Arriva Bus Changes
From 30th July 2018 route 61 will be operated by Red Eagle instead of Arriva. Red Eagle are based in Aylesbury and a sister company of Redline Buses who run Service 164 to Cheddington.
Service 61 is not contracted by Bucks County Council and runs on a commercial basis which means that the operator chooses the route and timetable and must cover their costs from fares revenue taken. To change or withdraw a bus service an operator needs only to give notice to the Traffic Commissioner, copied to Local Authorities who have no powers to delay or veto this. Arriva have decided to withdraw the route and the Public Transport team have been trying to find another company to run a replacement which we have now done.
Arriva have reviewed the route and feel it is not viable for them to continue operating, and while there will be a very similar timetable introduced from 30thJuly 2018 Red Eagle have decided not to run a small number of poorly loaded sections of journey. There are also some minor timing changes to most journeys.
Some buses will operate as service 61A. These will divert between Aston Clinton and Aylesbury to serve Elm Farm (where Arriva have also withdrawn the service) instead of operating directly along the Tring Road, with some minor timetable adjustments to allow for this.
Within Aylesbury, in line with other services, buses will operate direct along Exchange Street and Friarage Road towards the bus station instead of operating around the town centre via High Street, New Street and Oxford Road – buses leaving Aylesbury will follow their current route.
The following alterations may directly affect some passengers from the Ivinghoe area.
- On Mondays to Fridays the 05:40 journey from Aylesbury to Dunstable will start instead from Pitstone, arriving in Dunstable at a similar time to now.
- The 06:20 journey from Aylesbury to Dunstable will now operate between Aylesbury and Ivinghoe only. Observations have indicated there are very few passengers travelling between Ivinghoe and Dunstable.
- The 15:55 journey from Aylesbury to Dunstable will be retimed to run at 15:50 on schooldays – both this and the 06:45 schoolday journey from Dunstable will divert via Aylesbury Schools Coach Park.
- The 19:45 journey from Aylesbury to Ivinghoe will run earlier at 19:00 (returning from Ivinghoe at 19:40)
· Full timetables will be on the BCC website in a few days