The only "big group" operator in the town, and far and away the dominant player "Arriva The Shires & Essex", has it's roots in the old London Transport country bus network. Its' garage lies close to the town centre, and is one of only two former London Country garages remaining operational. After being 'London Country North East', 'County Bus' was formed where Harlow was the head office. A short spell under West Midlands ownership, then onto being part of the Cowie group, which transformed into today's Arriva. 

The services page gives details of the comprehensive route network which includes a mixture of both town and country routes. Most services are operated commercially, although some journeys operate under contract to Essex County Council, particularly evening journeys and Sunday services. Good efforts are made to market the network, and there is a clear emphasis on running advertised services in accordance with timetables.

The fleet continues to be quite fluid, providing for quite an interesting picture for the enthusiast, and although little could truly be considered a "strange visitor", admirably, some efforts are made with consistency of vehicle type allocation to particular routes. All vehicles are now in corporate livery, and some have the addition of route specific promotional branding, as can be seen below.

Vehicles from Ware are often seen in the garage for maintenance; some of them do see service locally on occasions.

A corporate website with route diagrams and much local timetable information is available. WWW.ARRIVABUS.CO.UK

Please click on the thumbnail images for the full size view.

Fleet

FULL SIZE BUS FLEET

MINIBUS FLEET

ROUTE ALLOCATIONS

Volvo B7RLE/Wright Eclipse Urban Five years on from the purchase of the previous batch of new full size single deck vehicles in 1999, the Volvo/Wright combination features again. Both chassis and body have been upgraded, and LED displays now feature. The vehicles are principally dedicated to the 510, which was essentially converted to the type on 6th December 2004. Two further additions, principally for a frequency increase on the 510, were added in late 2007.
3856 3857 3858 3859 3860 3873 3874	KE54LNR KE54LPC KE54LPF KE54LPJ KE54HHF KE57EPA KE57EPC		On its' first day in service, 3859 clearly illustrates the route branding and LED displays as it pulls into the stop at Old Harlow Post Office. (R Hudson)
			An interior shot shows the modern and bright traveling environment provided on these vehicles. High standards of interior cleaning and maintenance also enhance the experience (R Hudson)
			And for completeness, the rear view. (R Hudson)

Dennis Dart/Plaxton Pointer The Dart story at Harlow started when nine 9.8m long examples were purchased new to Harlow under County Bus, and numbered DPL406-414 (now 3356-64). A similar batch of 9m long examples (formerly DP318-DP322, now 3368-71) were purchased new for LT route 256 at Grays and later moved to Harlow; 3100 and 3413/4 are more recent additions. With many now 15 years old, a lot of this fleet is now in the process of being stood down.
3356 3357 3360 3100 3413 3414	K406FHJ K407FHJ K410FHJ K448XPA P833HVX P334HVX		Darts with Plaxton Pointer bodies have long been part of the Harlow scene. Sign-writing was carried on 3356 for route 251 (since removed) when seen here, however, the vehicle is seen on this occasion on the Sumners and Katherines service 1. (R Hudson)
3368 3369 3371 3372	K318CVX K319CVX K321CVX K322CVX		3371 illustrates the shorter version, and also the less than usual side advertising for 'one' railway once carried, now superseded. (R Hudson)

Dennis Dart 9m/Northern Counties This vehicle started life when Kentish Bus were being particularly successful in winning contracts in South East London. It is actually a Ware-based bus, but turns up on regular loan.
3399	L119YVK		3399 out at play on Arriva's 333 service.   (R Hudson)

Dennis Dart/Wright Handybus A regular collection of Wright bodied Darts has come and gone in Harlow. Survivors 3366 and 3367 were purchased with the Wests of Woodford bus operation, with the former being another 9.8m example and the latter a 9m. Route 505 is the regular haunt.
3366 3367	J64BJN J65BJN		Harlow Bus Station is the setting for 3353, standing by for a trip on Saturday-only market service 522. This particular vehicle has now moved on.  (R Hudson)

Mercedes Citaro A fleet of vehicles dedicated to Green Line 724, and which carry an appropriate livery. These vehicles, newly introduced in August 2006, are partly allocated to Ware depot for the same purpose. All can be seen at Harlow, and so the whole class is shown for completeness.
3901 3902 3903 3904 3905	BU06HSD BU06HSE BU06HSF BU06HSG BU06HSJ	3906 3907 3908 3909	BU06HSK BU06HSL BU06HSN BU06HSO
Two images taken during the first week of service, and showing all four aspects of the vehicles. (R Hudson)

