Arriva Southend

Arriva Southend is a division of Arriva Southern Counties, a subsidiary of transport group Arriva which operates bus services in and around the Southend-on-Sea, Rochford, Rayleigh areas of Essex. They operate most services east of Southend and a few services west of Southend, and compete to a limited extent with three other local operators with services in the same areas: First Essex, NIBS and Stephensons of Essex.

Arriva Southend
Arriva Southend Plaxton Pointer bodied Dennis Dart in August 2009
ParentArriva
Founded1998
Headquarters(Arriva Southern Counties)
Invicta House, Maidstone, Kent
Service areaEssex
Service typeBus
Routes20
Fleet62
Fuel typeDiesel
OperatorArriva Southern Counties
WebsiteArriva Buses UK company website

History
A preserved Leyland National which was run by Southend Transport.
Southend Transport Northern Counties bodied Leyland Olympian in 1980
A preserved and "Southend Transport" liveried Duple Caribbean bodied Leyland Tiger which was run by Arriva Southend.
Arriva Southend Plaxton Pointer 1 bodied Dennis Dart SLF at Canvey Island bus rally in 2008
Arriva Southend Leyland Olympian at Canvey Island bus rally in 2009
Arriva Southend Northern Counties Paladin bodied Dennis Dart at Cobham bus rally in 2007

The company was founded in 1901 as Southend Corporation Transport, and was renamed Southend Transport in 1974. It began operating motorbuses in 1912, and became a limited company on 26 October 1986 due to the Transport Act 1985.[1] Southend Transport was involved in a price war with Thamesway (now part of First Essex). Southend Transport was sold by Southend Borough Council to the British Bus group in June 1993[2][3] for a reported £1, which in turn was taken over by the Cowie group.[1][4]

Cowie was renamed Arriva in August 1998 and Southend Transport was renamed Arriva serving Southend as part of this rebranding. The 'serving Southend' local identity caption has since been phased out.[5]

On 28 January 2000, the original Southend garage at 87 London Road dating from the foundation of Southend Corporation Transport was closed and demolished shortly afterwards, with a new one constructed in Short Street, Southend-on-Sea.[6]

Arriva Southend had continued the service X1 coach service to London inherited from Southend Transport, latterly as the Green Line 721 service.[7]

A restructuring in 2002 saw overall control of Arriva Colchester and Arriva Southend pass to Arriva Southern Counties from Arriva East Herts & Essex.[5]

On 30 March 2008 both commercially run services from the Grays garage (routes 373 and 383) were withdrawn, with the buses used for these services moving to Southend garage. The Grays garage now only operates the Transport for London (TfL) contracted services.[5]

Criticisms

Arriva Southend has been criticised by users and the Southend Area Bus Users' Group for withdrawing services which it considered no longer economically viable due to low passenger numbers (even when parts of the route were profitable) when Southend Borough Council withdrew bus subsidies of up to £6 per passenger in 2005.[8] On 21 January 2008 Southend Area Bus Users' Group and Councilor Steve Aylen successfully campaigned for improvements to Service 6A[9] after having been withdrawn in 2005.[10] On 31 March 2008, service 7 was extended at the suggestion of Great Wakering Parish Council and the Rochford Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership, who are subsidising the service.[11] The company trials the operation of new services to gauge service demand,[12][13] and makes services permanent if there are enough passengers to support them being run.[14]

In 2007, Arriva Southend were criticised by Southend Borough Council for the age of its bus fleet, as some of its buses at the time were nearly 20 years old and many did not have low-floor, easy-access step-free entry[15] which was important for older people, as Southend had an ageing population with the most senior citizens in the country, although most areas did not have full low-floor networks at the time, and buses were built to have working lives of about 20 years.[16]

Further criticism came from passengers when Arriva Southend and First Essex decided to withdraw their "Day Rover" ticket, which allowed unlimited journeys on the day of purchase on buses operated by both companies regardless of which company issued the ticket, so day tickets can now only be used on the buses of the company issuing them. They replaced it with a more expensive "Octopus" ticket which is issued by and can be used on any buses operated by Arriva Southend, First Essex, NIBS, Regal Busways and Stephensons of Essex in the Southend, Rochford and Castle Point districts, covering more bus operators and a wider area of Essex.[17]

On 8 February 2009, Arriva reduced the frequency of services 7 and 8 to some areas, which angered some residents in Hockley and Hawkwell, as it made it very difficult for them to get to and from Southend Hospital and Clements Hall Leisure Centre on time due to the 7 and 8 either running very late in the Shoebury area, or buses turning back before reaching their terminating point.[18][19] The move also dismayed Rochford councillors.[20] The Hockley Residents' Association also said that the figures for low customer numbers used to justify the frequency reduction were flawed.[21] After receiving numerous complaints from Hockley residents, on 7 June 2009 Arriva Southend extended some service 7 buses to Hockley Spa instead of terminating at Ashingdon Schools. It is likely that this extra service is now going to stay after a review in December 2009.[22] Hawkwell residents then sent further complaints to the Essex County Council about service 8 not having evening services after 6:30pm since 2002. They demanded that one of the service 7 evening buses to become an 8 and divert to Hawkwell. Essex County Council said it would not be possible to add an evening service to service 8.[23] Arriva Southend have also been criticised for running all of their services in the Shoeburyness area via Asda, after they changed the route of Service 1 to run through Asda instead of Elm Road.[24]

