exiting the partnership and selling their share in the business to Arriva who decided to keep the unit as a seperately branded business rather than merging it into the main Yorkshire business.
ReplyDeleteThe present 262 is an amalgam of multiple routes, the original 262 ran via Waterloo to Mirfield & Dewsbury omitting Upper Heaton & much of Kirkheaton which were served by a different route (I think a First route) which followed the current route between Huddersfield & Upper Heaton. HBC took over & merged the routes at which point 262 no longer ran via Waterloo - from the announcement by Team Pennine it looks like this route may be being resurrected in which case Metro would need to re-draw their map as that road isn't served currently.
Your correct that the different route (or routes) through to Kirkheaton/Upper Heaton by both First plus K-Line through the years,with First having various attempts at extending the 370/1 services plus at one point extending the 343/537/538 routes from Huddersfield to Upper Heaton providing through buses to Halifax (at this point most '262s' ran instead as X62s to Leeds,making Kirkheaton a fairly well connected little village) With K-Line operating a 317 (Both before the Halifax routes was extended & after they was cut back First also operated as route 317) with First giving up in around 2006/7
DeleteAfter the Centrebus/Arriva takeover in 2008 was when the 261 got introduced operated by K-Line Replacing the 317,With Huddersfield Bus operating the 262 plus 263 (263 being having bits of both 261/2 routes but avoiding Upper Heaton) but that only latest around a year before it got simplified into just the current 262 route,with First only operating a late evening trips to Kirkheaton,until their most recent attempt of extending the 371 in 2018
Er ....West Riding Road Car ?....I think you mean West Riding Automobile Company. Yorkshire Tiger was formed as a seperate entity from Arriva Yorkshire as they have different ie cheaper terms and conditions for their workforce.
ReplyDelete