Operation Overdrive
Encyclopedia
Operation Overdrive is the name of a series of improvement programmes carried out by Arriva
in their UK bus
operations. The original Operation Overdrive was done by Arriva Southern Counties
in the Medway Towns
(Kent
) in 2004, with further operations occurring in Maidstone
(Kent
), Merseyside, Leicestershire
, County Durham
, and Southend-on-Sea
(Essex
).
Brand new interactive timetables for every bus stop, depot upgrades including a vehicle wash, and introduction of a yellow liveried school fleet.
Pointer
MPD bodies (fleet numbers 1606 - 1617), and 49 Volvo
B7TL
double deckers with Alexander ALX400
bodies (6401 - 6449). The new buses feature interior, linked to GPS tracking systems provided by Medway
Council used for real time display at bus stops. Many of the buses have since been moved after further new vehicles arrived in later years.
, and changing their destination displays from traditional roller blinds to scrolling LED
displays.
The specific colour branding of buses to a particular coloured line was later dropped in favour of a single Medway Mainline branding showing all of the coloured route numbers.
tunnel twice, then running into the depot. The class leader of the new buses, 6401 (GN04 UDM), was specially decorated in a promotional livery for the network launch and headed the convoy. This bus was later repainted into a special network ticket promotional livery.
Complications arose as delays had occurred in removing old vehicles needed to make space in the depot for the arriving new vehicles. Several older vehicles were transferred to other Arriva South East depots, or to Arriva companies further afield. A number of MCW Metrorider
minibuses were transferred to Arriva Northumbria
, with a crew of drivers to take these buses to Peterlee
having arrived in an Arriva single decker.
Some of the new vehicles were also displayed alongside preserved Maidstone & District
vehicles, the predecessor company of Arriva in Medway, at the Chatham Dockyard
for the press and local dignitaries.
depot in 2004/5. In 2008, four VDL DB250
/East Lancs Myllennium Lowlander
have arrived for route 71.
s and 14 Scania CN94UB Omnicity
s were introduced in Durham and Darlington. Most vehicles have since been moved elsewhere.
(Fox County) and numerous buses refurbished. All but eight of the buses were double deckers on VDL DB250
and Volvo B7TL
chassis. The eight single deckers delivered were VDL SB200
s. All buses delivered were bodied by Wrightbus
.
Southend-on-Sea
In July 2008, Arriva Southern Counties
sent some of Arriva Southend
's Dennis Dart
/Plaxton Pointer
s to their Gillingham
, Kent
depot for refurbishment, entailing repainting, fitting CCTV
, and changing their destination displays from traditional roller blinds to scrolling LED
displays.
In mid 2009, the remainder of the older double decker fleet will be replaced by low-floor buses.
Arriva
Arriva plc is a multinational public transport company owned by Deutsche Bahn and headquartered in Sunderland, United Kingdom. It has bus, coach, train, tram and waterbus operations in 12 countries across Europe, employs more than 47,500 people and services over 1.5 billion passenger journeys each...
in their UK bus
Bus
A bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers. The most common type of bus is the single-decker bus, with larger loads carried by double-decker buses and articulated buses, and smaller loads carried by midibuses and minibuses; coaches are...
operations. The original Operation Overdrive was done by Arriva Southern Counties
Arriva Southern Counties
Arriva Southern Counties is a bus operator in London, Surrey, West Sussex, East Sussex, Kent and Essex in England. It is a regional division of Arriva.- History :...
in the Medway Towns
Medway
Medway is a conurbation and unitary authority in South East England. The Unitary Authority was formed in 1998 when the City of Rochester-upon-Medway amalgamated with Gillingham Borough Council and part of Kent County Council to form Medway Council, a unitary authority independent of Kent County...
(Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
) in 2004, with further operations occurring in Maidstone
Maidstone
Maidstone is the county town of Kent, England, south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town linking Maidstone to Rochester and the Thames Estuary. Historically, the river was a source and route for much of the town's trade. Maidstone was the centre of the agricultural...
(Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
), Merseyside, Leicestershire
Arriva Fox County
Arriva Leicester is a bus company operating in Leicester and Leicestershire. It is part of Arriva Midlands.-History:Arriva Leicester was formed in 1981, as Midland Red East with the breakup of the old Midland Red bus company, and then became known as Midland Fox in 1984.In September 1996 the...
, County Durham
Arriva North East
Arriva North East is a division of the transport group Arriva. It is a major provider of bus services around north east England, alongside Stagecoach North East, and Go North East...
, and Southend-on-Sea
Arriva Southend
Arriva Southend is a division of Arriva Southern Counties, a subsidiary of transport group Arriva which operates bus services in and around the Southend-on-Sea, Rochford, Rayleigh, Basildon, and Thurrock areas of Essex...
(Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
).
Medway Towns
The original operation Overdrive involved the purchase of 61 new buses, upgrading 40 existing buses, upgrades to the route network, introducing GPSGlobal Positioning System
The Global Positioning System is a space-based global navigation satellite system that provides location and time information in all weather, anywhere on or near the Earth, where there is an unobstructed line of sight to four or more GPS satellites...
Brand new interactive timetables for every bus stop, depot upgrades including a vehicle wash, and introduction of a yellow liveried school fleet.
New buses
The new vehicles were 12 Dennis Dart (These buses have now been removed and only 2 remain running) (8.8m) single deckers with PlaxtonPlaxton
Plaxton is a builder of bus and coach vehicle bodies based in Scarborough, England.-History:The Plaxton of today is the successor to a business founded in Scarborough in 1907 by Frederick William Plaxton.-Beginnings:...
Pointer
Plaxton Pointer
The Plaxton Pointer is a successful single-decker bus body manufactured during the 1990s by Plaxton and latterly built by Alexander Dennis.With the launch of the Dennis Dart in 1989, Plaxton's subsidiary Reeve Burgess made the Pointer body on the short 8.5 m...
MPD bodies (fleet numbers 1606 - 1617), and 49 Volvo
Volvo Buses
Volvo Buses is a subsidiary and a business area of the Swedish vehicle maker Volvo, which became an independent division in 1968. It is based in Göteborg....
B7TL
Volvo B7TL
Volvo B7TL is a low-floor double-decker bus which was launched in 1999 and replaced the 2-axle version of Volvo Olympian...
double deckers with Alexander ALX400
Alexander ALX400
The Alexander ALX400 is a 2-axle double-decker bus body built by Walter Alexander Coachbuilders...
bodies (6401 - 6449). The new buses feature interior, linked to GPS tracking systems provided by Medway
Medway
Medway is a conurbation and unitary authority in South East England. The Unitary Authority was formed in 1998 when the City of Rochester-upon-Medway amalgamated with Gillingham Borough Council and part of Kent County Council to form Medway Council, a unitary authority independent of Kent County...
Council used for real time display at bus stops. Many of the buses have since been moved after further new vehicles arrived in later years.
Existing fleet upgrade
Other existing vehicles in the Medway fleet were modernised to bring them into line with the brand new vehicles. This entailed refurbishment and repainting, fitting CCTVClosed-circuit television
Closed-circuit television is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors....
, and changing their destination displays from traditional roller blinds to scrolling LED
Light-emitting diode
A light-emitting diode is a semiconductor light source. LEDs are used as indicator lamps in many devices and are increasingly used for other lighting...
displays.
School buses
Two buses were painted in an allover yellow scheme for use on school services, although the vehicles are often used on non-school services. These are double deck Northern Counties bodied Volvo CitybusesVolvo B10M
The Volvo B10M is a popular mid-engined bus and coach chassis built by Volvo between 1978 and 2001. It was built as the successor of the B58 and was equipped with a 9.6-litre horizontally-mounted Volvo THD100/THD101/THD102/THD103/THD104/DH10A diesel engine mounted under the floor, near the middle...
-
- These vehicles are going to be removed to stop polluting the environment.
Network upgrade
Arriva significantly upgraded services in the Medway area with the rebranding and timetabling of routes and the introduction of new buses. The network was upgraded with 5 routes being increased to 10 minute frequencies and branded as the Red, Green, Purple, Blue and Orange Lines, with appropriately branded buses allocated to these routes. All but the purple line use double deck buses.The specific colour branding of buses to a particular coloured line was later dropped in favour of a single Medway Mainline branding showing all of the coloured route numbers.
