U is for unō

Saturday 23rd September 2023

This is possibly the most unusual bus company to be featured in this fortnightly AtoZ series in that it’s in the public sector but not a municipal. Owned by the University of Hertfordshire it was originally called UnuversityBus when first established in 1992 when it would be fair to say operations by the ex London Country bus companies in Hertfordshire were not at their best.

With a not easy to reach site in Hatfield and ambitious expansion plans to attract students from a wide catchment area the University took matters into its own hands and rather than contract a bus company to run a network of bus routes to meet its objectives it set up its own bus company to run them.

From the outset the bus routes have been available for any members of the public to use and over the last 31 years the company has grown considerably and is now the second largest operator in the county with a network stretching from Cockfosters and Queensbury in north London to Luton, Hitchin and Hertford.

The company had a brand makeover in 2005 when it began using its new trading name unō with a distinctive purple and pink livery while in more recent years it has introduced route branding for four of its inter-urban routes using iconic aircraft names (Comet, Dragonfly and Tigermoth) as well as The Alban Way.

The aircraft names are a nod to Hatfield’s close association with aircraft building and indeed the relatively recent university expansion on its de Havilland campus is on the site of the former Hatfield Aerodrome.

The university’s other main site in the town, The Forum, opened in 2009 and enjoys exclusive access for unō buses and a decent waiting area for passengers.

The bus stops sport standard Hertfordshire County Council departure times for each route …

… but unō has added its own distinctive departure information making for attractive and informative displays.

The unō name was chosen in 2009 to reflect the wider market in Hertfordshire the company was aiming to serve rather than just university students while in 2012 the company began running three bus routes in Northampton for the University of Northampton …

… and the following year three routes linking Bedford and Milton Keynes with Cranfield University.

The Northampton network has also adopted route branding based on colours.

But it’s the Hertfordshire operations that are the mainstay of the company and are run from its garage located on the Hatfield Business Park close to the de Havilland campus.

A new timetable for the new academic year began on 3rd September which features more expansion including a new bus route numbered X10 running limited stop between Luton and the Hatfield campuses every 30 minutes on Mondays to Fridays term times.

End to end journey time is 42 minutes which compares favourably with the long standing hourly route 610 which takes an hour running via Harpenden and Wheathampstead which the X10 bypasses.

The 610 itself (branded dragonfly) has seen its Mondays to Fridays term time frequency doubled to half hourly as far south as Hatfield with an hourly timetable continuing via Brookmans Park and Potters Bar to Cockfosters. An hourly timetable throughout the route (610) operates on Saturdays.

I took a ride on the new X10 on Wednesday during my visit to Hatfield and was impressed to see over a dozen other passengers travelling and this was before the new academic year gets into full swing.

I’m guessing the University are expecting a significant increase in its intake from students living in Luton.

The other route linking north London with Hatfield is the Comet branded half hourly route 614 from Queensbury, Edgware and Barnet using the A1081 to South Mimms (once the preserve of the original route 84) and the A1(M). A few peak hour journeys divert to serve Borehamwood numbered 644.

Two other north-south routes are from Watford via Garston to Hatfield then Stevenage and Hitchin (635) and via Radlett, Shenley and St Albans to Hatfield (602).

The latter runs half hourly while the former is roughly hourly with some longer gaps.

A third north-south route is The Alban Way branded 601 from Borehamwood via Radlett and St Albans to Hatfield and Welwyn Garden City. This runs hourly from Borehamwood and half hourly from St Albans with a reduced timetable on Saturdays.

Finally, two east-west routes are the tigermoth branded 653 between New Greens/St Albans, Hatfield and Welwyn Garden City running half hourly and the only route in this network to run on Sundays when it’s hourly and hourly routes 341/641 between Hatfield and Hertford and Broxbourne.

One other route deserving a mention is the 383. A TfL contracted route between Barnet and Finchley Memorial Hospital gained in 2015 and famous for having bespoke route branding added.

