In February 2000, Arriva purchased MTL Holdings, which included its first UK rail franchises, Merseyrail Electrics and Northern Spirit.

[8][15] In February 2000, Arriva purchased MTL Holdings, which included its first UK rail franchises, Merseyrail Electrics and Northern Spirit.

[20] In 2010, it was reported that the government-owned railway companies of France (SNCF) and Germany (Deutsche Bahn) were considering making takeover bids for the business.

[24][25] During August 2010, Deutsche Bahn's takeover bid was approved by the European Commission, albeit conditional on the disposal of some Arriva services in Germany.

[39] In early 2023, reports again alleged that parent company Deutsche Bahn was considering options for spinning out Arriva to concentrate on its core German rail operations.

[35][46] In August 2017 Arriva took a 78.34% share in Autotrans Group (ATG); via this move, it became the number one private bus operator active in Croatia.

[citation needed] In December 2006, Arriva purchased Transcentrum Bus, operating services in Mladá Boleslav District of the Central Bohemian Region, north east of Prague.

In January 2007, Arriva acquired Bosák Bus, which operates to the south west of Prague and the Příbram District of the Central Bohemian Region.

[48][49] In November 2007, Arriva acquired Osnado, which operates bus and coach services in the north of Hradec Králové Region in East Bohemia, in the foothills of the Giant Mountains.

After Arriva was bought by Deutsche Bahn in 2010, Vogtlandbahn was resold to the Italian state railways Ferrovie dello Stato together with Luxembourg infrastructure fund Cube.

[citation needed] Between September 2013 and December 2013, Arriva vlaky tried operating a commercial service from Praha Masarykovo nádraží to Kralupy nad Vltavou in competition with subsidised lines of České dráhy.

[70] During May 2004, Arriva expanded into the Udine area of the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region via the purchase of 49% of 500 bus SAF;[71] it exercised an option in December 2005 to increase its stake to 60%.

[72] In October 2005, Arriva began operating in the Piemonte and Valle d'Aosta regions of northern Italy with an 80% shareholding in SADEM, increased to 100% in 2008.

[70] In June 2007, Arriva entered a joint venture with Ferrovie Nord Milano to purchase 49% of 317 bus SPT Linea, which was then renamed ASF Autolinee.

From December 2012, Arriva won the contract for South Holland North, around Leiden, Alphen aan den Rijn and Gouda and in Friesland around Leeuwarden.

[80] In June 2024,[85] a train of Arriva has been extended from Maastricht to Liège-Guillemins in cooperation with the National Railway Company of Belgium to replace the existing service there.

[76][104] During June 2002, Arriva bought a 51% shareholding Transportes Sul do Tejo, a scheduled bus and coach operator in the growing commuter region south of Lisbon.

[104] In May 2006, Arriva acquired a 21.5% share of leading transport company Barraqueiro, with bus and rail operations in and around Lisbon, increasing the shareholding in January 2008 to 31.5%.

[35][46] In July 1998, Arriva purchased Ideal Auto Sociedad Anónima (IASA) followed in September 1999 by Transportes Finisterre, both in Galicia.

[76] Their services cover three of the four provinces in the region: A Coruña, Lugo and Ourense, including part of the famous Santiago pilgrimage route.

Arriva Transport Solutions provides non-emergency ambulance services, typically to convey disabled patients to and from hospital out-patient appointments.

A report by the Care Quality Commission in 2014 said that patients were "often" arriving late for appointments, and taxi drivers with "poor attitudes" being used when other resources were unavailable.

[119] Following its successful bid over the rival North West ambulance service for non–emergency transport, in Greater Manchester Arriva admitted it had submitted incorrect performance figures which had earned it a £1.5m bonus.

[124] Between 2011 and 2012, Arriva's applications to bid for the InterCity West Coast, Greater Anglia, Essex Thameside and Thameslink franchises were all rejected by the Department for Transport.

This included the fitting of air conditioning and CCTV equipment and rebranding into standard Arriva livery for daily use alongside the main fleet.

These included buses built by SCARNIF, MCV, BMC, King Long and Saracakis among others, with the main common factor being that they are all fully automatic and low floor designs.

[136] The fires destroyed the buses and in one case caused extensive damage to some nearby vehicles belonging to MaltaPost, the country's postal operator.

[150][151][152] In June 2007, Arriva won a nine-year franchise for the Pågatåg regional rail services in Skåne County, south Sweden.

In the mid-2000s, an aquamarine livery with less cream, a dark blue skirt and yellow stripe was adopted for some longer distance services in the United Kingdom.

Exceptions to standard livery include: Arriva has introduced the Sapphire brand for premium services in the UK, in similar fashion to Stagecoach Gold with buses fitted with leather seats and WiFi.