Uno vs Centrebus vs Arriva Beds and Bucks

[Aictos]

So in Herts, Beds and Bucks basically the Three Counties according to the BBC so what are they like in your views?

I'm interested to learn what they're like from both a passenger point of view but also from a fleet/bus fan point of view guys so covering tickets, service reliability, investment ie technology, age of fleets, ticket types etc...

I'm just interested to hear what they're like that's all

 

[jon0844]

Uno used to be terrible but under new management has actually improved massively. For one, they've got rid of a lot of deadwood.

 

[class387]

Uno:
Used to be awful, now much better. Past year has seen new buses on the 614 (E400City) and 610 (MCV Evora); the 653 will be upgraded in the next few weeks. The rest of the fleet ranges from very nice Citaros, to some fairly awful Streetlites and ex-London Darts. New Ticketer machines were introduced last year with contactless payment, and next-stop information and a new app should be introduced soon. Services are now generally quite reliable and their routes are often more direct than the other companies', so my preferred way to travel in Herts now. Some fares are quite expensive though.

Centrebus:
Does not have the 'wow factor' that Uno have, but a competent operator with clean buses and friendly drivers. The fleet mainly consists of various Optare Solos and generic Enviro200s. There doesn't seem to be as much investment in new buses or technology as Uno. Can not comment on fares as I always use Explorer when travelling with them (there used to be problems with drivers not accepting Explorer, but it's fine now). From an enthusiast's perspective, Centrebus is probably the most fun to ride with their fast country routes - the 379 and 88 in particular are real gems.

Arriva:
Not brilliant around here. More expensive than Uno, unreliable, dirty buses and rude drivers. Only positive is that their routes are sometimes more frequent than Uno, especially at weekends.

 

[skyhigh]

I've moved away now, so don't see what's going on as much as I used to, although I still do occasionally visit. Around 2010ish, Centrebus used to be pretty poor - the fleet seemed to be in an awful state. Uno was okay - generally friendly drivers, bus tracking normally worked but the fleet was a little rough. Arriva - expensive, dirty buses, rude drivers. From what I've seen recently, Centrebus has improved, Uno has improved... and Arriva hasn't changed much! Here's a link to a thread with some discussion on them from 2017 - https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/arriva-stevenage.145921/

 

[Aictos]

Uno:
Used to be awful, now much better. Past year has seen new buses on the 614 (E400City) and 610 (MCV Evora); the 653 will be upgraded in the next few weeks. The rest of the fleet ranges from very nice Citaros, to some fairly awful Streetlites and ex-London Darts. New Ticketer machines were introduced last year with contactless payment, and next-stop information and a new app should be introduced soon. Services are now generally quite reliable and their routes are often more direct than the other companies', so my preferred way to travel in Herts now. Some fares are quite expensive though.

Centrebus:
Does not have the 'wow factor' that Uno have, but a competent operator with clean buses and friendly drivers. The fleet mainly consists of various Optare Solos and generic Enviro200s. There doesn't seem to be as much investment in new buses or technology as Uno. Can not comment on fares as I always use Explorer when travelling with them (there used to be problems with drivers not accepting Explorer, but it's fine now). From an enthusiast's perspective, Centrebus is probably the most fun to ride with their fast country routes - the 379 and 88 in particular are real gems.

Arriva:
Not brilliant around here. More expensive than Uno, unreliable, dirty buses and rude drivers. Only positive is that their routes are sometimes more frequent than Uno, especially at weekends.

Never used Uno but know they're the main operator I think for Hatfield and St Albans these days?

Centrebus, only seem to undercut Arriva tickets by a few pence if that especially on services using the Luton Busway by looking up online tickets, however if you join their travel club you save a lot more go figure...

Arriva, for some reason I've never come across any thing like that - the services I've used have all more or less been on time, clean buses and certainly no rude drivers.

 

[class387]

Never used Uno but know they're the main operator I think for Hatfield and St Albans these days?