Arriva Southend has started using an "undercover passenger" scheme to attempt to better understand problems and complaints with the changes they have made to their services, encouraging passengers to participate by offering them a week's free bus travel for rating the services they use.[25]

There has been crictism from passengers frequently using Service 29, which was merged with Service 13 to provide a through service from Belfairs to Temple Sutton since 27 March 2011. The route merger resulted in drivers not given sufficient time to complete the whole route, which has caused buses to turn back before reaching their terminating point, missing out certain bus stops and leaving passengers stranded from over 45 to 90 minutes to wait for the next Service 29.[26]

Fleet

Twelve new low-emission (Euro 5-compliant), CCTV-fitted Optare Versa V1110 midibuses were bought at a cost of £1.8 million for Service 9 and entered public service in November 2011.[27]

See also

References
  1. Peter Gould (1999–2005). "Southend Corporation Transport History 1901–1986". Archived from the original on 21 June 2008. Retrieved 12 July 2008.
  2. Shepperton (1994). Buses: Focus on British Bus Fleets Today.
  3. Mr. Freeman (2 July 1993). "Hansard – House of Commons Daily Debates for 2 July 1993, Written Answers Column 635". Retrieved 25 July 2008.
  4. Thurrock Transport (19 June 2008). "Thurrock Transport – Southend Transport". Retrieved 10 July 2008.
  5. Thurrock Transport (March 2008). "Thurrock Transport – Arriva". Retrieved 23 July 2008.
  6. Richard Delahoy (March 2000). "'Goodbye, London Road' – Essex Bus News, Essex Bus Enthusiasts Group". Retrieved 12 July 2008.
  7. SCT'61 and Richard Delahoy (2 January 2004). "Southend Transport – The X1 Story". Archived from the original on 6 July 2008. Retrieved 10 July 2008.
  8. Laura Smith (17 January 2008). "Echo News: 'Pensioners want better bus services'". Retrieved 2 February 2010.
  9. Echo News (16 January 2008). "Echo News: 'Bus group wins fight for off-peak service'". Retrieved 2 February 2010.
  10. Echo News (23 January 2008). "Echo News: 'Continue to use it, or lose it'". Retrieved 23 July 2008.
  11. Michelle Archard (25 March 2008). "Echo News: 'New late-night bus service to Wakering'". Retrieved 14 July 2008.
  12. Mike Miners (9 May 2008). "Echo News: 'New hospital bus service for patients'". Retrieved 14 July 2008.
  13. Geoff Percival (28 April 2008). "Echo News: 'New bus services for town'". Retrieved 27 July 2009.
  14. "Echo News: 'Shoppers' bus has first birthday'". 21 January 2009. Retrieved 27 July 2009.
  15. Geoff Percival (2 August 2007). "Echo News: 'Buses are too old for town'". Retrieved 2 February 2010.
  16. Geoff Percival (20 November 2006). "Thurrock Gazette: New bill won't help town's bus service". Archived from the original on 22 May 2007. Retrieved 2 February 2010.
  17. Laura Smith (15 July 2008). "Echo News: 'Bus-users hit in the pocket by ticket axe'". Retrieved 28 July 2009.
  18. Michelle Archard (11 December 2008). "Echo News: 'Fury at plans to cut bus services to two an hour'". Retrieved 23 July 2009.
  19. Michelle Archard (24 December 2008). "Echo News: 'Protesters lose battle to save 2 bus routes'". Retrieved 23 July 2009.
  20. "Echo News: 'Rochford councillors annoyed by cuts in no. 7 and 8 bus routes'". 30 December 2008. Retrieved 27 July 2009.
  21. John Geoghegan (2 February 2009). "Echo News: 'Residents say bus figures are flawed'". Retrieved 23 July 2009.
  22. Geoff Percival (4 April 2009). "Echo News: 'Villagers' victory as council funds extra bus service'". Retrieved 27 July 2009.
  23. John Geoghegan (20 April 2009). "Echo News: 'Give us back our evening buses, villagers demand'". Retrieved 23 July 2009.
  24. "Echo News: 'Passenger fears over Arriva shakeup'". 6 August 2008. Retrieved 27 July 2009.
  25. Geoff Percival (24 February 2009). "Echo News: 'Bus firm seeking people to test ride services'". Retrieved 27 July 2009.
  26. "New bus timetable leaves us stranded (From Echo)". Echo-news.co.uk. 2 May 2011. Retrieved 28 December 2011.
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