Volvo B6/Plaxton Pointer When is a Dart not a Dart? Answer, when it's a Volvo B6. One could reasonably safely say that a Pointer body sits on a Dennis Dart chassis, but there are exceptions, and examples have joined the Arriva fleet in Harlow since late in 2005.
3338	L608EKM		Indistinguishable from a Dart, 3336 (now departed) sits comfortably in the bus station on the 4. (R. Hudson)

Volvo B6/Alexander Dash More common on a B6, bodywork wise, is the Alexander Dash design. Hardly inspirational, but distinctive enough nevertheless.
3346	M846DDS		3346 seen between trips at the bus station. (R Hudson)

Volvo B6/Northern Counties Paladin Completing the B6 bodywork set (almost) are a number of recently transferred in Wigan built examples.
3123 3124 3129 3116	M723OMJ M724OMJ M729OMJ L316HPP		Blinds are yet to be fitted, as shown during early days on town service 4. (R Hudson)

VDL SB120/Wright  Based at Ware, but featuring not infrequently on the 724 are examples of this small batch of vehicles.
3830 3831 3832	KE04CZF KE04CZG KE04CZH		The driver of 3831 chooses to focus on the photographer rather than the road ahead as he sets off on the long haul to Heathrow. (R Hudson)

Minibus Fleet

Optare Solo The new intake of minibus is represented by the Optare Solo, and these now dominate the Harlow fleet. A number batches have entered service since June 2004. Of these, 2459 and 2460 carry route branding for the 59. Others work on the 46 (Ongar-Chelmsford) 214/5/9/20 (Debden-Loughton locals). Town presence is mainly on the 6 and 8, and also on evening services. It is noteworthy that Arriva's Sunday services are operated by similar vehicles, but from Ware depot, shown here with a 'w'.
2453 2454 2455 2456 2457 2458 2459 2460 2465 2466 2467 2464w 2462w 2461w 2463w 2473 2474 2483 2484 2485 2486 2488 2489	YJ06FXS YJ06FXT YJ06FXU YJ06FXV KE04PZF KE04PZG KE54OSU KE54OSV KE55KTJ KE55KTD KE55KTC KE55KPG KE55FDF KE55FDG KE55KPJ YJ56ATY YJ56ATZ YK07BCZ YK07BEO YK07BEU YJ57ELF YJ57EJK YJ57EJL		Fresh into service, 2459 illustrates the new order on the 59, including a limited amount of route branding.   (R Hudson)

Mercedes Vario/Plaxton Beaver II Quite a varied collection of these more recent minibuses has operated in the town, with the examples listed below being those that have to some degree settled. 2189, once dedicated to the 252 service to Waltham Point, carries a full rear advertisement for Sainsbury's and is converted to an LED front display. 2172, 2175 and 2177 have similarly placed adverts for the Water Garden.
2172 2175 2177 2185 2190 2248 2246 2373 2375 2377	R172VBM R175VBM R177VBM R185DNM R190DNM R758DUB R766DUB R943VPU R945VPU R947VPU		The standard look of Varios is represented by this shot on the 505, taken when the route served Old Harlow. (R. Hudson)
			As mentioned above, quite a number carry full rear advertisements, but 2375 is a bit more flamboyant! (R.Hudson)

Optare Alero Small but not the smallest, these two vehicles new in October 2002 have been obtained for the Herts CC supported Sawbridgeworth minibus scheme. An all-over green livery is carried with the slogan "I SAW A BUS" on the front and a route plan on the side.   They will only see Harlow roads traveling between the garage and Sawbridgeworth, or when covering for other vehicles.
	YS02UBX YS02UBY		Seen performing the first Harlow journey on occasional route SW3, a route now discontinued that complimented the more regular peak hour SW1 and daytime SW2 which circumnavigate Sawbridgeworth, Lower Sheering and High Wych. (R Hudson)

Mercedes-Benz Vito CDI115  The smallest vehicle in the Arriva service fleet is this brand new people carrier, dedicated to the Milwards local service (branded ZIP). It replaced an earlier version which operated the service in the same dedicated way in previous years.
1258	KS05JJE		Rescued by Essex County Council in July this year, the ZIP service now features this brand new vehicle, seen leaving the bus station a few weeks after entering service. (R Hudson)

Routes

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