Centrebus, only seem to undercut Arriva tickets by a few pence if that especially on services using the Luton Busway by looking up online tickets, however if you join their travel club you save a lot more go figure...

Arriva, for some reason I've never come across any thing like that - the services I've used have all more or less been on time, clean buses and certainly no rude drivers.

Uno have always been the main operator for Hatfield. They also used to have a major presence on HCC contracted St Albans local routes, but they have lost all those routes now and are focusing on commercial work.

Don't have the positive experiences with Arriva I'm afraid. What depot do your services run out of? Mine are mainly from Stevenage which is apparently one of the worst.

As said, can't comment on Centrebus fares.

 

[jon0844]

Nice to hear Uno is looking at a new app.. hopefully moving away from the dross that Corethree produces. I'm stunned that Herts County Council, Uno, many First bus operations and Go-Ahead operations.. heck, even Manchester transport I think (not 100% sure) got taken in. The app must be bloody cheap, but it's so buggy and insecure that I refused to use it in the end.

 

[Aictos]

Uno have always been the main operator for Hatfield. They also used to have a major presence on HCC contracted St Albans local routes, but they have lost all those routes now and are focusing on commercial work.

Don't have the positive experiences with Arriva I'm afraid. What depot do your services run out of? Mine are mainly from Stevenage which is apparently one of the worst.

As said, can't comment on Centrebus fares.

Believe it was Luton depot unless Arriva has multiple depots? And that was 2 years ago.

 

[Tetchytyke]

I couldn't say what either are like now, but a couple of years ago when I lived in Hemel it was a toss up between Arriva and Centrebus as to whose bus would be more knackered. Both fleets were old, clapped out and grimy.

Arriva had a habit of blobbing buses, especially on the Hemel town services and the 500, and then swearing blind in complaint responses it had operated to time. Someone was telling porkies.

 

[atraindriver]

<deleted>

 

[Mutant Lemming]

With regards to tickets probably the best value is....
https://www.intalink.org.uk/tickets/explorer/
At least Herts do have a multi-operator ticket (that is also valid in parts of Beds and Bucks..and Essex)
Uno, Arriva and Centrebus do also have their own day tickets but they are only marginally cheaper than the Intalink Explorer

 

[philthetube]

correct if covering a wide area, intalink falls down if you want a smaller area, all be it one where more than one company operates.

E.G. arriva watford area is £4.80 for a day but to get Cover on Red Rose UNO Bus and others in the area costs £9

 

[Aictos]

One thing that Centrebus does do which is a good thing for passengers as far as I'm aware and I'm not sure if other operators this time nationwide do as well but if you join the travel club for a yearly sum of £10, you get 15% off singles and return tickets in a specified zone of operation which if you're not a OAP with a free bus pass for example is damn good.

The only thing I don't understand with the Luton Busway and that's why is there not a universal ticket accepted on all operators on these services? No idea if the Cambridge one does this but surely that would be better along with the choice of bus company only tickets.

 

[class387]

Believe it was Luton depot unless Arriva has multiple depots? And that was 2 years ago.

Arriva definitely has more than one depot . Yes, Luton do seem more competent than Stevenage or Hemel, partially due to it actually having some investment put into it with new buses etc.

 

[Tetchytyke]

The only thing I don't understand with the Luton Busway and that's why is there not a universal ticket accepted on all operators on these services? No idea if the Cambridge one does this but surely that would be better along with the choice of bus company only tickets.

Cambridge only has one operator these days, apart from a tiny section to the hospital, but the tickets weren't inter-available. I'm not sure why the council don't sort that in Luton (and it has to be the council due to competition issues)

 

[Man of Kent]

correct if covering a wide area, intalink falls down if you want a smaller area, all be it one where more than one company operates.

E.G. arriva watford area is £4.80 for a day but to get Cover on Red Rose UNO Bus and others in the area costs £9

The Intalink website gives details of a series of local Busnet tickets that are multi-operator. The Watford one is £5.50, there are others for Hemel, St Albans and Welwyn-Hatfield.

