Municipal bus companies

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A municipal bus company is an operator of bus services owned by the local government authority. Since the advent of bus deregulation in the UK in 1986, many such companies have been sold to private companies, either through choice or by legislation, but in some cases they were forced out of business in "bus wars" where private companies with large resources undercut fares.

[edit] Current UK local authorities and their bus companies

The companies listed here remain under local authority control - a few companies now have minority stakeholdings by private companies.

Local Authorities	Company	Number of Vehicles (approx)	Private Shareholdings
Blackpool	Blackpool Transport	175 (and 75 trams)
Caerphilly	Islwyn Borough Transport	51
Cardiff	Cardiff Bus	225
City of Chester	Chester Bus	75	To be sold off - tendering in process
City of Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian, West Lothian	Lothian Buses	600
Eastbourne	Eastbourne Buses	60	20% owned by Keolis
Halton	Halton Transport	60
Ipswich	Ipswich Buses	95
Newport	Newport Transport	90
Nottingham	Nottingham City Transport	360 (and 15 trams operated by NET)	17% owned by Transdev
Plymouth	Plymouth Citybus	190
Reading	Reading Transport	200
Rossendale	Rossendale Transport	100
Swindon	Thamesdown Transport	105
Warrington	Warrington Borough Transport	130

[edit] Former UK local authority-owned bus companies

The companies listed here were sold or ceased operating after 1986.

• Blackburn Transport

As of late 2006 Blackburn with Darwen's Blackburn Transport is in the process of being bought by French transport transnational Transdev who intend to merge it with their Lancashire United unit.

• Yellow Buses, Bournemouth

Bournemouth's Yellow Buses was sold to Transdev on 17 December 2005 for £15m, after the Liberal Democrat-controlled borough council decided that it could not satisfactorily invest in the company itself. The Conservatives, who had long supported Yellow Buses' retention, have called for an independent inquiry. Transdev returned 10% of the equity to the council. The undertaking had been under municipal control or ownership for over 100 years.

• Burnley & Pendle Transport

Burnley & Pendle was jointly owned by Burnley and Pendle councils. Liberal Democrat-controlled Pendle council's 50% share was sold to Stagecoach in February 1996. At the time, Labour-controlled Burnley council stated at the time that it had no intention of selling its share in the company, but it was not able to invest sufficient funds in the company and voted in October 1996 to sell its share to Stagecoach. Stagecoach was later to sell the former Burnley & Pendle garage and operations to Blazefield Group in 2001, reviving the red-and-cream livery and fleetname. The Blazefield Group has since been bought by Transdev.

• Hyndburn Transport

Hyndburn council, based in Accrington, sold its bus operations to Stagecoach in September 1996. The operation was soon merged into sister-company Ribble, with the garage in Accrington closed and services operated from the Ribble garage in neighbouring Blackburn. Stagecoach was later to sell its Blackburn garage and operations to Blazefield Group in 2001, which operates the services under the fleetname Lancashire United. The Blazefield Group has since been bought by Transdev.

• Great Yarmouth Transport

Great Yarmouth's 49-vehicle fleet and operations were acquired by FirstBus in September 1996 for £1.1 million. The services initially operated under the Blue Bus (f) moniker, but operations were eventually absorbed into sister company Eastern Counties.

• Darlington Transport

Amid widely-reported events, the bus operations of Darlington council went into administration in November 1994 following intense competition from Stagecoach, including a period of free travel on their services. Yorkshire Traction had been named preferred bidder when the company was put on the market earlier in the year, but withdrew following the onset of competition. Office of Fair Trading report into the supply of bus services in the north-east of England

• Southampton Citybus

Southampton Citybus based in Southampton was sold to its employees in December 1993. First Group were to buy the company in 1997, initially renamed as First Southampton, which was to merge with the former People's Provincial operations in Portsmouth in 1999 to operate as First Hampshire, today known as First in Hampshire & Dorset.

• Brighton Borough Transport

The municipal operator in Brighton was sold to its employees in December 1993, using the operating name Brighton Blue Bus. Go-Ahead Group purchased the company in May 1997 and subsequently integrated the company into its existing Brighton & Hove operations.

• Blue Buses, Fylde

Fylde's Blue Buses remain unique in being the only former municipal company to be, in effect, reprivatised. Sold to its management in December 1993, the company was acquired by Blackpool Transport in May 1994, which was and still is owned by neighbouring local authority Blackpool. the operations of both companies are now combined under the Metro Coastlines brand.

• Kingston-upon-Hull City Transport

Former municipal Cleveland Transport bought Kingston upon Hull's municipal bus operations in December 1993, offering a 49% stake in the company back to the employees. The operation passed into the hands of Stagecoach in September 1994.

• Colchester Borough Transport

Acquired by British Bus in October 1993, the bus operations of Colchester were rebranded as Arriva in 1997. The company later passed to Tellings-Golden Miller control and goes under the name Network Colchester.

• Grimsby-Cleethorpes Transport

The 111 vehicle bus operations of the boroughs of Grimsby and Cleethorpes were sold to Stagecoach in November 1993.

• Leicester CityBus

Leicester City Council sold its bus operations to GRT (the former Aberdeen bus operator) in November 1993. GRT became First Group following a merger with bus company Badgerline, and today the city's bus service goes under the name of First Leicester.

• Northampton Transport

The municipal operations of Northampton were sold to GRT in October 1993 and today operate under the name First Northampton.

• Lancaster City Transport
• Southend Transport
• Hartlepool Transport
• Preston Bus
• Cynon Valley Transport
• Maidstone Boro'line
• Lincoln City Transport
• Tayside Transport
• Cleveland Transit
• Chesterfield Transport
• Merthyr Tydfil Transport
• Derby City Transport
• Barrow Borough Transport
• Inter-Valley Link
• Grampian Transport
• Taff Ely Transport
• Portsmouth City Transport

[edit] Former PTE-owned bus companies and their municipal components

Many municipal bus companies in the largest conurbations came under the control of Passenger Transport Executives following the Transport Act of 1968. The following is a list of the seven PTEs established in either 1968 or 1974, and the municipal bus companies which became part of combined bus fleets.

• Merseyside (1969)
  • Birkenhead
  • Liverpool
  • St Helens (1974)
  • Southport (1974)
  • Wallasey
• SELNEC (South East Lancashire North East Cheshire, 1969), later Greater Manchester (1974)
  • Ashton-under-Lyne
  • Bolton
  • Bury
  • Leigh
  • Manchester
  • Oldham
  • Ramsbottom
  • Rochdale
  • Salford
  • Stalybridge, Hyde, Mossley and Dukinfield
  • Stockport
  • Wigan (1974)
• South Yorkshire (1974)
  • Doncaster
  • Rotherham
  • Sheffield
• Strathclyde (1972)
  • Glasgow
• Tyne and Wear (1969)
  • Newcastle-upon-Tyne
  • South Shields
  • Sunderland
• West Midlands (1969)
  • Birmingham
  • Walsall
  • West Bromwich
  • Wolverhampton
• West Yorkshire (1974)
  • Bradford
  • Halifax
  • Huddersfield
  • Leeds