Arriva launches free wedding bus competition for Valentines engagements

National bus and coach travel provider, Arriva, is offering couples who get engaged on Valentine’s Day the chance to enter their exclusive competition, the top prize of which is a free wedding bus on the big day.

The bus and coach transport operator came up with the idea of offering a free ride on their special “Love Bus” for brides and grooms-to-be as for many people, a bus trip may have played a significant part in their relationship, with many couples getting together after first meeting on a bus journey, or maybe their first date involved a trip on a bus.

If you’re planning to pop the question on February 14th, and your other half says “yes” you are eligible to enter the free prize draw to win a free wedding us courtesy of Arriva (remember ladies, 2012 is a leap year so if you’re sick of waiting for a proposal, now’s your chance to take matters into your own hands!) The competition is only open to those planning to tie the knot in 2012.

The winning couple can choose to ride in the Love Bus themselves, or alternatively the novelty coach could be used to transport all of their wedding guests. Arriva will deck the Love Bus out with decorations, as per the bride’s instructions, and the vehicle will also be filled with free goodies and presents courtesy of the bus and coach hire provider.

For full terms and conditions of the competition, and more information on the Love Bus prize and how you can enter, please visit the Arriva website.

Calls for bus deigns for Arriva competition

Transport operator, Arriva, is calling for their passengers to get arty and submit their designs for a new double-decker art bus. Whether you’re a professional or aspiring artist, or even a complete amateur, the competition is open to all so let your imagination run wild and completely reinvent the look of an Arriva bus.

The national competition is calling for people from across the UK to get involved, creating designs which may be inspired by their local area, or by anything they choose. There are no specific criteria detailing what your design must be based on, so you’re free to go with whatever inspires you.

All designs can be submitted to Arriva online via their website with the deadline set for the end of January. The bus operator have also included some detailed images of one of their double-decker buses on the art bus section of their site to help you create designs for specific areas of the double-decker.

The winning design will receive £2,500 to help take the design from the page to the bus with the finished art bus expected to tour the country following the makeover so the design will be seen and admired by thousands of people across the UK. The aim of the competition is to promote bus travel and encourage more people out of their cars and onto their local bus services.

Arriva North West free bus travel offer for drivers who recycle their cars

Arriva North West have joined forces with Trade Your Transport to offer a drivers who give up their cars to travel on their services, 16 weeks of free travel.

The incentive of four month long bus travel cards to encourage commuters out of their cars and onto the bus is worth £235 and offers a great financial reward for motorists who make the switch, which is likely to be especially tempting in the run up to Christmas as everyone looks to save money in time for the festive period.

The bus company say they are offering the generous 16 week free bus travel incentive as they are extremely committed to helping to reduce congestion and co2 emissions throughout the UK, and encouraging people to use public transport instead of their own cars is one way that this can be achieved.

To be eligible for the free bus travel offer, car owners must recycle their old car with Trade Your Transport. They will require a few details from you regarding your vehicle, after which you can either choose to deliver your car to them at your nearest cartakeback centre, or they will arrange to collect your car from you direct.

Recycling your car through Trade Your Transport will give you exclusive access to the 4-weekly bus saver ticket with Arriva, get in touch with the car recycling company today for more information.

Arriva orders 69 buses from coach builders Optare

Arriva bus has made an order for 69 buses from renowned coach builders Optare.

A range of buses and coaches have been requested as part of the extensive order, which is thought to be worth in the region of £7.6 million.

The 69 buses ordered by Arriva are a selection of both single and double-decker vehicles. 16 Visionaire open top double-decker coaches are in the process of being manufactured by Optare which will be used on The Original Tour which offers sightseeing tours of London. The 16 new 101-seater double-deckers will be complete by June, just in time to join in with the sightseeing tour’s 60th anniversary celebrations.

In addition to double-decker, Optare are also in the process of constructing 41 Versa 11.1 metre buses and 12 solo 8.8 and 9.5 metre models, all of which are equipped with Mercedes Benz engines. This order is expected to be completed by September.

The Optare boss says the large multi-million pound order from Arriva is yet another sign of “recovery in the UK bus market” which signals good news for the transport industry as a whole.

In other news, Arriva Yorkshire launched their Shhh! Campaign this week. The bus travel company wants to encourage those listening to personal stereos, iPods and MP3 players to keep the volume of their music down, so as not to disturb other passengers travelling on an Arriva bus service.

Arriva signs contract to operate buses in Malta

Leading European bus and train operator Arriva is preparing to start operations in Malta after the successful conclusion of negotiations with Transport Malta and the Maltese Government.

The Arriva Malta consortium, with local partner Tumas Group plc, has signed a 10-year contract to provide scheduled bus services in Malta and Gozo. Arriva will operate 264 buses and employ around 920 people.

Speaking at a ceremony in Malta at the Cottonera Waterfront in Vittoriosa, Arriva chief executive David Martin said: “To be the operator chosen to deliver transport reform in Malta is a great honour and an exciting opportunity to deliver the world class transport system that residents and visitors to this beautiful island deserve. Arriva and our consortium partner, Tumas, have the skills and expertise to make that vision a reality.

“Now that the contract is signed, we will be starting our preparations to put the new transport services in place. There is a lot to prepare, but I have every confidence that we are the right people to do it and our team here will do us proud. We are committed to delivering great change in Malta and are very much looking forward to starting operations on 3 July 2011.”

At the contract signing event, Mr Martin gave a brief presentation to guests on Arriva and its excellent track record of delivering high quality bus, rail, tram and waterbus operations across 11 countries in Europe.

