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D&G Bus

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D&G Bus
Optare Versa parked at the Chaserider depot, March 2024
ParentCentrebus Group
Founded1998; 26 years ago
HeadquartersLongton, Stoke-on-Trent
Service areaCheshire
Derbyshire
Greater Manchester
Shropshire
Staffordshire
Stoke-on-Trent
Routes59
HubsCrewe
Hanley
Macclesfield
Newcastle-under-Lyme
Northwich
Wilmslow
Depots4
Fleet123 (November 2024)
Chief executiveJulian Peddle
Websitewww.dgbus.co.uk

D&G Bus[1] is a bus operator based in Stoke-on-Trent. They operate local & interurban bus services in Cheshire, Derbyshire, Greater Manchester, Shropshire, Staffordshire & Stoke-on-Trent. D&G Bus is the largest bus operator in Cheshire East & the largest in North Staffordshire.

History

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Optare Solo SR at Knutsford Bus Station in 2023.

D&G Bus was formed by David Reeves and Gerald Henderson in April 1998 initially operating four buses on two routes under contract to Stoke-on-Trent City Council. It expanded with both route and school services in Cheshire and Staffordshire with 16 buses by the end of 1998.

In April 2005 D&G Bus purchased Wednesfield based Midland.[2][3] In 2006 following Gerald Henderson's sudden death Julian Peddle purchased Henderson's shareholding in the business.[4]

In August 2011 the Staffordshire business was sold to Wardle Transport with 46 routes, 30 buses and the Adderley Green depot.[5][6] In September 2011 D&G Bus and Julian Peddle purchased South Lancs Travel in Atherton, Greater Manchester.[7]

In August 2012 the Midland business was sold to Arriva Midlands with 61 buses.[3] In December 2014, the route operations of BakerBus were purchased with nine buses.[4][8][9]

In March 2015, D&G sold South Lancs Travel to Rotala[10] and in May 2015 purchased Wardle Transport back from Arriva Midlands with 19 buses.[11][12][13] In April 2016, D&G took over six routes from Routemaster Buses.[14]

In September 2016 D&G Bus took over the rest of the routes which Routemaster Buses had operated. In October 2016 D&G were awarded new five-year contracts for eight Cheshire East routes which were operated by GHA Coaches prior to its collapse including the 88 Altrincham to Knutsford via Wilmslow service.[15] However, most of these contracts were annulled 18 months later as part of Cheshire East council's bus review.[16]

In December 2019, Julian Peddle's Centrebus Group purchased David Reeves shareholding in D&G bus, at present it will continue to operate as a separate unit from Centrebus.[17]

In March 2020, David Reeves died after suffering a Heart Attack, aged 61.

In February 2023, Arriva North West announced that they were closing their depots in Winsford & Macclesfield. In response to this, D&G registered replacement routes to cover some of the cancelled services, with some of these services being part-supported by Cheshire East Council.

Depots

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The company has depots in:

Past depots, now closed have included:

  • Crewe - Lockitt Street
  • Leek - Sunnyhills Road (shared with Aimee's Travel)
  • Northwich - Chapel Street, Wincham
  • Uttoxeter - The Wellington Pub (Old Headquarters)

Fleet

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As of October 2024, the fleet consisted of 121 buses.[18] Fleet livery was originally cream and blue, it has since been replaced by a red with yellow signwriting scheme. During January 2024, the company revealed a new fleet livery.[19] Red is the main colour dominating the majority of the vehicle, but now features a yellow diagonal stripe with the rear of the vehicle being dark blue. This scheme is similar to the newer livery of Centrebus vehicles.

As of July 2024, 11 buses in D&G’s fleet adorn the new livery.

The fleet mainly consists of Optare Solos, Enviro 200's & Wright Streetlites.

Since December 2023, D&G acquired a number of brand new and second-hand Enviro 200 MMCs, both the short and long wheel-base varieties.

As of August 2024, the firm acquired a number of brand new MCV eVoRa bodied Volvo B8RLEs, six of which feature ‘the nines’ livery.

Chaserider

[edit]
Main article: Chaserider

In November 2020, D&G announced they would be taking over the Cannock depot of Arriva Midlands from January 2021 with operations in Cannock and Stafford running under the Chaserider brand.[20]

Chaserider operates as a subsidiary of D&G with different ticketing arrangements and operates a separate website,[21] similar to the way Arriva owned Yorkshire Tiger operated in West Yorkshire but unlike Yorkshire Tiger, Chaserider has a similar livery to its parent.

References

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  1. ^ Companies House extract company no 6918592 D&G Bus Limited
  2. ^ Companies House extract company no 2568750 Liyell Limited
  3. ^ a b Arriva Midlands to expand operations in the West Midlands Arriva 10 August 2012
  4. ^ a b D&G Bus Bus & Coach Buyer 29 January 2015
  5. ^ Arriva Midlands acquires D&G Archived 1 November 2013 at the Wayback Machine Bus & Coach Professional 10 June 2011
  6. ^ D&G Buses bought by Arriva - owners blame subsidy cuts for sale The Sentinel 11 June 2011
  7. ^ D&G buys South Lancs Archived 5 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine Bus & Coach Professional 10 October 2011
  8. ^ D&G buys BakerBus Archived 2 March 2015 at the Wayback Machine Route One 2 January 2015
  9. ^ "25 jobs saved after BakerBus is bought by Crewe based D&G Bus". The Sentinel. 6 January 2015.
  10. ^ "Acquisition in Greater Manchester". Rotala. 2 March 2015. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015.
  11. ^ "D&G Bus". www.dgbus.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
  12. ^ "D&G buys Wardle Transport". Bus & Coach Buyer. 18 March 2015.
  13. ^ "D&G Bus". Buses (723): 84. June 2015.
  14. ^ D&G Bus take over some services from Routemaster Buses D&G Bus
  15. ^ "Services - 374810-2016 - TED Tenders Electronic Daily". ted.europa.eu. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
  16. ^ "TSS helps Cheshire East Council implement revised Bus Services".
  17. ^ D&G Bus taken over by Centrebus Group[dead link] Route One 18 December 2019
  18. ^ Fleet List D&G Bus
  19. ^ Cliff Beeton. (2 February 2024), FIRST D&G BUS IN NEW RED YELLOW & BLUE LIVERY., retrieved 8 April 2024
  20. ^ Dougall, Emily (1 December 2020). "Arriva to sell Cannock bus depot as the Chaserider brand returns". CBW. Retrieved 12 February 2022.
  21. ^ "Chaserider". chaserider.co.uk.
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