Arriva, concession Zuid-Holland Noord (9 December 2012 to 12 December 2020, extended to December 2022)
Netherlands
company website

Fleet news:
-new in February 2020 is 228, an articulated Mercedes-Benz Citaro G C2, an EvoBus demonstrator that seved in Amsterdam as a replacement vehicle with number 1600 for two years.
-The 8300-series buses were withdrawn in January 2020 (8366 already in December 2019), except for 8324 which is in concession colours. They were replaced by similar 8225-8228, 8230 and 8232, which received concession colours.
-the first new Volvo electric bus, numbered 4801, arrived February 2019 for testing, by July they were all in service. Th Van Hool Hybrid buses were subsequently withdrawn, though 4846 ad 4848-4851 remained present.
-in December 2018 several buses of the ended DAV concession were transfered to ZHN: Volvo 8900 Qliners 7701-7704, 7731-7732 (that originated in ZHN), 7781-7786, Mercedes-Benz Citaro G 7908 and eight VDL-Berkhof Ambassador buses series 8300: 8316 (Gouda), 8324, 8329 (Krimpen), 8352 (Lisse), 8310, 8366, 8367, 8378 (Leiden). The latter are reserve (at least in theory). Several Citea buses (8506, 8518, 8538, 8701, 8702) have gone to Brabant province to replace temporary buses there.
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A new bus route 10 started in Leiden on August 26, 2018, connecting the various musea. Three ex Syntus/Qbuzz Mercedes buses are used, numbered 0190-0192.

Arriva won the concession Zuid-Holland Noord, with Leiden, Alphen aan den Rijn and Gouda as the main urban centers, in 2012. Initially, services consisted of urban services in the three cities, regional services, Qliner express services and neigborhood buses. On 14 December 2014 one Qliner service was rebranded as R-net and the buses painted red instead of blue. In June 2018 it was announced that the concession would be extended until December 2022 and that Leiden city services would be operated by 23 Volvo electric buses from September 2019 onwards.

The initial fleet consisted of:
6511-6515: FIAT Ducato –Tribus Civitas neigborhood buses
4832-4851: Van Hool A300-HYB, ex Connexxion, Leiden city services
4883-4886: Van Hool A300-HYB, ex Connexxion, Leiden city services
7701-7760: Volvo B7R-LE –Volvo 8900, Qliner buses
7771-7777: Volvo B7R-LE –Volvo 8900 15 m, Qliner buses
8701-8827: VDL LLE120.225 Citea, regional and urban services
8851-8860: VDL-Berkhof Ambassador ALE106, 10.6 m for Alphen aan den Rijn and some Gouda urban services.

The Van Hool Hybrid buses were taken over from Connexxion, which was a condition of the province.

With the introduction of the R-net services in December 2014 buses 7701-7718 became R-net red.

A few buses from the Friesland concession, 8506, 8516, 8538 and 8539, identical to the 8700-series, were added over the years to the fleet.

In October/November 2016 four old Berkhof Ambassador, ex Veolia, were added to the fleet as a temporary measure to replace buses that went to VDL for guarantee work. However, they stayed much longer than the several months foreseen. They kept their Veolia Brabant red-ligh grey livery and received numbers 50-53.

Bus 6044, Heuliez GX127, is a small and narrow bus which comes from the DAV concession. It is used in Alphen aan den Rijn on route 184 in the morning (one return journey) and 101 in the afternoon.

Bus 227 is an articulated vehicle, temporarily transferred for the 2017 Keukenhof services. It stayed in Leiden and is used to reduce pressure of students on part of route 30 by providing a morning rush hour shuttle service from the railway station to the Bio Science Park.

7761-7762 are Volvo Qliners. They originally come from Veolia and were used on the Brabantliner services. Arriva bought them as a temporary measure for the last few months of the HWGO concession. However, instead of leaving after the end of the concession they stayed and finally went to ZHN.

At the start of the concession not all Volvo Qliner and Tribus neighborhood buses were available and buses were rented as a replacement for a few weeks. Ex Arriva Brabant 7348 is a spare neighborhood bus and 6088 is a new neighborhood bus added for the new project route 727. Several older Mercedes Sprinter are used as replacement buses, among other ex Arriva Brabant 7348 and ex Arriva Achterhoek 6415 and 6419.

An annual event is the world famous Keukenhof flower show, from March to June. It attracts millions of visitors. Arriva provides shuttle services from Leiden and Schiphol to the show grounds, for which buses are transferred  temporarily from other concessions and/or rented. TCR often is involved in this.

Buses are in a variation on Arriva’s corporate livery with white, green and light blue.  Most buses have an emblem on the side windows behind the centre doors. There are different versions of this emblem. Buses 4883-4886 have a different livery; the blue is also green. The Qliner buses are blue, the R-net buses red and dark grey.

Per 10 December 2017 the route network consist of:
City service Alphen aan den Rijn: 1, 2, 3, 4 (series 8851-8860)
City service Gouda: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 (series 8701-8827 and 8851-8860)
City service Leiden: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 (Series 4832-4851, 4883-4886, 8701-8827)
Regional services: 20, 21, 221, 30, 31, 37, 38, 45, 50/250, 56, 57, 90, 101, 147, 165, 169/269, 175/575, 177, 575, 178/678, 182, 183, 186/586, 187, 190, 194, 195/295, 196/596, 292, 293 (series 8500/8700)
Express services are 200-series
Phone bus: 510 and evening services on some other routes (500-series)
Qliner: 361, 365, 380, 381, 382 383, 385, 386 (blue buses 7723-7749, 7756-7760, 7761-7762)
R-net: 400, 410,  470, 497  (red buses 7701-7722, 7750-7755, 7763-7766, 7771-7777, 8798-8805)
Neigborhood buses: 722, 723, 724, 725, 726, 727, 728 (6481-6486, 6088 and older vehicles as reserve)
Keukenhof seasonal routes: 854, 858 (8500/8700/Qliners and temporary buses).

Major changes from the previous schedule is the upgrading of Qliner 366 to R-net route 410, of Qliner 370 to R-net route 470 and part of regional route 197 to R-net route 497. For this Qliner buses 7719-7722, 7750-7755 and 7771-7777 became  red, as did regional buses 8798-8805. Four new R-net buses were added to the fleet: 7763-7766.

A new neigborhood bus, 728, was added and a new fleet of neighborhood buses was bought.

The route network per December 2016 consisted of:
City service Alphen aan den Rijn: 1, 2, 3, 4 (series 8851-8860)
City service Gouda: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 (series 8701-8827 and 8851-8860)
City service Leiden: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9 (Series 4832-4851, 4883-4886, 8701-8827)
Regional services: 20, 21, 221, 30, 31, 37, 38, 43, 44, 45, 50, 250, 56, 57, 90, 101, 147, 165, 169, 269, 175, 575, 178, 182, 183, 184, 186, 187, 190, 194, 195, 295, 196, 197, 292, 293, 294 (series 8500/8700)
Phone bus: 510 and evening services on some other routes
Qliner: 361, 365, 366, 370, 380, 381, 382 383, 385 (blue buses 7719-7760, 7761-7762, 7771-7777)
R-net: 400 (red buses 7701-7718)
Neigborhood buses: 722, 723, 724, 725, 726, 727 (6511-6515, 6088, and older vehicles)
Keukenhof seasonal routes: 854, 858 (8500/8700 and temporary buses).

For details on routes see: http://wiki.ovinnederland.nl/wiki/Concessie_Zuid-Holland_Noord and of course the schedules on the operator website.