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MK Metro was a bus company operating in
Milton Keynes Milton Keynes ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in Buckinghamshire, England, about north-west of London. At the 2021 Census, the population of Milton Keynes urban area, its urban area was 264,349. The River Great Ouse forms t ...
from 1997 until 2010.


History

In 1997,
Stagecoach A stagecoach (also: stage coach, stage, road coach, ) is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by ...
was ordered by the
Office of Fair Trading The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) was a non-ministerial government department of the United Kingdom, established by the Fair Trading Act 1973, which enforced both consumer protection and competition law, acting as the United Kingdom's economi ...
to divest of its operations in
Milton Keynes Milton Keynes ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in Buckinghamshire, England, about north-west of London. At the 2021 Census, the population of Milton Keynes urban area, its urban area was 264,349. The River Great Ouse forms t ...
and
Huntingdon Huntingdon is a market town in the Huntingdonshire district of Cambridgeshire, England. The town was given its town charter by John, King of England, King John in 1205. It was the county town of the historic county of Huntingdonshire. Oliver C ...
. This followed an investigation in 1996 into its acquisition of Cambus Holdings which was deemed to have led to an unacceptable monopoly of bus operations in
Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfor ...
,
Corby Corby is a town and civil parish in the North Northamptonshire district of Northamptonshire, England, northeast of Northampton. In 2021 it had a population of 68,164. From 1974 to 2021, it was the administrative headquarters of the Borough of ...
,
East Northamptonshire East Northamptonshire was a local government district in Northamptonshire, England, from 1974 to 2021. Its council was based in Thrapston and Rushden. Other towns included Oundle, Raunds, Irthlingborough and Higham Ferrers. The town of Rushde ...
,
Kettering Kettering is a market town, market and industrial town, industrial town in the North Northamptonshire district of Northamptonshire, England, west of Cambridge, England, Cambridge, southwest of Peterborough, southeast of Leicester and north- ...
,
Wellingborough Wellingborough ( ) is a market town in the North Northamptonshire, Unitary Authority area, England, from London and from Northampton, north of the River Nene. Originally named "Wendelingburgh" (the stronghold of Wændel's people), the Anglo ...
,
Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population was 106,940. Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire and seat of the Borough of Bedford local government district. Bedford was founded at a ford (crossin ...
and Mid Bedfordshire. The assets of Milton Keynes Citybus were purchased on 2 May 1997 by bus entrepreneur
Julian Peddle Julian Peddle (born November 1954) is an entrepreneur who has worked in the bus industry since the early 1980s, having owned or part-owned numerous bus companies. He spent 11 years as co-owner of Stevensons of Uttoxeter between 1983 and 1994, h ...
, using a new company Premier Buses Limited both to operate in Huntingdon (under the Premier Buses brand name) and also as a holding company with which to purchase MK Metro. The operation was rebranded as MK Metro with a bright yellow and blue livery introduced. In February 2006, the business was purchased by
Arriva Arriva Ltd. is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Sunderland, England. The company was originally established on 24 October 1938 as T Cowie Ltd. Initially focused on the sale of motorcycles, it relaunched shortl ...
and integrated into its
Arriva Shires & Essex Arriva Herts & Essex is a bus operator providing services in Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire, with services extending to Berkshire, Oxfordshire and Greater London. Until 2002 its operations included Arriva Colchester, Col ...
subsidiary. The MK Metro brand was retained with a new logo introduced in 2007. On 25 April 2010, the Arriva brand and livery were introduced. Milton Keynes services began to operate under the sub brand of ''MK Star'', and the change of name coincided with a number of controversial service changes.


Fleet

The fleet ranged from mainly
Dennis Dart The Dennis Dart is a Rear-engine design, rear-engined single-decker bus, single-decker midibus chassis that was introduced by Dennis Specialist Vehicles, Dennis of Guildford, England, in 1989, replacing the Dennis Domino. Initially built as a ...
s (high floor and low floor, with a variety of bodywork), to Mercedes-Benz minibuses and
Optare Solo The Switch Solo (formerly sold as the Optare Solo) is a low-floor minibus/midibus with one or two doors manufactured by Switch Mobility in the United Kingdom since 1998. The Solo name is a play on its low-floor status, the manufacturer marketin ...
s. Double-deck
Optare Spectra The Optare Spectra was a double-decker bus body built on both the step entrance DAF DB250 and low-floor DB250LF chassis between 1991 and 2006. Design The Spectra was developed as a joint United Bus project between Optare and DAF, based o ...
s, and
Wright Solar The Wright Solar is a low entry single-decker bus body that was built on Scania L94UB and Scania K UB chassis by Wrightbus between 2000 and 2011. The Wright Solar Fusion is an articulated version. Most of the buses are fitted with the s ...
bodied
Scania L94UB The Scania 4-series low floor city bus and coach range was introduced by Scania in 1997 as a successor to the 3-series bus range. The 4-series bus range was first presented in September 1996, when the integral low-floor city bus OmniCity wa ...
s were also operated.


