First Calderdale & Huddersfield

Infobox Company
company_name = First Calderdale & Huddersfield
company_
company_type = Public
foundation = 2003, formerly First Calderline / First Huddersfield
location = Skircoat Road, Halifax, Old Fieldhouse Lane, Huddersfield and Millwood Garage, Halifax Road, Todmorden
area_served = Halifax, Huddersfield, Todmorden, Hebden Bridge, Ripponden, Holmfirth, Meltham, Brighouse, Bradford, Leeds, Keighley, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale
homepage = [http://www.firstgroup.com/ukbus/yorkhumber/caldhudd www.firstgroup.com]
footnotes =

First Calderdale & Huddersfield is one of the bus companies serving the area of West Yorkshire, England. It forms part of FirstGroup, a company operating transport services across the British Isles and in North America. The company operates within the area covered by Metro, a public body responsible for helping to co-ordinate public transport services in the West Yorkshire area.

Formation of the company

First Calderdale & Huddersfield is an amalgamation of First Halifax (formerly First Calderline) and First Huddersfield. The company of today originally formed part of the Yorkshire Rider company in the 1980s and 1990s, which operated most of the services in the West Yorkshire area. The company was formed in 1986 at the time of deregulation with the town suffix at the end of the name, Calderdale was Yorkshire Rider Halifax, Kirklees was Yorkshire Rider Huddersfield.

Yorkshire Rider continued operation of services until 1994 when the company was purchased by Badgerline Group, who would merge with Grampian Regional Transport in 1995 to form the First Group. The services were re-named Rider Halifax and Rider Huddersfield in 1995 then re-named again the same year, with Rider Halifax changed to Calderline and would also incorporate the Todmorden operation of Yorkshire Rider and Rider Huddersfield changed to Kingfisher.

In 1996, the First logo started to appear on services and Calderline and Kingfisher were given their own individual livery, changing from the green and white of Yorkshire Rider. Although Kingfisher would keep green as its main colour, Calderline changed to a white and blue livery.

In 1998, the First prefix was adopted to the names of the companies, with Calderline becoming First Calderline and Kingfisher becoming First Kingfisher Huddersfield before being shortened to First Huddersfield.

At the turn of the century, the livery of the two companies would changed to incorporate First Group's standard livery now seen on the majority of First services in the country.

First Calderline would re-name itself again in the 2000s as First Halifax before the decision to merge the operation of the First services in West Yorkshire to be called First West Yorkshire, which would consist of First Bradford, First Leeds and First Calderdale & Huddersfield.

ervice

First Calderdale & Huddersfield operates services mainly in the Calderdale and Kirklees areas but also run services into Bradford, Leeds, Burnley, Rochdale, Oldham and Manchester. The services operate from depots in Halifax, Huddersfield and Todmorden with some of the 184 service operated from First Manchester's Oldham depot.

ervice Changes

Service run by First Calderdale & Huddersfield will mainly change during Metro's pre-designated dates. There are 6 dates during the year in which buses may change. They are in the final weekend of January, the 3rd weekend of April, the final weekend of July, the 1st weekend of September, the final weekend of October and the 1st or 2nd weekend of December. Occasionally, some services may change outside of these dates but the majority of changes will take place in any of the 6 dates mentioned. The changes are listed around 3 weeks in advance on their website [ cite web|url=http://www.wymetro.com/News/TravelNews/ChangingTimes/|title=Metro: Changing Times|publisher=Metro|accessdate=2007-03-20]

Overground

In the last few years, First has introduced Overground services on services with a frequent daytime service. The Overground is now a prominent fixture on all First bus companies in the UK and is based on the London Underground network with each service having its own colour line. First Calderdale & Huddersfield have more than one Overground route with the same colour, although, to avoid confusion, the Overground is split into two sections, one for the Halifax area and one for the Huddersfield area. The 503 service forms the Orange Line in both areas. The standard frequency of services is 10 minutes. However, some services in Halifax & Huddersfield have Overground frequencies of 15 or 20 minutes.

The services that form the Overground network in Halifax & Huddersfield are (every 10 mins unless stated):

MelthamCONNECTION

From the 27th July 2008, buses running between Huddersfield, Netherton, Marten Nest and Meltham are to be re-branded as part of the MelthamCONNECTION. It is based on the HolmfirthCONNECTION services that was introduced in 2006 to services running between the Holme Valley and Huddersfield. It is designed to provide a direct bus to train link for passengers travelling from Meltham, Marten Nest and Netherton on the bus to Huddersfield train station to connect with trains to Leeds, Dewsbury and Manchester on Transpennine Express services. Buses 321, 323 and 324 will have their timetables changed but unlike the HolmfirthCONNECTION, their terminus in Huddersfield will stay at the bus station and not serve the train station in Huddersfield. Passengers are able to buy tickets on the bus as normal when travelling to Huddersfield but were also able to buy tickets on the bus for their train journey as well. The tickets can be bought to be used on the day or for a week. The weekly ticket provides unlimited travel for that week on First buses in the Calderdale and Kirklees areas and on the trains from Huddersfield to Leeds, Dewsbury or Manchester.

The offer is an attractive one for people living in the Meltham and Netherton areas as they don't have a train station and their connections to the trains at Huddersfield train station is made easier as passengers are able to walk off the bus, into the train station and onto the train without having to queue up for another ticket.

The services that will form the MelthamCONNECTION are:

References

External links

* [http://www.firstgroup.com/ukbus/yorkhumber/caldhudd/home/index.php First in Calderdale & Huddersfield]
* [http://www.firstgroup.com/students First For Students]
* [http://www.firstgroup.com/ukbus/yorkhumber/caldhudd/holmfirth/index.php Holmfirth CONNECTION (First C&H website)]
* [http://www.tpexpress.co.uk/destinations/connections/default.asp?connection=2&service=2#service HolmfirthCONNECTION (TransPennine Express website)]