Arriva Sapphire

Arriva Sapphire
	Arriva Yorkshire Alexander Dennis Enviro400 in Leeds in February 2018
Parent	Arriva
Founded	April 2013
Service type	Luxury bus
Routes	32 (November 2022)
Operator	Arriva Buses Wales; Arriva Midlands; Arriva North East; Arriva North West; Arriva Shires & Essex; Arriva Southern Counties; Arriva Yorkshire
Website	Website

History

Arriva Sapphire logo used in 2017

In February 2013, Arriva UK Bus announced that it would launch a Luxury service under the Sapphire brand for its bus services in the United Kingdom. It is similar to the Stagecoach Gold brand launched by Stagecoach Group in 2007.

Arriva initially launched the Sapphire brand on four pilot routes:

Arriva Buses Wales' route 1 Wrexham to Chester
Arriva Midlands' route 31/31a Oadby to Leicester this route now uses any vehicles
Arriva North East's route 7 Darlington to Durham
Arriva Shires & Essex's route 280 Aylesbury to Oxford

In 2014, the brand was extended to 11 more routes with another six scheduled for conversion in late 2015.

In 2017, Arriva Sapphire was rebranded with a new logo and livery, in line with the switchover to the new Arriva brand. In 2018, the Arriva Sapphire logo was updated again, to reflect the new brand.

In 2019, Arriva Midlands routes 1, 2, 2E running between Walsall and Cannock/Huntington were downgraded to regular buses after six years of Sapphire. Further routes across the country have since been withdrawn or removed from the Sapphire brand.

In 2022, Arriva started to phase out the Sapphire brand nationally, with the majority of buses being repainted into the standard Arriva livery or replaced with new buses.

Routes

As of November 2022, there were 32 Arriva Sapphire routes.

Service no.	Route start	Route end
Arriva Buses Wales
1	Wrexham	Chester
12/X12	Rhyl	Llandudno
10/10A	Connah's Quay / Flint	Chester
Arriva North East
1/5/5A/X1	Darlington	Bishop Auckland, Crook and Tow Law
3/X3/X3A/X4	Middlesbrough	Lingdale, Skelton, Loftus and Whitby
7	Darlington	Durham
Arriva Shires & Essex
5/6	Lakes Estate	Wolverton
133	Colchester & Braintree	Stansted Airport
X7/X8	Aylesbury	Oxford
Arriva Southern Counties
470/480/480A/490/490A	Dartford or Bluewater	Valley Drive or Riverview Park
Arriva Yorkshire
110	Leeds	Wakefield
163	Leeds	Castleford via Garforth and Kippax
168	Leeds	Castleford via Woodlesford
229	Leeds	Huddersfield via Birstall and Heckmondwike
231/232	Wakefield	Huddersfield via Lepton, Flockton, Overton and Horbury
415	York	Selby via York Designer Outlet

Former services

Service no.	Route start	Route end	Notes
Arriva North East
5/5A	Middlesbrough	Easington	Route removed from the Sapphire brand in 2022, with the repaint of existing buses into standard livery.
6	Durham	Bishop Auckland and Cockfield	Route removed from the Sapphire brand in 2022, with the repaint of existing buses into standard livery.
22	Durham	Sunderland	Route removed from the Sapphire brand in 2022, with the repaint of existing buses into standard livery.
23	Sunderland	Hartlepool	Route removed from the Sapphire brand in 2022, with the repaint of existing buses into standard livery.
24	Durham	Hartlepool	Route removed from the Sapphire brand in 2022, with the repaint of existing buses into standard livery.
X21/X22	Newbiggin and Ashington	Newcastle-upon-Tyne	Routes removed from the Sapphire brand in 2022, with the introduction of new buses and repaint of existing buses into standard livery.
43	Morpeth	Newcastle-upon-Tyne	Route removed from the Sapphire brand, with the allocation now formed of buses in various liveries and specifications.
44/45	Dinnington	Newcastle-upon-Tyne	Routes removed from the Sapphire brand, with the allocation now formed of buses in various liveries and specifications.
Arriva North West
38	Crewe	Macclesfield	Arriva North West ceased operating service in April 2023, route now operated by D&G Bus
362	Chorley	Wigan	Arriva North West ceased operating the route in September 2023, now operated by Go North West under the Bee Network franchising system. Buses branded for this route were transferred to Wythenshawe Depot and Hemel Hempstead, and can be seen operating various Arriva routes in South Manchester and Hertfordshire.
575	Wigan	Bolton	Arriva North West ceased operating the route in September 2023, now operated by Go North West under the Bee Network franchising system. Buses branded for this route were transferred to Wythenshawe Depot and Hemel Hempstead, and can be seen operating various Arriva routes in South Manchester and Hertfordshire.
263	Manchester	Altrincham	Route effectively removed from the Sapphire brand in September 2023, with existing buses being withdrawn from service and replaced by a variety of Sapphire and non-Sapphire buses cascaded from Bolton Depot, which has been shut down due to the introduction of the Bee Network.
Arriva Yorkshire
166	Leeds	Castleford	Route withdrawn and replaced in part by revised routes 163 and 164.
167	Leeds	Castleford	Route withdrawn and replaced in part by revised route 168.
Arriva Midlands
31/31A/31E	Haymarket Bus Station, Leicester	Oadby Grange & Coombe Rise	Services 31/31E now operated by standard buses. Service 31A was ceased in March 2020 until January 2023 when it was reinstated
X3	Leicester City Centre	Market Harborough	Frequency reduced and Sapphire buses moved elsewhere in 2021.
X84	St Margaret's Bus Station	Rugby via Lutterworth	Mainly being used on normal buses, however sometimes Sapphire branded buses are used.
38	Derby Bus Station	Sinfin	Vehicles repainted into standard Arriva livery in early 2022.
110	Tamworth	Birmingham	Route removed from the Sapphire brand in 2022, with the repaint of existing buses into standard livery.
158	Leicester	Hinckley-Nuneaton via Earl Shilton & Barwell	Vehicles are being repainted from January 2023.
Arriva The Shires
320	Hemel Hempstead	Rickmansworth	Withdrawn on 17 April 2022 and replaced by new route 20 and extended route 321.
321	Luton	Watford	Buses repainted into Arriva Standard Livery throughout 2021 and route declassified.
280	Aylesbury	Oxford	Route replaced by routes X7 and X8.
Arriva Southern Counties
101	Gillingham	Maidstone	Buses repainted into Arriva Journey Mark.
700	Bluewater	Chatham	Buses repainted into Arriva Journey Mark, route now uses any suitable vehicle.

Vehicles

Buses have leather seats, free WiFi, power ports, and a modified two tone blue livery. The initial pilot routes commenced with a mix of refurbished double deck buses and new Wright Pulsar bodied VDL SB200s. Mostly since then, new buses have been purchased, primarily Alexander Dennis Enviro400s, Wright StreetLites and Wright StreetDecks. A number of Wright Pulsar/Pulsar 2 vehicles have been refurbished to operate Sapphire routes. In 2020 a selection of Optare Versas in Yorkshire were repainted into the new Arriva Sapphire livery.

References

External links

Media related to Arriva Sapphire at Wiki Commons
"Arriva Sapphire". Arriva.

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