Mr Martin said: “Our expertise and experience of improving operational standards, customer service, passenger satisfaction and of course employee satisfaction is second to none and we are looking forward to replicating this success in Malta.”

Staffordshire bus driver jobs at risk

Bus company Arriva in Stafford and union bosses are in talks after an announcement this week revealed that jobs cuts are on the horizon in reaction to recent spending cuts made by the local authority.

Up to 60 bus driver jobs are under threat as part of the cut backs at the bus company. However under proposed changes, some of the drivers may be offered their jobs back under a new restructured system.

Other ways the bus authority are looking to make savings is by limiting the travel of OAPs and disabled passengers before 9:30am on weekdays from next April.

Arriva Stafford say the new cuts are necessary in order for them to adhere to the new budget they have been handed by the local authority.

It is not yet known if the cut backs will have a knock on effect on specific routes in the Stafford area. The company have already revealed plans to move some day-to-day services to other nearby depots as part of the firm’s plans to reduce costs and align their spending with the new budget allocated to them.

The union and Arriva are currently in talks over the proposed redundancies and restructure of the bus services in the Staffordshire area.

Arriva unveil ice sculpture to celebrate their frozen bus fares

 

No increase in bus fares for the next 12 months says Arriva

 

Bus company, Arriva Yorkshire, recently announced plans to continue to hold off any fares increase, meaning that prices have now remained frozen for over one year.

With the last fare increase taking place at the beginning of February 2009, Arriva Yorkshire believes its decision to freeze fares will provide the perfect incentive for people to leave their car at home and switch to bus travel.

Nigel Featham, managing director for Arriva Yorkshire, said: “We wanted to mark the ongoing freeze with something quite special and we thought the ice sculpture was perfect! I even had a go myself!”

We hope that this continued freeze on our fares will reflect our loyalty to our customers and hopefully it will, along with the huge investment we have made in our fleet, attract new passengers onboard. With prices at the pumps on the rise again it’s great news that we can continue to offer our passengers good value for money.”

Arriva Yorkshire has invested £17 million in modern and environmentally friendly new buses and passengers are noticing the difference, with the latest customer survey showing 9 out of 10 passengers are satisfied with the service they provide.

Arriva Yorkshire operates local bus services in West and North Yorkshire, including Leeds, York, Selby, Wakefield, Castleford, Dewsbury, Heckmondwike, Huddersfield and Halifax.

Bus and rail operator Arriva agrees to £1.58 billion takeover bid

Arriva taken over by Deutshe Bahn in £1.58 billion deal

The UK’s third biggest transport provider, Arriva, has agreed to a takeover bid estimated to be worth £1.58 billion from Germany’s Deutsche Bahn.

Sunderland based Arriva currently operates a number of bus services in major cities in the UK and is responsible for a fifth of buses in London. Arriva also runs buses and trains in Wales, plus bus services in the South East and Midlands. Earlier this year however, they announced that their Cross Country train network was losing money.

Arriva is also the only British transport company to have moved into Europe taking advantage of the increasing liberalisation of the transport system in Europe.

Deutsche Bahn is also a big player in the world of transport operating all of Germany’s national rail services, and also Chiltern Railways and freight railways in the UK.

The new deal between the two transport giants will create one of the biggest transport conglomerates in the whole of Europe.

Deutsche Bahn’s chief executive outlined his ambitions for the new deal saying: “Arriva will give Deutsche Bahn the platform to expand in Europe and enhance its position as one of Europe’s leading passenger transport groups.”

Bus drivers in North Wales vote to strike over pay

Arriva bus drivers in North Wales vote 77% in favour of strike action

Arriva bus drivers in North Wales will strike if an issue over pay is not resolved. The drivers took part in a secret ballot last week, the result of which was that 77% of the drivers were in favour of staging strike action.

If the strike goes ahead hundreds of services across the North Wales region will be affected. The action will also have a knock-on effect on bus routes in the Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire area. Services in the Chester, Wrexham, Rhyl, Llandudno, Bangor, Pwllheli, Dolgellau, and Aberystwyth area will be worst hit.

The unite Union and Arriva bosses are currently in talks, with the help of the conciliation services Acas, to try and resolve the issue without strike action being taken.

A Unite spokesperson confirmed that the drivers are dissatisfied with a pay offer they have received from bus company Arriva. It’s been reported that the pay deal is considerably lower than the offer presented to bus drivers in the Merseyside and Wirral area.

Michael Morton, managing director of Arriva Buses Wales has assured passengers that the bus services will still run as advertised should the walk-out go ahead, although they are working hard behind the scenes to prevent the strike action being taken.

London’s bendy buses heading to Malta?

If transport operator Arriva are successful in securing a contract to provide bus services in Malta, then 60 out of its 160 bendy buses currently in operation on London roads, could me making their way out to the holiday island.

It comes after mayor of London Boris Johnson announced a 12 year plan whereby he wants to see all current London buses replaced by environmentally friendly, open-platform Routemasters. Which means the bendy buses and other articulated buses will need to find a new home.

Bendy buses first hit the streets of London back in 2000 when they replaced the Routemaster. However the elongated bus has not been to everyone’s liking, with passengers and officials alike voicing their dislike for the bendy bus. Now it seems a revamped version of the classic open-platform Routemaster will make a welcome return to the city, ousting its predecessor, the controversial bendy bus.

It has been reported that Arriva is planning to ship a large quantity out to the Mediterranean should it be successful in its bid to win the transport contract. The remainder of the bendy buses are reportedly due to be re-deployed to others cities across the UK where Arriva are in operation.