Chase Coaches Limited
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Chase Coaches Limited operated buses under the trading name of Chase Bus Services. They operated mainly Leyland National buses, many nearly 30 years old, from a depot based in Chasetown, Burntwood, Staffordshire. Bus services operated within the areas of Walsall, Cannock and Brownhills within the West Midlands county.
Chase Coaches Limited was sold to Arriva Midlands on 25th February 2007 and ceased to operate completely on 28th April 2007.
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[edit] History
Chase Bus Services was setup by Graham Dodd (who also ran up to eleven coaches operating as Chase Coaches Limited) after bus deregulation in 1986. The livery of white, orange and brown was adopted after the purchase of some former Greater Manchester PTE Leyland National buses.
The livery changed slightly to a more deepish orange colour which they adopted from 1997 onwards. This wasn't intentional; a rogue batch of paint was delivered in this colour and, after trying it, it was decided the later orange looked a lot better.
Chase Coaches Limited owned 25 operational Leyland National buses at the time of the Arriva Midlands takeover with an additional DAF/Ikarus Citibus and three Dennis Dart SLF/UVG Citistar examples taking the total operational fleet to 29 vehicles.
As part of the takeover 40 employees transferred from Chase Coaches Limited to Arriva Midlands. These were mainly drivers. Some office and garage staff moved over to Cannock depot, but now there is only the one bodyman still working there out of all of them.
All the buses apart from the Ikarus and 3 Darts, were sold off at auction.
The Ikarus and 1 of the Darts have been moved to Shrewsbury depot, with Cannock garage still using the other 2 Darts.
[edit] The last day
Arriva Midlands operated a Leyland National Day on 28th April 2007 to commemorate the end of Leyland National operations which took in a majority of the routes operated. The last day services included an additional two Leyland National buses duplicating the scheduled services.
[edit] Routes
This is a list of known bus services previously, at some stage, operated by Chase Coaches Limited under the Chase Bus Services banner:
| Route | From | Via | Via | To |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Walsall | Bloxwich | Great Wyrley | Cannock |
| 2 | The Parley Circluar Service | |||
| 4 | Walsall | Darlaston | Wednesbury | Great Bridge |
| 5 | Walsall | Willenhall | Bentley | Bilston |
| 6 | Walsall | Darlaston | Moxley | Bilston |
| 9 | Walsall | Darlaston | Bentley (Lodge Farm) | |
| 46 | Walsall | Pelsall | Brownhills | Norton Canes |
| 67 | Walsall | Aldridge | Walsall Wood | Brownhills |
| 94 | Walsall | Walsall Wood | Brownhills | Burntwood |
| 319 | Walsall | Goscote | Blakenall | Bloxwich |
| 325 | Bloxwich | Willenhall | Lane Head | Wednesbury |
| 326 | Bloxwich | New Invention | Willenhall | |
| 327 | Willenhall | Darlaston | Wednesbury | |
| 355 | Walsall | Rushall | Daw End | Aldridge |
| 360 | Walsall | Pelsall | High Heath | Aldridge |
| 362 | Walsall | Rushall | Pelsall | Brownhills |
| 363 | Walsall | Bentley | Lodge Farm | Willenhall |
| 364 | Walsall | Beechdale | New Invention | Coppice Farm |
| 381 | Walsall | Aldridge | Shenstone | Lichfield |
| 529 | Walsall | Bentley | Willenhall | Wolverhampton |
| 560 | Bloxwich | New Invention | Wednesfield | Wolverhampton |
| 562 | Wolverhampton | Wednesfield | Bloxwich | Burntwood |
| 860A | Lichfield | Burntwood | Chase Terrace | Cannock |
| X55 | Birmingham | Aldridge | Brownhills | Burntwood |
[edit] Coaches Operated
The following is a list of coaches previously operated under the Chase Coaches Limited banner:
| Fleet | Reg | Engine | Body | Seating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 251 | PSU 988 | Volvo B10MGL | Caetano Algarve | C53F |
| 252 | PSU 989 | Volvo B10MGL | Caetano Algarve | C53F |
| 253 | PSU 906 | Setra S215HD | Setra | C49FT |
| 268 | PSU 946 | Volvo B10M-62 | Van Hool Alizee | C49FT |
| 269 | PSU 987 | Volvo B10M-62 | Van Hool Alizee | C49FT |
| 270 | PSU 954 | Volvo B10M-62 | Van Hool Alizee | C49FT |