Launch day
On the day of the new network launch, a convoy of 20 of the new buses was organised for the press, crossing the StroodStrood
Strood is a town in the unitary authority of Medway in South East England. It is part of the ceremonial county of Kent. It lies on the north west bank of the River Medway at its lowest bridging point, and is part of the Rochester post town....
tunnel twice, then running into the depot. The class leader of the new buses, 6401 (GN04 UDM), was specially decorated in a promotional livery for the network launch and headed the convoy. This bus was later repainted into a special network ticket promotional livery.
Complications arose as delays had occurred in removing old vehicles needed to make space in the depot for the arriving new vehicles. Several older vehicles were transferred to other Arriva South East depots, or to Arriva companies further afield. A number of MCW Metrorider
MCW Metrorider
The MCW Metrorider, launched by MCW at the 1986 Motor Show, was a midibus designed built by Metro Cammell Weymann between 1986 and 1989. Constructed in two lengths, 7.0 m and 8.4 m, the Metrorider was an integral bus, marking it out from its van-based rivals of the time.It was the second...
minibuses were transferred to Arriva Northumbria
Arriva Northumbria
Arriva Northumbria operates in Northumbria, using the "Arriva serving Northumbria" name. They are considered now to have merged with Arriva North East,-Brief history:*1986: United Automobile Services split into two parts, ready for privatisation....
, with a crew of drivers to take these buses to Peterlee
Peterlee
Peterlee is a new town in County Durham, England. Founded in 1948, Peterlee town originally mostly housed coal miners and their families.Peterlee has strong economic and community ties with Sunderland and Hartlepool.-Peterlee:...
having arrived in an Arriva single decker.
Some of the new vehicles were also displayed alongside preserved Maidstone & District
Maidstone & District Motor Services Ltd
Maidstone & District Motor Services Ltd was a bus company based in Maidstone, Kent. The company operated bus and coach services in Mid and West Kent and East Sussex from 1911 until 1998. The company's surviving operations were absorbed into Arriva Southern Counties.-Early years:In 1908 a hired...
vehicles, the predecessor company of Arriva in Medway, at the Chatham Dockyard
Chatham Dockyard
Chatham Dockyard, located on the River Medway and of which two-thirds is in Gillingham and one third in Chatham, Kent, England, came into existence at the time when, following the Reformation, relations with the Catholic countries of Europe had worsened, leading to a requirement for additional...
for the press and local dignitaries.
Maidstone
Overdrive 2 involved the refurbishment of several buses at the MaidstoneMaidstone
Maidstone is the county town of Kent, England, south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town linking Maidstone to Rochester and the Thames Estuary. Historically, the river was a source and route for much of the town's trade. Maidstone was the centre of the agricultural...
depot in 2004/5. In 2008, four VDL DB250
VDL DB250
The VDL DB250 is a double-decker bus sold in the UK through VDL Bus International's UK dealer Arriva Bus & Coach. A small number of DB250s have also been exported to Istanbul, Turkey.-DB250:...
/East Lancs Myllennium Lowlander
East Lancs Myllennium Lowlander
The East Lancs Myllennium Lowlander is the type of bus body built on the DAF/VDL DB250 chassis by East Lancashire Coachbuilders.-History:The Myllennium Lowlander superseded the East Lancs Lowlander. The Lowlander was also the East Lancs body for the DAF DB250, but in 2000, was given a facelift with...
have arrived for route 71.
County Durham
In 2005 some new Alexander ALX400Alexander ALX400
The Alexander ALX400 is a 2-axle double-decker bus body built by Walter Alexander Coachbuilders...
s and 14 Scania CN94UB Omnicity
Scania OmniCity
The Scania OmniCity is an integrally-constructed transverse-engined low floor citybus available on the European market. The OmniCity is a complete product built in Poland by Scania AB, a company based in Sweden....
s were introduced in Durham and Darlington. Most vehicles have since been moved elsewhere.
