Arriva

Arriva is a multinational public transport company headquartered in Sunderland, England. It was established in 1938 as T Cowie and through a number of mergers and acquisitions was rebranded Arriva in 1997 and became a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn in 2010.

Arriva operates bus, coach, train, tram and waterbus services in 14 countries across Europe. As at October 2013 it employed 55,900 people and operated 1.5 billion passenger journeys annually. It operates as three divisions: UK Bus, UK Rail and Mainland Europe.

History

The company was founded by TSK Cowie in Sunderland in 1938 as a second-hand motorcycle dealer trading as T Cowie Limited. In 1948 the business was re-launched by Tom Cowie, the founder's son, still selling motorcycles. T Cowie plc was floated in December 1964, and in 1965 it bought out the first of many car dealerships.

In 1972 it formed Cowie Contract Hire, which became the largest contract hire business in the UK. In 1980 T Cowie made its first foray into bus operations, buying the Grey-Green operation in London from the George Ewer Group.