Arriva Sapphire

**Arriva Sapphire** was a luxury brand used by different Arriva bus companies in the United Kingdom.

## History

In February 2013, Arriva UK Bus announced that it would launch a luxury service called Sapphire for its bus services in the United Kingdom.

Arriva launched the Sapphire brand on four routes:
- Arriva Buses Wales' route 1 Wrexham to Chester
- Arriva Midlands' route 31/31a Oadby to Leicester this route now uses any vehicles
- Arriva North East's route 7 Darlington to Durham
- Arriva Shires & Essex's route 280 Aylesbury to Oxford

From 2014 to 2015, seventeen routes were added to the Sapphire brand

In 2017, the Arriva Sapphire logo and bus livery was improved. In 2018, the Arriva Sapphire logo was improved again.

In 2019, Arriva Midlands routes 1, 2, 2E from Walsall to Cannock/Huntington were changed to normal buses. Many routes around the country have been removed from the Sapphire brand.

In 2022, Arriva started to remove the Sapphire brand, the buses were painted into the normal Arriva livery or they were replaced with new buses.

## Routes

As of July 2024, there were 29 Arriva Sapphire routes.

|Service no.|Route start|Route end|
| --- | --- | --- |
|Wrexham|Chester||
|Rhyl|Llandudno||
|Connah's Quay / Flint|Chester||
|Darlington|Bishop Auckland, Crook and Tow Law||
|Middlesbrough|Lingdale, Skelton, Loftus and Whitby||
|Darlington|Durham||
|Lakes Estate|Wolverton||
|Colchester & Braintree|Stansted Airport||
|Temple Hill|Gravesend||
|Gravesend|Valley Drive or Riverview Park||
|Leeds|Wakefield||
|Leeds|Castleford via Garforth and Kippax||
|Leeds|Castleford via Woodlesford||
|Leeds|Huddersfield via Birstall and Heckmondwike||
|Wakefield|Huddersfield via Lepton, Flockton, Overton and Horbury||
|York|Selby via York Designer Outlet||

### Former services

|Service no.|Route start|Route end|Notes|
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
|Middlesbrough|Easington|Route removed from the Sapphire brand in 2022, buses were painted into normal livery.||
|Durham|Bishop Auckland and Cockfield|Route removed from the Sapphire brand in 2022, buses were painted into normal livery.||
|Durham|Sunderland|Route removed from the Sapphire brand in 2022, buses were painted into normal livery.||
|Sunderland|Hartlepool|Route removed from the Sapphire brand in 2022, buses were painted into normal livery.||
|Durham|Hartlepool|Route removed from the Sapphire brand in 2022, buses were painted into normal livery.||
|Newbiggin and Ashington|Newcastle-upon-Tyne|Route removed from the Sapphire brand in 2022, buses were painted into normal livery.||
|Morpeth|Newcastle-upon-Tyne|Route removed from the Sapphire brand, buses were painted into normal livery.||
|Dinnington|Newcastle-upon-Tyne|Route removed from the Sapphire brand, buses were painted into normal livery.||
|Crewe|Macclesfield|Arriva North West stopped operating service in April 2023, route now operated by D&G Bus||
|Chorley|Wigan|Arriva North West stopped operating the route in September 2023, now operated by Go North West under the Bee Network franchising system. Buses branded for this route were sent to Wythenshawe Depot and Hemel Hempstead, and can be seen operating various Arriva routes in South Manchester and Hertfordshire.||
|Wigan|Bolton|Arriva North West stopped operating the route in September 2023, now operated by Go North West under the Bee Network franchising system. Buses branded for this route were sent to Wythenshawe Depot and Hemel Hempstead, and can be seen operating various Arriva routes in South Manchester and Hertfordshire.||
|Manchester|Altrincham|Route removed from the Sapphire brand in September 2023, buses were withdrawn from service and replaced by a variety of Sapphire and non-Sapphire buses from the Bolton Depot, which has been shut down due to the introduction of the Bee Network.||
|Leeds|Castleford|Route withdrawn and replaced in part by revised routes 163 and 164.||
|Leeds|Castleford|Route withdrawn and replaced in part by revised route 168.||
|Haymarket Bus Station, Leicester|Oadby Grange & Coombe Rise|Services 31/31E now operated by standard buses. Service 31A was ceased in March 2020 until January 2023 when it was reinstated||
|Leicester City Centre|Market Harborough|Frequency reduced and Sapphire buses moved elsewhere in 2021.||
|St Margaret's Bus Station|Rugby via Lutterworth|Mainly being used on normal buses, however sometimes Sapphire branded buses are used.||
|Derby Bus Station|Sinfin|Vehicles repainted into standard Arriva livery in early 2022.||
|Tamworth|Birmingham|Route removed from the Sapphire brand in 2022, with the repaint of existing buses into standard livery.||
|Leicester|Hinckley-Nuneaton via Earl Shilton & Barwell|Vehicles are being repainted from January 2023.||
|Hemel Hempstead|Rickmansworth|Withdrawn on 17 April 2022 and replaced by new route 20 and extended route 321.||
|Luton|Watford|Buses repainted into Arriva Standard Livery throughout 2021 and route declassified.||
|Aylesbury|Oxford|Route replaced by routes X7 and X8.||
|Aylesbury|Oxford|Routes withdrawn in July 2024.||
|Gillingham|Maidstone|Buses repainted into Arriva Journey Mark.||
|Dartford|Gravesend|Route withdrawn and replaced by the revised route 480||
|Gravesend|Riverview Park|Route renumbered to 491||
|Gravesend|Singlewell, Valley Drive|Route renumbered to 490||
|Bluewater|Chatham|Buses repainted into Arriva Journey Mark, route now uses any suitable vehicle.||

## Buses

Buses had leather seats, free WiFi, power ports, and a blue livery.The first routes operated with old double deck buses and new VDL SB200s with Wright Pulsar bodywork .

New routes were added and new buses had been ordered for the new routes, the buses were Alexander Dennis Enviro400s, Wright StreetLites and Wright StreetDecks.

Some Wright Pulsar and Wright Pulsar 2 buses had been painted into Sapphire livery.

In 2020 some Optare Versas in Yorkshire were painted into the new Arriva Sapphire livery.

## Related pages

- Arriva Max

## Infobox (bus transit)

- **name**: Arriva Sapphire
- **image**: Arriva Sapphire SN15 LPJ 1947 Yorkshire Route 110 Leeds Bus Station Feb 2018.jpg
- **image caption**: Arriva Yorkshire Alexander Dennis Enviro400 in Leeds in February 2018
- **parent**: Arriva UK Bus, Arriva
- **founded**: April 2013
- **service type**: Luxury bus
- **routes**: 29 (July 2024)
- **operator**: Arriva Buses Wales
Arriva Midlands
Arriva North East
Arriva North West
Arriva Shires & Essex
Arriva Southern Counties
Arriva Yorkshire