History and growth timeline (HTML version)
1980 | 1991 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008
Our origins
The roots of Arriva are in Sunderland where the company still has its head office. Back in 1938 the Cowie family opened a second-hand motorcycle shop in Sunderland. That was the first venture by what has grown to be an international business trading across Europe.
In 1960 the company - still called Cowie - moved into motor retailing in the UK , becoming a public company in 1965. Then in 1980 it started to purchase bus companies with the acquisition of Grey-Green Coaches in London. Over the next few years, there were more bus company acquisitions, with the biggest - British Bus Group plc - in 1996 making the business one of the largest bus operators in the UK.
Arriva was born in 1997, bringing together many different company backgrounds under the Arriva flag. Also in that year Arriva acquired its first business on the European mainland.
This timeline takes you through Arriva's growth, detailing acquisitions and contract wins, and major events.
1980
| Acquisition | The company's first bus acquisition in the UK : Grey-Green Coaches of London. |
| Events | Arriva enters the UK bus market. |
1991
| Events | The business expands into vehicle rental in the UK. It sells the business in 2006, completing its fundamental repositioning of being focused on the passenger services markets in the UK and mainland Europe. |
1996
| Acquisition | Further bus company acquisitions include the British Bus Group. |
1997
| Acquisition | Arriva enters the mainland European transport market with its acquisition of Unibus Holdings in Denmark, which also has bus operations in Sweden. |
| Events | Arriva enters the mainland European transport market. It begins to operate buses in Denmark and Sweden. The Arriva name is introduced, bringing together over 140 transport brand names under the Arriva flag. |
1998
| Acquisition | Arriva acquires Vancom Nederland and Veonn & Hanze in the Netherlands – making Arriva a major operator of inter-urban commuter coach services. |
| Events | Arriva enters the Dutch bus market. |
1999
| Acquisition | Arriva expands in Denmark with its acquisition of Bus Danmark. It acquires two bus companies in Galicia, north-west Spain: Mercancias Ideal Gallego and Transportes Finisterre. |
| Contract wins | The company begins operating bus and rail services in Friesland in a joint venture, and operates train services in Groningen (taking full control in 2003). |
| Events | Arriva announces its repositioning to
focus on passenger transportation in the UK and mainland Europe.
The group's contract hire, motor retailing and vehicle rental
businesses are subsequently sold. It enters the Spanish bus and Dutch rail markets. |
2000
| Acquisition | Arriva enters UK rail market and
acquires MTL bus operations in Merseyside. It enters the Portuguese bus market with the acquisition of Ami-Transportes and Abilio da Costa Moreira bus companies in north-west Portugal. |
| Events | Arriva enters the UK rail and Portuguese bus markets. |
2001
| Acquisition | Arriva acquires Combus, Denmark 's largest bus operator. |
2002
| Acquisition | Arriva buys Autocares Mallorca SL and
Donate Amenguel Ramis SL of Mallorca. It acquires a 51 per cent stake in Transportes Sul do Tejo, the major operator of scheduled bus and coach services to the south of Lisbon in Portugal (increased to 100 per cent in 2003). Arriva becomes the largest private sector bus operator in Italy with its acquisition of SAB Autoservizi, operating services to the east of Milan principally in the Lombardy region of northern Italy. |
| Events | Arriva enters the Italian bus market. |
2003
| Acquisition | Arriva completes its purchase of
Transportes Sul do Tejo by acquiring Barraqueiro Group's remaining
49 per cent interest. Arriva takes 100 per cent control of a joint venture bus/rail operations in the Netherlands, renaming it Arriva Openbaar Vervoer NL. |
| Contract wins | As the first private company to win
franchises to operate rail passenger services in Denmark, Arriva
begins operating eight-year franchises in Mid and North
Jutland. Arriva begins to operate the new 15-year integrated passenger rail franchise serving Wales and the border countries – Arriva Trains Wales/Trenau Arriva Cymru. |
| Events | The motor retailing division is sold
as part of Arriva's strategy of being focused on the passenger