 

[swt class 450]

I would say that all three companies seem to be mostly good.

I have used the entire Arriva The Shires network quite a lot and have always been very happy with it. I always have nice friendly drivers and clean buses and their bus fares are a lot cheaper than most of their competitors. I have never understood all this criticism that Arriva get. Maybe i have just had very good luck but i have never really had any problems with Arriva at all. So it has all been positive when i have used them. It would be good if they would publish faretables online but at least their customer service centre in Luton actually has access to Single and Return fares (unlike First Bus).

Centrebus are also good. They are one of the very few operators in the UK to have the longer 11.3m version of the Alexander Dennis Enviro 200 bus. Their network certainly covers a massive area that goes well outside of Hertfordshire. They seem to have quite a new modern bus fleet these days. They also publish faretables on their website which is very useful.

Uno seem good as well. They are one of the 34 remaining state owned bus operators. They have had a lot of investment with many new vehicles purchased over the past year or so. Their website has very basic information regarding fares but as they are a public company they will give out a copy of their full faretables book document under the FOI Act.

So yes i would say all three are fairly good companies. There are a lot worse out there in other parts of the UK. I have always been happy with all three when i have used them.

The Intalink Explorer ticket for £9.00 for one day is excellent. It covers buses in Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Greater London, Hertfordshire, Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire, so you can travel across a huge area on it (although of course there are restrictions as to who accepts it and in some of these counties it is only valid on a few operators or only valid on a few services).

 

[Robertj21a]

Uno are state own

I would say that all three companies seem to be mostly good.

I have used the entire Arriva The Shires network quite a lot and have always been very happy with it. I always have nice friendly drivers and clean buses and their bus fares are a lot cheaper than most of their competitors. I have never understood all this criticism that Arriva get. Maybe i have just had very good luck but i have never really had any problems with Arriva at all. So it has all been positive when i have used them. It would be good if they would publish faretables online but at least their customer service centre in Luton actually has access to Single and Return fares (unlike First Bus).

Centrebus are also good. They are one of the very few operators in the UK to have the longer 11.3m version of the Alexander Dennis Enviro 200 bus. Their network certainly covers a massive area that goes well outside of Hertfordshire. They seem to have quite a new modern bus fleet these days. They also publish faretables on their website which is very useful.

Uno seem good as well. They are one of the 34 remaining state owned bus operators. They have had a lot of investment with many new vehicles purchased over the past year or so. Their website has very basic information regarding fares but as they are a public company they will give out a copy of their full faretables book document under the FOI Act.

So yes i would say all three are fairly good companies. There are a lot worse out there in other parts of the UK. I have always been happy with all three when i have used them.

The Intalink Explorer ticket for £9.00 for one day is excellent. It covers buses in Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Greater London, Hertfordshire, Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire, so you can travel across a huge area on it (although of course there are restrictions as to who accepts it and in some of these counties it is only valid on a few operators or only valid on a few services).

Uno are state owned ??

 

[Aictos]

I would say that all three companies seem to be mostly good.

I have used the entire Arriva The Shires network quite a lot and have always been very happy with it. I always have nice friendly drivers and clean buses and their bus fares are a lot cheaper than most of their competitors. I have never understood all this criticism that Arriva get. Maybe i have just had very good luck but i have never really had any problems with Arriva at all. So it has all been positive when i have used them. It would be good if they would publish faretables online but at least their customer service centre in Luton actually has access to Single and Return fares (unlike First Bus).

However when you go on their website, you don't have the option of Return fares only Single, Day Tickets, Weekly or Season ie 4 weeks or more.

I do like the idea of Contactless coming to Arriva though.

 

[Roilshead]

Uno are state own


Uno are state owned ??

With the exception of three for-profit private Universities, UK Universities are formally-independent charitable organisations, not state-owned bodies: Uno is a commercial trading arm of one such organisation.

 

[A0]

Well, for the past 20 years or so maybe. There were other operators before then.