Merseyside
In 2008 Arriva purchased many Wright Pulsars for Bootle and Green Lane depots. In 2009, 23 Enviro400s arrived for Laird Street depot. These were in Interurban livery and branded as 'Cross River Express' displacing many Palatines to other Merseyside depots. Further Pulsar 2s have been arriving in many depots including Green Lane, Bootle, St Helens and Runcorn. Laird Street are said to have Pulsar 2s arriving along with Pulsar 2s for Southport.Leicestershire
In May 2006 Arriva launched Operation Overdrive on services in Leicestershire which saw 54 new buses delivered to Arriva MidlandsArriva Midlands
Arriva Midlands is a division of Arriva. It operates bus services around the Midlands area of England and is made up of various previous bus operators.-Arriva Midlands North:...
(Fox County) and numerous buses refurbished. All but eight of the buses were double deckers on VDL DB250
VDL DB250
The VDL DB250 is a double-decker bus sold in the UK through VDL Bus International's UK dealer Arriva Bus & Coach. A small number of DB250s have also been exported to Istanbul, Turkey.-DB250:...
and Volvo B7TL
Volvo B7TL
Volvo B7TL is a low-floor double-decker bus which was launched in 1999 and replaced the 2-axle version of Volvo Olympian...
chassis. The eight single deckers delivered were VDL SB200
VDL SB200
The VDL SB200 is a light-weight 12m citybus produced from 2001 by VDL Bus International...
s. All buses delivered were bodied by Wrightbus
Wrightbus
Wrightbus is an independent coachbuilder and pioneer of the low-floor bus. Based in Ballymena, Northern Ireland, it was established in 1946 by Robert Wright and currently run by his son William Wright.-History:...
.
Southend-on-SeaSouthend-on-SeaSouthend-on-Sea is a unitary authority area, town, and seaside resort in Essex, England. The district has Borough status, and comprises the towns of Chalkwell, Eastwood, Leigh-on-Sea, North Shoebury, Prittlewell, Shoeburyness, Southchurch, Thorpe Bay, and Westcliff-on-Sea. The district is situated...
In July 2008, Arriva Southern CountiesArriva Southern Counties
Arriva Southern Counties is a bus operator in London, Surrey, West Sussex, East Sussex, Kent and Essex in England. It is a regional division of Arriva.- History :...
sent some of Arriva Southend
Arriva Southend
Arriva Southend is a division of Arriva Southern Counties, a subsidiary of transport group Arriva which operates bus services in and around the Southend-on-Sea, Rochford, Rayleigh, Basildon, and Thurrock areas of Essex...
's Dennis Dart
Dennis Dart
The Dennis Dart is a rear-engined midibus built by Dennis in the United Kingdom. More than 11,000 were built during 18 years of production....
/Plaxton Pointer
Plaxton Pointer
The Plaxton Pointer is a successful single-decker bus body manufactured during the 1990s by Plaxton and latterly built by Alexander Dennis.With the launch of the Dennis Dart in 1989, Plaxton's subsidiary Reeve Burgess made the Pointer body on the short 8.5 m...
s to their Gillingham
Gillingham, Kent
Gillingham is a town in the unitary authority of Medway in South East England. It is part of the ceremonial county of Kent. The town includes the settlements of Brompton, Hempstead, Rainham, Rainham Mark and Twydall....
, Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
depot for refurbishment, entailing repainting, fitting CCTV
Closed-circuit television
Closed-circuit television is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors....
, and changing their destination displays from traditional roller blinds to scrolling LED
Light-emitting diode
A light-emitting diode is a semiconductor light source. LEDs are used as indicator lamps in many devices and are increasingly used for other lighting...
displays.
In mid 2009, the remainder of the older double decker fleet will be replaced by low-floor buses.
External links
- Medway Council Draft Bus Strategy (pdf)
- Medway Local Transport Plan 2006-2011 - details of Operation Overdrive on page 122
- Full details of the new bus orders
- Arriva Medway Towns 'Operation Overdrive' launch Fotopic collection
- Arriva Medway Old and young in The Historic Dockyard Chatham Fotopic collection
- Arriva Medway The launch - June 13 2004 Fotopic collection
- Arriva Medway Towns New Bus Launch 13th June Fotopic collection
- Arriva Press Release on the Medway upgrade