Alexander Dennis Enviro400 in Leeds in July 2009
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Parent | Arriva |
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Founded | 1905 (rebranded as Arriva 1997) |
Headquarters | Wakefield |
Service area |
West Yorkshire South Yorkshire East Riding of Yorkshire and the southern areas of North Yorkshire |
Depots | 5 |
Fleet | 313 (September 2015) |
Website | www.arrivabus.co.uk/Yorkshire |
Arriva Yorkshire is a bus operator providing services in West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, East Riding of Yorkshire and the southern areas of North Yorkshire. It is a subsidiary of Arriva.
Arriva Yorkshire was formed as a combination of mergers of previous companies based in West and North Yorkshire.
In 1904 Yorkshire (West Riding) Electric Tramways began operating tram services in Wakefield followed in 1906 by Castleford. In November 1923 the West Riding Automobile Company began operating bus services in West Riding.
Yorkshire Woollen District Transport operated services around Dewsbury
Both companies were acquired by the National Bus Company, along with Selby & District with the companies maintaining separate identities. In 1987 West Riding Automobile and Yorkshire Woollen District were sold in a management buyout to Caldaire, under whose ownership they traded as West Riding Buses and Yorkshire Buses respectively. In 1994 South Yorkshire Road Transport, based in Pontefract, was purchased. The four companies were taken over by British Bus in 1995 which itself was purchased by Cowie Group in August 1996. All were rebranded under the Arriva brand in 1997.
Although Arriva Yorkshire trades as one entity, it is formed of three companies: Arriva Yorkshire West (the former Yorkshire Woollen District company), Arriva Yorkshire (the former West Riding and South Yorkshire Road Transport companies) and Arriva Yorkshire North (the former Selby & District company).
Since May 2008 there has been a sister company in Huddersfield. Centrebus Holdings, in which Arriva held a 40% stake, was formed when the Huddersfield operations of Stagecoach Yorkshire was purchased along with the separate K-Line bus company. In September 2013, Arriva took full ownership of Centrebus Holdings and K-Line with the former rebranded Yorkshire Tiger and the latter as Tiger Blue.