Uno of course started as UniversityBus, the University of Hertfordshire's own bus company, so it concentrated on Hatfield simply because that's where the University wanted it to run at the time, and given that the "major" operator at the time was what was left of London Country North East after AJS Group had done its destructive thing, UniversityBus fairly quickly cemented themselves in place as the dominant local operator.

The truth is a little more subtle than that - the University (or Poly as it was back then) had multiple campuses - Hatfield, Hertford and a couple of others which slip my mind after time - but none of these were easily served by the main bus routes of the time, so the University set up a series of shuttle buses between the campuses.

As the university grew they then extended it into running where the students were living and spotting the commercial opportunity registered the services to allow public use as well.

Whilst the Hertford / Hatfield / Stevenage were covered by LCNE, it's worth remembering Watford & west Herts (which Uno covers as well) was under LCNW.

 

[Deerfold]

The Intalink Explorer ticket for £9.00 for one day is excellent. It covers buses in Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Greater London, Hertfordshire, Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire, so you can travel across a huge area on it (although of course there are restrictions as to who accepts it and in some of these counties it is only valid on a few operators or only valid on a few services).

In theory it's great. However in 2017 I bought a weekly Explorer and was refused travel by 4 drivers.
All were Arriva and were backed up by staff in the bus station at High Wycombe.
The telephone enquiry line and Twitter staff were fine at confirming validity, but drivers ignored them.
The problem? I'd bought the ticket from Carousel and Arriva don't accept Carousel tickets...

 

[EnviroExplorer]

My thoughts on these 3:
Uno - the best of the lot with well presented buses, including using the right vehicle for the correct job. Now a massive rarity, articulated Citaros used on the Hatfield university area shuttle, double deckers on the routes that need them and mainly longer single deckers on all other routes. A nice mix of types for an enthusiast and plenty of heavyweight stuff instead of just E200s and Streetlites which are used in small quantities around Hatfield (more are used around Cranfield and Northampton). Friendly drivers who even informed me of their, at the time, brand new buses on the Dragonfly 610. Those really show how much thought has went into the investment of a key route - the use of a new design was risky (MCV eVora Volvo B8RLE) though the large windows give a great customer experience, combined with the natural cinematic seating that Volvos provide due to the large engine. Bespoke seating looks and is comfortable with use of USB Charging ports too. This is proved by them winning multiple awards in the most recent bus awards, the sort of operator that should be looked up to. I undertsnd more investment is on the way with 2014 air conditioned Volvo B7RLEs, formerly used in Malta, which are being branded for another route. Their fares seem a little high but at least it is being used for investment in new buses

Centrebus - the area where they compete with Arriva and Uno seems to be their best part. As previously mentioned, they are one of the few operators with 11.3m Enviro 200s (I approve ) and despite no brand new investment since those in 2015, they purchase some ex London 200s last year. Overall the fleet seems fairly modern though it’s a shame that when I visited, the oldest Scanias were employed on the busway whereas Arriva had 2011-2013 Volvos. I was told by someone their operations have been declining so it’s good to see they still purchased them E200s to renew the fleet. I understand Rail Replacements have become a major source too

Arriva - on paper they look pretty good but I noted plenty of Route branded buses off designated routes and allocations seemed fairly mixed. The fleet has plenty of modern vehicles with 2011-13 Volvo B7RLEs, 2014 Streetlites, 2017 E200MMCs alongside 2005/6 Scania L94UBs and when I visited last year, 2000 Dennis Tridents and slightly newer DAF DB250s. So in Luton they are pretty good and I didn’t have any bad experiences. However, in Stevenage, where they operate the routes into Hatfield, the trunk routes were using new livery E300s on a route that seemed to suffer majorly from delays. The Green Line 724 could do with a refresh, them 2006 Citraos must be rather life expired after so many years of express running. Subtle route branding is used on them, bringing back the Green Line livery would make a big impact.

For anyone interested in the length difference, I have attached a photo at St Albans of a Centrebus 11.3m vs a Metroline mini one. The slight editing probably helps, but look how shiny that Centrebus looks

 

[jon0844]

Arriva drivers also seem to refuse travel for rail passengers when there's ticket acceptance in place during disruption.