Fleet summary

*
Dennis Dart The Dennis Dart is a Rear-engine design, rear-engined single-decker bus, single-decker midibus chassis that was introduced by Dennis Specialist Vehicles, Dennis of Guildford, England, in 1989, replacing the Dennis Domino. Initially built as a ...
*
Dennis Dart SLF The Dennis Dart is a rear-engined single-decker midibus chassis that was introduced by Dennis of Guildford, England, in 1989, replacing the Dennis Domino. Initially built as a high-floor design, in 1996 the low-floor second generation Denn ...
*
VDL SB120 The VDL SB120 (previously known as the DAF SB120) was a low floor light-weight midibus produced from 1999 by VDL Bus & Coach (formerly DAF Bus International) of the Netherlands primarily for the United Kingdom market. The SB120 was similar to i ...
*
Mercedes-Benz Vario The Mercedes-Benz Vario (model designation BM667/668/670) is a full-size commercial heavy van and medium duty truck manufactured by Mercedes-Benz between 1996 and 2013. History The Vario was launched in 1996 as a facelifted version of the Mer ...
*
Optare Solo The Switch Solo (formerly sold as the Optare Solo) is a low-floor minibus/midibus with one or two doors manufactured by Switch Mobility in the United Kingdom since 1998. The Solo name is a play on its low-floor status, the manufacturer marketin ...
*
Optare Spectra The Optare Spectra was a double-decker bus body built on both the step entrance DAF DB250 and low-floor DB250LF chassis between 1991 and 2006. Design The Spectra was developed as a joint United Bus project between Optare and DAF, based o ...
*
Scania L94UB The Scania 4-series low floor city bus and coach range was introduced by Scania in 1997 as a successor to the 3-series bus range. The 4-series bus range was first presented in September 1996, when the integral low-floor city bus OmniCity wa ...
*
Alexander Dennis Enviro300 The Alexander Dennis Enviro300 (previously known as the TransBus Enviro300) is a light-weight full-size single-decker bus that was built by Alexander Dennis and its predecessor TransBus International between 2001 and 2015. The design was the fi ...
*
Mercedes-Benz Citaro The Mercedes-Benz Citaro is a single-decker, rigid or articulated bus manufactured by Mercedes-Benz/ EvoBus. Introduced in 1997, the Citaro is available in a range of configurations, and is in widespread use throughout Europe and parts of Asia, ...


Routes

MK Metro ran over 30 services. Most routes passed through or served
Central Milton Keynes Central Milton Keynes is the central business district of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England and a civil parish in its own right, with a town council. The district is approximately long by wide and occupies some of the highest land in ...
. However, routes 16 and 30/31 did not. The routes were generally numbered from 1 to 30, although there were some omissions and some routes in the 30s, as well as a new service numbered 300.here MK Metro – Bus Timetables
Accessed 9 November 2008. The key services were numbered 1 to 8, and ran every 10 to 20 minutes. Key services ran through the busiest parts of the city, for example to Bletchley and the District centres. Intermediate services ran from every 20 minutes up to every hour. These routes cover areas in more detail, for example serving through the grid squares, while key services mostly ran on the main roads. The other routes ran at a frequency of every hour or less. These services linked locations outside Milton Keynes into the city, or linked neighbourhoods into the nearest centre. ''Note that this list of routes is for historical interest. It is not a list of the current routes operated by
Arriva Shires & Essex Arriva Herts & Essex is a bus operator providing services in Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire, with services extending to Berkshire, Oxfordshire and Greater London. Until 2002 its operations included Arriva Colchester, Col ...
.''


Former 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

These routes were operated by MK Metro after its take-over by Arriva, but before the rebranding and new timetable launch on 24 April 2010. *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 former 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 *(NN)11 Northampton – Kingsley – Parklands – Links View – Kingsley – Northampton (only serves Links View on return from Parklands) *(NN)21 Northampton –
University A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...
Avenue Campus –
Kingsthorpe Kingsthorpe is a suburb and civil parish of Northampton, England. It is situated to the north of Northampton town centre and is served by the A508 and A5199 roads which join at Kingsthorpe's centre. The 2011 Census recorded the population of ...
University A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...
Park Campus (ceased due to contract loss)


References


External links

*
www.mkmetro.co.uk/www.arrivabus.co.uk/mkstarFlickr gallery
{{Transport in Milton Keynes Arriva Group bus operators in England Transport in Milton Keynes 1997 establishments in England 2010 disestablishments in England Transport companies established in 1997 Transport companies disestablished in 2010 Former bus operators in Bedfordshire Former bus operators in Buckinghamshire Former bus operators in Northamptonshire