Unō has also succeeded in gaining TfL school work including a substantial uplift from this month. 17 peak vehicles are now operated on routes 628, 643, 683 and 688 (all just started) as well as route 699 gained in November 2020. These extra commitments together with the increased frequency on route 610 and new route X10 must have substantially increased the number of drivers required.

This round up of routes and contracts wouldn’t be complete without mention of the Herts Lynx DRT scheme centred on Buntingford which unō has operated for Hertfordshire County Council since September 2021.

During my visit to Hatfield on Wednesday I was keeping an eye out for the new timetable book promoted on the company’s website …

… and luckily on the third bus I travelled on managed to find three copies still in the racks.

I’d hunted around The Forum for copies thinking they’d be available there but none were to be found. It’s probably peak time for students picking up information so supplies could have quickly been snapped up. Indeed it was interesting to board a bus at Hatfield station to the The Forum campus and a dozen new students travelling to register for the new year boarded, so didn’t yet have their ID registration passes needed for a reduced fare £1.40 (one-way) or £2.50 (return). But the current £2 cap seemed good value to them.

Tickets are available across two zones based on Hatfield for students for a day, a week or a term with a small discount (7.7%) for a bundle of five one-day tickets. For other passengers there are rover style tickets for one day or seven days for travel in Welwyn and Hatfield; St Albans; Watford or the entire network in Hertfordshire.

The aforementioned timetable book is nicely presented with network and town route maps, timetables, ticket prices, an index and suggestions of places to visit.

Unō’s fleet totals just over 100 and is a bit of a mixed bag of Mercedes, Scania, Wrightbus, ADL, Volvo and BYD. That must make for interesting stocks of spare parts in the stores. Oldest buses are a batch of 19 Mercedes Citaros from 2006-2009 followed by 10 Wrightbus Streetlites from 2012, 2015 and 2018 and 12 VolvoB7RLEs with Wright Eclipse bodies in 2014, eight of which are for tigermoth.

Six ADL Enviro400s were purchased in 2017 for the Comet route, four for The Alban Way and three in generic livery. A batch of 26 ADL Enviro 200s were introduced between 2015 and 2017, 12 of which are based in Northampton where there is also a 2007 VolvoB9TL and an ADL 400MMC, while at Cranfield there are five of the Wrightbus Streetlites and three Scania N230s with Optare Olympus bodies from 2007.

Other buses in the fleet are three Mercedes Sprinters for Herts Lynx DRT, five ADL Enviro200s for TfL route 383 and five BYD electric double decks for TfL school route 699. I’m not sure what other buses have been acquired for the increase in school work for TfL this month as the company’s online fleet list doesn’t mention them.

The company’s website has all the usual information passengers would want including timetables, maps and details about tickets. There’s also a vehicle tracking feature which is also available on the company’s app.

Not surprisingly with all the expansion, the company has been active in recruiting drivers, holding open days including one back in July, still advertised in a bus shelter on the university campus on Wednesday.

I also noted an interesting fringe benefit of becoming a unō bus driver – cheaper university fees for the family.

As well as the network of routes already described the company also runs a half hourly shuttle bus linking the two campuses and the Angerland Park & Ride site in south Hatfield.

As you can see from the photographs I found a number of branded buses running on the wrong routes and there was also some late running on routes 610 and 614 and a missing journey on the former. This probably reflects the significant increase in drivers needed for the new timetable, and hopefully with students returning to university this week such operational issues will be resolved.

That aside, unō provide an impressive network across Hertfordshire including useful links into north London never seen before the University got involved in running buses. It’s come a long way in 31 years.

Roger French

Previous AtoZ blogs: Avanti West Coast, Blackpool Transport, Chiltern Railways, Delaine Buses, Ensignbus, Faresaver, Grand Central, Hull Trains, Ipswich Buses, JMB Travel, Kirkby Lonsdale Coach Hire, Lynx, Isle of Man Transport Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Nottingham City Transport, (London) Overground, Preston Bus, Reading Buses, Southern Vectis, trentbarton.

Blogging timetable 06:00 TThS – with another bonus Su DRT blog coming tomorrow.

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