It seems control at Arriva confirm acceptance but don't let the drivers know, or drivers think they know best.

 

[PeterC]

In theory it's great. However in 2017 I bought a weekly Explorer and was refused travel by 4 drivers.
All were Arriva and were backed up by staff in the bus station at High Wycombe.
The telephone enquiry line and Twitter staff were fine at confirming validity, but drivers ignored them.
The problem? I'd bought the ticket from Carousel and Arriva don't accept Carousel tickets...

I haven't seen the ticket advertised in Bucks at all so am not entirely suprised that it wasn't recognised although training doesn't seem up to scratch. I have also known an Arriva driver refuse ENCTS passes at 9:15 when Bucks allows them to be used from from 9.

In Chiltern District we only have Arriva on the 1 now, other inter urban routes are all Carousel and local services mostly by independents. Arriva at least put some Max branded buses on the 1, Carousel is all Oxford cast offs although they all have wifi and take contactless.

The independents have a pretty beaten up collection of small buses and a mixed bag of drivers although the better ones are far more customer focussed than I have seen on any other company. Red Rose at least do not seem to communicate with the county council about the contracted services. Between Christmas and New Year buses were advertised as Monday to Friday times but the company ran the Saturday service.

 

[class387]

In theory it's great. However in 2017 I bought a weekly Explorer and was refused travel by 4 drivers.
All were Arriva and were backed up by staff in the bus station at High Wycombe.
The telephone enquiry line and Twitter staff were fine at confirming validity, but drivers ignored them.
The problem? I'd bought the ticket from Carousel and Arriva don't accept Carousel tickets...

That is a problem. I once bought an Explorer and tried to get on an elderly Wright Renown that I wanted to ride, operated by Trustybus. The bus driver completely refused to accept it, despite me showing him the timetable showing that it valid. Even more unreasonable was that he refused it not because it was issued by Uno, but because "Trustybus isn't part of Intalink" (completely untrue). I never saw the Renown again - it was withdrawn the next week.

I also used have quite a few problems using Uno issued Explorers on Centrebus, but training seems to have improved and there is no problem now.

 

[spuddie]

Sovereign used to be pretty good until Blazefield started winding it up ready to sell on to Arriva, smart fleet of Volvo's and Dart's normally kept in pretty good condition, started going down hill when some of the B10B's were sold and replaced with Alexander PS bodied B10M's, beast of vehicles but a step down in quality to what passengers were used to.

I also think what didn't help was the mixed bag that run on the 300/301. Back when half hourly it was fully covered by new B10BLE's but once the 338/9 were merged in to initially become the 330/331 then became a mixed bag of B10BLE's, step entrance B10B's, B6LE's, Lynxes, B10M's, Darts.

 

[Mutant Lemming]

there is a tendency of all operators across Herts to offer 'their' specific company ticket even when asking for an Intalink Explorer - to such an extent that I carry a copy of the leaflet (when I can get hold of a current copy) to show them. Arriva and Centrebus are the worse culprits, though Uno are lax on offering the 'best value' tickets too if you don't specify what you want.

 

[Aictos]

Used Centrebus for the first time yesterday, happy that the bus in question had wifi not so impressed that it was easier getting a Brexit deal though UK Parliament then it was trying to connect to the wifi!

 

[PeterC]

there is a tendency of all operators across Herts to offer 'their' specific company ticket even when asking for an Intalink Explorer - to such an extent that I carry a copy of the leaflet (when I can get hold of a current copy) to show them. Arriva and Centrebus are the worse culprits, though Uno are lax on offering the 'best value' tickets too if you don't specify what you want.

A problem in all areas of transport and retail. To go off topic for a minute I have known WH Smith try and sell their own gift vouchers when book tokens have been requested. I have also seen "discussions" on Carousel route 1 in Bucks where customers have been sold Arriva specific returns on the outward journey rather than the intervailable returns.