services markets in the UK and mainland Europe. It enters the Danish rail market and begins operating trains in Wales. |
2004
| Acquisition | Arriva enters the German public
transport market with its acquisition of Prignitzer Eisenbahn
Gruppe. It purchases a 76.9 per cent stake (increased to 100 per
cent in 2006) in Regentalbahn AG from the state of Bavaria,
operating trains in Bavaria, Thuringia and Saxony. Arriva grows its position in the Italian public transport market with the acquisition of 49 per cent Societa Autoservizi, F.V.G S.p.a (later increased to 60 per cent). Arriva acquires Wulff Bus A/S, a Danish bus operator which has a strong geographical fit with Arriva's existing business in Jutland and Copenhagen. It becomes Copenhagen's biggest bus operator with a 40 per cent market share. |
| Events | Arriva enters the German rail market. |
2005
| Acquisition | Arriva enters the German bus market
with its acquisition of Sippel Group, one of the country's largest
privately-owned bus operators. Arriva acquires Blue Bus and Coaches
of Bolton in the UK, operating in Bolton and areas of
Manchester. Arriva acquires 80 per cent of Italian bus operator SADEM, which operates in Piemonte and Valle d'Aosta, with an option to acquire the remaining 20 per cent in 2008. |
| Contract wins | Arriva announces that it has won the
contract to operate rail services in Bavaria, southern Germany,
between Munich, Hof and Furth im Wald for ten years from December
2007. Awarded 15-year rail contract to be sole regional rail operator for services in Friesland and Groningen, the Netherlands. Wins a six-year contract to operate buses in Waterland, north of Amsterdam. |
| Events | Arriva enters the German bus market. |
2006
| Acquisition | Arriva acquires Premier Buses,
trading as MK Metro Ltd, of Milton Keynes, UK. It acquires German bus operator Verkehrsbetriebe Bils KG which operates in Münsterland. Arriva acquires a 21.5 per cent stake in Barraqueiro Group SGPS SA of Portugal, the leading Portuguese passenger transport operator. Arriva enters the Czech bus market with the acquisition of Transcentrum Bus s.r.o, operating to the north of Prague. |
| Contract wins | Arriva wins entry into the Swedish
rail market with a nine-year contract to operate the Pagatag
regional train services in the Skåne region of southern
Sweden (2007). It is awarded a 12-year contract to run buses and trains in the Netherlands between Dordrecht and Geldermalsen. Wins a 10-year German rail contract for services between Munich, Oberstdorf and Lindau (2007) and a 12-year contract for rail services between Frielassing and Berchtesgaden in Bavaria (2009). Wins contract to acquire 80 per cent of bus operator Neisseverkehr GmbH in north-east Germany (2007). |
| Events | Arriva completes its fundamental repositioning with the sale of its UK Vehicle Rental business. Secures a long-term position in UK Rail. Arriva enters the Czech Republic bus market. |
2007
| Acquisition | Arriva acquired two Madrid-based bus companies, Esfera providing school contract and private hire bus services and coach operator Autocares Fray Escoba. Arriva strengthened its position in the Czech Republic with the acquisitions of Bosak Bus s.r.o and Osnado Spol s.r.o. Arriva acquired a majority stake in bus and rail company Osthannoversche Eisenbahnen AG which provides services in Lower Saxony. Arriva enters a joint venture with Ferrovie Nord Milano Group (FNM SpA) and completes the acquisition of 49 per cent of Italian bus operator SPT Linea. Arriva acquired Veolia Scandinavia, Denmark’s second largest bus operator. |
| Contract wins | Arriva and joint venture partners PCC Rail win a three-year contract to operate train services in Kujawsko-Pomorskie Voidvodship in north-west Poland. Arriva is awarded the CrossCountry rail franchise. |
| Events | Arriva enters the Swedish rail market. Arriva starts operating CrossCountry, the UK's most extensive rail franchise. Arriva PCC starts operating train services in north-west Poland, the country's first private sector operated passenger rail contract. |
2008
| Acquisition | Arriva increased its shareholding in Brescia-based SAIA Transporti to 100 per cent. The initial shareholding was acquired as part of the purchase of the SAB Group of companies in 2002. Arriva acquired bus, coach and airport related transport operator Tellings Golden Miller Group which grew through a further acquisition in April 2008. Arriva acquired a further 10 per cent of Barraqueiro in January 2008 taking our holding to 31.5 per cent. |
