 | |
 Mercedes-Benz Citaro in September 2012. This bus had already transferred toDiamond Bus North West in 2015. | |
| Parent | Scott Dunn |
|---|---|
| Founded | May 2009; 15 years ago (2009-05) |
| Ceased operation | 4 October 2019; 5 years ago (2019-10-04) |
| Headquarters | Heanor |
| Service area | Derbyshire Nottingham |
| Service type | Bus & coach services |
| Routes | 25 (March 2019) |
| Hubs | Derby bus station |
| Fleet | 65 (March 2019) |
| Website | www.catchyourbus.co.uk |
Yourbus[1] (stylised ‘yourbus’) was a bus operator inDerbyshire andNottinghamshire. It ran commercial and tendered local bus services from its base inHeanor.
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Yourbus was founded by formerDunn-Line managing director Scott Dunn in May 2009. From a depot inHucknall, two services fromNottingham toBulwell and Hempshill Vale commenced in May 2009.[2]
In October 2009, Yourbus commenced operating routes 140, 141 and 142 under contract toDerbyshire County Council. In February 2010 Yourbus commenced operating route Y36 in competition withNottingham City Transport. At this stage the Hucknall depot was relocated toHeanor and following some routes commencing under contract toNottingham City Council inRetford andTuxford, another opened in Tuxford. In August 2010, routes 228 and 229 commenced, again under contract to Nottinghamshire Council.[2]
In February 2011, route Y100 Nottingham –Southwell –Newark (peak time only) commenced. The service was withdrawn on 16 April 2011 following an increase in activity from the other operator along the route.
In January 2011, Yourbus were awarded a contract to operate services from theEast Midlands toBradford,Heathrow Airport andLondonVictoria Coach Station on behalf ofNational Express. In June 2011, a number of National Express contracts including a depot inDurham were purchased fromVeolia Transport.[3][4]
In January 2012, further National Express contracts were won, by this stage Yourbus were operating 55 coaches on express services.[2] In July 2013, a depot was opened inBradford, primarily to stable coaches on National Express work.[5] Yourbus ceased operating services for National Express on 31 May 2015.[6]
In September 2015, the Y4 bus was launched on a 15-minute service fromSandiacre, competing with Trentbarton's popular i4 service on the same route.[7] It briefly became the fourth Y series bus to serve Nottingham, the others being the Y36, Y28 and Y5.[8] However, the Y28 and Y4 were both withdrawn in mid 2016, the latter having been in service for just 10 months.[9]
In February 2017, the Y36, which formerly servedChilwell, was also withdrawn, citing a decrease in passenger numbers.[10] Chilwell was among the areas connected by Phase 2 of theNET Tram, which opened in 2015. For the last six months of its service, the Y36 had been using a shortened version of its original route, avoiding the Chilwell loop altogether.[11] The last Y36 ran to Beeston Interchange on 11 February 2017, leaving the Y5 as the only remaining Y series bus to serve Nottingham. The Y5 was rerouted in stages to cover parts of the former Y36 route not served by the tram.[10]
From the second half of 2016, Yourbus was ramping up competition with rival bus operatorArriva Derby. Responding to what it called an "undercurrent of negative feedback" from people in Derby, Yourbus announced the 20 and 26 buses to compete with the Arriva services of the same names. They aimed to run buses every 15 minutes, in between Arriva's timetable, while also undercutting them on price (a day return cost £4 from Yourbus, compared to £4.20 for the equivalent ticket from Arriva).[12] One day later, Arriva Derby rolled out an upgraded fleet to its 20 and 26 services, apparently in response to the increased competition.[13]
This strategy continued in February 2017, when Yourbus launched the 1 and 1A services in Derby, reusing vehicles from the Y36 fleet which had been withdrawn from service a day earlier.[10] As with the 20 and 26, Yourbus aimed to compete with Arriva's 1 and 1A services by staggering the timetables, while also offering a slightly lower ticket price.[14]
Yourbus abruptly ceased trading on Thursday 3 October 2019.[15][16][17] Other operators have since stepped in to replace most of theDerbyshire County Council tendered services includingNotts + Derby, CT4N and Littles Travel.
As of March 2019, Yourbus operated 25 route and school services inDerbyshire andNottinghamshire.[18]
The original fleet livery was all over maroon. This was superseded by a livery of mainly white with a maroon swoop along the side. Coaches were painted in a white, red and black livery. Not all coaches were painted during their time at Yourbus with most of them remaining in the colours from purchase.
In May 2014, Yourbus diversified into Australia, when it purchasedSydney charter operatorTelford's Bus & Coach.[19][20][21] Yourbus had previously lodged a tender to operate aSydney Metropolitan Bus Contract in August 2012.[22] In May 2015, Sydney charter operatorTiger Tours was purchased with 11 vehicles and was fully merged into Telford's.[23][24] In February 2018, Sydney coach operator Pegasus Coach Tours was acquired, while in April 2018, Australian body builderCustom Bus was purchased.[25] In November 2019 Telford's Bus & Coach was sold toKinetic Group.[26]
Media related toYourbus at Wikimedia Commons
