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Arriva Sapphire is a premium brand used by various Arriva bus subsidiaries in the United Kingdom.


History[]

In February 2013, Arriva announced that it would launch a premium service under the Sapphire brand for its bus services in the United Kingdom. It is similar to the Stagecoach Gold brand launched by Stagecoach in 2007.

Arriva initially launched the Sapphire brand on four pilot routes:

  • Arriva Buses Wales' route 1 - Wrexham to Chester
  • Arriva Midlands' route 31/31a - Oadby to Leicester
  • Arriva North East's route 7 - Darlington to Durham
  • Arriva Shires & Essex's route 280 - Aylesbury to Oxford

In 2014, the brand was extended to 11 more routes with another six scheduled for conversion in late 2015.

In 2017, Arriva Sapphire was rebranded with a new logo and livery, in line with the switchover to the new Arriva brand. In 2018, the Arriva Sapphire logo was updated again, to reflect the new brand.

In 2019, Arriva Midlands routes 1, 2, 2E running between Walsall and Cannock/Huntington were downgraded to regular buses after six years of Sapphire.

In 2020, Arriva Sapphire was rebranded with a new logo and livery, in line with the switchover to the new Arriva brand.

In recent years, Sapphire-spec buses have occasionally been run on non-Sapphire routes, and regular Arriva buses are also often run on Sapphire routes.

Routes[]

As of December 2020, there were 60 Arriva bus routes.

Route Number Start End
Arriva Buses Wales
1 † Wrexham Chester
12/X12 Rhyl Llandudno
X4 Mold Ellesmere Port
Arriva Midlands
31/31 A/31 E † Oadby Estates Leicester
38 Stenson Fields Derby
110 Tamworth Birmingham
158 Leicester Hinckley / Nuneaton
X3 Leicester Market Harborough
Arriva North East
1/5/5A/X1 Darlington Bishop Auckland

Crook

Tow Law

3/X3/X3A/X4 Middlesbrough Lingdale

Skelton

Loftus

Whitby

5/5A/X5 Middlesbrough Easington
6 Durham Bishop Auckland

Cockfield

7 † Durham Darlington
22 Durham Sunderland
23 Sunderland Hartlepool
24 Durham Hartlepool
43 Newcastle Morpeth
44/45 Newcastle Dinnington
X21/X22 Newcastle Newbiggin

Ashington

Arriva North West
38 Crewe Macclesfield
130 Manchester Macclesfield
263 Manchester Altrincham
362 Chorley Wigan
575 Wigan Bolton
X1 Liverpool Windmill Hill
Arriva Shires and Essex
5/6 Lakes Estate Wolverton
100/101 Stevenage Luton
133 Stansted Airport Colchester

Braintree

280/X8 † Aylesbury Oxford
321 Watford Luton
Arriva Southern Counties
34/35 Guildford Camberley
101 Gillingham Maidstone
320 Hemel Hempstead Rickmansworth
480/490 Dartford Valley Drive
700 Chatham Bluewater
Arriva Yorkshire
110 Leeds Hall Green
163/166 Leeds Castleford (via. Garforth)
167/168 Leeds Castleford (via. Woodlesford)
229 Leeds Huddersfield
415 York Selby

† = Route was used as a pilot route for the Sapphire brand.

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