The old MK Metro logo, still widely used

Another bus, showing how the livery
can be adapted for route branding to have different colours.
MK
Metro is the main bus operator in
Milton
Keynes
in the English county of Buckinghamshire. In
February 2006, it was purchased by
Arriva
Shires & Essex, but
Arriva said the vehicles will not receive any sort of Arriva
corporate branding (new route-specific buses are now doing so).
Most times Arriva purchases bus companies, the vehicles are
repainted as quickly as possible, like
Blue Bus
of Bolton. The sale to Arriva was subsequently considered by
the Office of Fair Trading for referral to the Competition
Commission, however it decided not to do so.
History
The "MK
Metro" name first appeared on the streets of Milton Keynes
in 1997 when Stagecoach
Holdingc plc was ordered by the OFT to divest of its operations
in Milton Keynes and Huntingdon. This followed an
investigation in 1996 into their acquisition of Cambus Holdings Ltd
which, according to the OFT, had led to an unacceptable monopoly of
bus operations in Cambridgeshire, Corby, East Northamptonshire,
Kettering, Wellingborough, Bedford and Mid Bedfordshire.
MK Metro Ltd was purchased on 2 May 1997 by bus entrepreneur Julian
Peddle (formerly Managing Director of Stevensons of Uttoxeter),
using a new company Premier Buses Ltd both to operate in Huntingdon
(using the “Premier Buses” brand name) and also as a holding
company with which to purchase MK Metro Ltd.
Julian decided to introduce “MK Metro” as a new brand name for the
Milton Keynes operation, replacing “Milton Keynes Citybus” (the
company Milton Keynes Citybus Ltd itself was retained by
Stagecoach) and “Road Car” (MK Metro Ltd had until 1995 been known
as Buckinghamshire Road Car Ltd) which were both carried by buses
at the time. The new name also introduced the bright yellow and
blue livery which is still in use today.
In late 2007, a new logo was introduced following the introduction
of
Wright Cadets (see below). This uses
a lower case font. The old logo is still used on most buses
however.
Fleet
The fleet ranges from mainly
Dennis
Darts (high floor and low floor, with a variety of bodywork),
to Mercedes minibuses and
Optare Solos.
They also have double-deck
Optare
Spectras, and
Scania L94s with
Wrightbus Solar bodywork. Two new Solars
arrived in 2006. Three further Solos arrived in 2008, two in Arriva
colours and one in a green colour, as well as a new double-decker
and two taxis. In October 2008, a
Dennis Trident 2/
Alexander ALX400 (W451 XKX) arrived painted
orange. It was previously with another part of Arriva Shires &
Essex and was repaired from major fire damage. In November 2008,
the same bus was once again involved in a fire, which this time
completely destroyed it.
Fleet summary
Routes
There are
many routes, which mostly pass through or serve Central Milton
Keynes
. However, routes 16 and 30/31 do not. The
routes are generally numbered from 1 to 30, although there are some
omissions and some routes in the 30s, as well as a new service
numbered 300.
The company runs over 30 services, the key services are numbered 1
to 8, and run every 10 to 20 minutes. Key services Run through the
busiest parts of the city, for example to bletchley and The
District centres.Intermediate services run every 20 minutes up to
every Hour. These routes cover areas in more detail, for example
serving through the estates, where as key services mostly run on
the main roads.The other routes run at a frequency of every Hour or
less, these services link people from outside Milton Keynes into
the city, or Link smaller areas into the nearest centre.Each key
route has been given its own colour bus, for easy identification
for passengers.
Key Services
- 1 / B / C: City Centre - Green Park - Newport Pagnell - Olney -
Bedford / Northampton
- 2: Westcroft - Oxley Park - Grange Farm - City Centre - Willen
- Poets Estate - Newport Pagnell
- 4 / A / E: Wolverton - Stony Stratford - City Centre - Hospital
- Whaddon Way - Bletchley
- 5 / E: Wolverton - Bradville - City Centre - Hospital -
Bletchley - Lakes Estate
- 7 / E: Wolverton - Stantonbury - City Centre - Bletchley -
Newton Longville / Lakes Estate
- 7 A: Wolverton - Great Linford - Neath Hill - City Centre
- 8: Westcroft - Shenley Brook End - City Centre - Kingston -
Bletchley / Woburn Sands
Intermediate Services
- 2E: Wolverton - Heelands - City Centre - Willen - Poets Estate
- Newport Pagnell
- 3E: Wolverton - Great Linford - City Centre - Shenley Church
End - Furzton - Westcroft
- 6 / A: Wolverton / Bradville - Heelands - City Centre -
Hospital- Emerson Valley - Bletchley
- 9 / A: City Centre - Shenley Lodge - Furzton - West Bletchley -
Bletchley
- 12: Wolverton - Greenleys - Bradwell - City Centre - Kents Hill
- Open University - Caldecotte
- 20: Bletchley - Tattenhoe - Westcroft - City Centre - Hospital
- Walnut Tree
- 26E: Bletchley - Furzton - City Centre - Walnut Tree - Kingston
Centre
- 29: Bletchley - Hospital - Oldbrook - City Centre - Crownhill -
Shenley Church End
- 32: City Centre - Buckingham - Little Tingewick (peak
hours)
- 39: Bletchley - Whaddon Way - Oldbrook - City Centre -
Crownhill - Shenley Church End
- 300: City Centre - Broughton Gate - Kingston / Magna Park
Other Services
- 11: Milton Keynes - Monkston - Kingston - Woburn Sands - Bow
Brickhill - Bletchley
- 13: Stony Stratford - Stantonbury - City Centre - Bletchley -
Lakes Estate
- 14: City Centre - Stony Stratford - Old Stratford - Deanshanger
/ Wicken
- 16: Bletchley - West Bletchley - Emerson Valley -
Westcroft
- 17A: Milton Keynes - Moulsoe - Cranfield
- 17B: City Centre - Great Linford - Newport Pagnell -
Cranfield
- 18: City Centre - Woolstone - Woughton Park - Simpson -
Bletchley
- 30 / 31: Newport Pagnell - Wolverton - Stony Stratford -
Bletchley
- 32A: Buckingham Town Service
- 33: Milton Keynes - Blue Bridge - Wolverton - Hanslope - Roade
- Northampton
Areas of Operation
References
External links