Arriva staff enjoy a fun day out at football match to celebrate the launch of an exciting new partnership with Southport FC.


Thirty-six bus drivers and other members of staff from Arriva’s Southport depot travelled to Haig Avenue with their family and friends for Southport FC’s clash with York City on Saturday 13 October.

The day, officially dubbed by the club as Arriva Day, saw Arriva staff and their families enjoy hospitality treatment at the club, after travelling to the stadium on board the One Port bus, which was draped in Southport yellow and black and featured pictures of star players.

Attendees were taken to meet the players and for a tour of the stadium before settling down to watch the game. Despite the 2-1 defeat for the Sandgrounders, the result certainly didn’t dampen the Southport spirit with the One Port Arriva bus being the subject of much attention from supporters outside the stadium.

Michael Brown, Southport FC media manager, said: “The rain and the result may not have worked in our favour but what a fantastic way to get the ball rolling with our new Arriva partnership.

“Our supporters and the people of Southport in general are at the forefront of everything we do and we’re always looking at ways to adapt what we do to benefit them. The current 44 Arriva bus service, which runs from Eastbank Street in the town centre straight to the ground, is definitely one that we want to get more people using on a matchday.

“We’re particularly excited to continue working with Arriva and we’ve got a number of ideas for how we can move forward from Saturday’s launch.”

Loyal Southport supporters and members of the wider local community are being actively encouraged to start using public transport more frequently to travel to and from matches as part of this new partnership between the football club and Arriva.

Gerry O’Leary, Southport depot general manager, said: “Despite the result on Saturday it was a great day for everybody involved and we’re especially excited to see how the relationship between the club and Arriva can grow.

“All of our staff had a great day and we we were delighted with how well received the new bus was. This is just the start of some really exciting things to come and I think everyone who came on Saturday would agree.

“We hope that our partnership with Southport FC will create even stronger links between us, the football club, and the local Southport community.”

Next on the agenda is an on-going public Spot the SFC bus campaign whereby supporters can send pictures or videos of the bus in public directly to Southport FC to win a selection of prizes.

Arriva and Southport FC are also liaising over the possibility of introducing a shuttle service to future matches and even working to fit bus timetables in the area around kick-off times.

The current 44 Arriva bus service, which runs from Eastbank Street in the town centre straight to the ground, is definitely one that we want to get more people using on a matchday.

So why did they change the route last year so that it no longer goes past the football ground?
Why did the 44 last Saturday stop at the wrong stop on Hoghton Street causing 1 supporter to have to run round to Eastbank St to catch up with it?

I guess this gives a new meaning to 'parking the bus'.

Is being made to watch Southport FC some kind of disciplinary measure at Arriva ?