A standard double decker bus the company usually operates. |
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| Parent | EYMS Group Limtied |
| Founded | 1926 [1] |
| Service area | Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, North Yorkshire and North York Moors |
| Service type | Bus & Coach |
| Depot(s) | Kingston upon Hull, Withernsea, Hornsea, Pocklington, Driffield and Elloughton |
| Fleet | See The fleet |
| Chief executive | Peter Shipp |
| Web site | www.eyms.co.uk |
East Yorkshire Motor Services (EYMS) is a large bus and coach operator which operates throughout Kingston upon Hull, the East Riding of Yorkshire, the North Yorkshire coast and the North York Moors. In and around Scarborough, EYMS operates as Scarborough & District Motor Services. The company also operates buses and coaches in Manchester as Finglands Coachways, and in Kidderminster as Whittles Coach & Bus.
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EYMS was originally two companies, Lee & Beaulah set up by Mr Ernest John Lee and Hull & District Motor Services Ltd set up by Mr H. A. Harvey. In 1926 the British Electric Traction Group (BET) bought the two and formed EYMS to take them over. In 1968 BET was sold to the Transport Holding Company (Tilling Group) and in 1969 Tilling and BET were absorbed into the National Bus Company (NBC). The livery of East Yorkshire was dark blue and primrose until 1972, when it briefly changed to blue with white relief in the NBC corporate layout, but soon this was replaced by NBC poppy red.
Coming up to privatisation, EYMS's fleet, which had dropped to 200 vehicles and shared management with Lincolnshire Road Car, suddenly started to grow again. United Automobile Services' depots in Scarborough and Pickering were transferred to EYMS under the title of Scarborough & District.
In 1986 NBC started its privatisation process and in early 1987 EYMS went to a management buyout led by seven managers, narrowly beating Road Car's management and an 11th hour bid from Applebys of Conisholme. EYMS was soon put through a period of expansion, mopping up many of the independents in its local area, including Connor & Graham, Cottingham Mini Coaches and Primrose Valley Coaches. The liveries at privatisation were silver/blue, NBC poppy red and NBC's minibus livery of silver, blue and red. The red buses soon started receiving red/grey livery.
The Hardwick's of Scarborough fleet was purchased from Wallace Arnold, Wallace Arnold's last bus company. In Hull, it started buying AEC Routemasters in traditional pre-NBC EYMS blue to compete with Kingston upon Hull City Transport in the city, and it suffered competition in Hull, Bridlington and Scarborough from Applebys. In 1999 Applebys closed its Scarborough base. Soon afterwards it went into receivership.
Its first expansion outside its home area was the purchase of Finglands of Rusholme, Manchester in 1992, to which the original Stagecoach Manchester operation was added in 1995 (not to be confused with the present day Stagecoach Manchester, against which Finglands is in competition). The next expansion outside Yorkshire was the purchase of Whittle Bus & Coach of Kidderminster in 2004.
Coaches are operated for hire, day trips and short holidays. As well as running under the East Yorkshire Coaches name, EYC traded as Frodingham Coaches from November 2001 until October 2007 after the purchase of that company. The previous coaching operation, East Yorkshire Travel, was once a nationwide operator, but was sold to the Godfrey Burley Group in 1996. National Holidays was also owned but was declared bankrupt under Burley ownership and was sold to Wallace Arnold.
EYMS also provide vehicles for a selection of National Express services, including the 322 (Scarborough-Brecon, South Wales), the 562 Hull – London, and the 390 Hull – Manchester.
EYMS's fleet is dominated by Volvos, but also features other types, including Mercedes-Benz, Leyland and Dennis.
Amongst the Volvos in the fleet are Volvo Olympians, and Volvo B10Ms. The Olympians have Alexander Royale and Northern Counties Palatine bodies. The B10Ms are either coaches with Plaxton, Van Hool or Berkhof bodies or buses with Alexander PS bodies. Other Volvos are B10M Citybuses, several B7TLs with either Plaxton/TransBus President bodies or Wright Eclipse Gemini bodies, several B9TLs with Wright Eclipse Gemini bodies, ten Volvo B10BLEs with Alexander ALX300 bodies and a few Volvo B7RLEs with Wright Eclipse Urban bodies and B12M/B12B coaches with Plaxton and Berkhof bodies. Delivered at the end of 2007 were 5 Alexander Dennis Enviro400 bodied Volvo B9TLs, the first of this combination to be delivered to a UK operator. Delivered in late 2008 were 6 Plaxton Centro bodied Volvo B7RLEs for Scarborough Park and Ride, thus making East Yorkshire one of the few operators to have bought both Centros and ADL Enviro 200 Darts. The Plaxton Centro bodied Volvo B7RLEs are East Yorkshire's first Euro 5 engined buses. 30 Wright bodied Volvo B9TLs have been delivered in 2009, 10 in March with the original style Gemini body and 10 in June with the Eclipse Gemini 2 body, with another 10 in December. 6 Wright Eclipse 2-bodied Volvo B7RLEs were delivered in 2010 along with 1 more Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 bodied Volvo B9TL. Latest additions in 2011 are ADL Trident II Hybrid's.
The Mercedes-Benz vehicles in the fleet are O814Ds with Plaxton Beaver 2 bodies, O405s with Optare Prisma bodies and two low-floor O405 integrals.
The Dennises are Dart midibuses with 10.7-metre long Plaxton Pointer and UVG UrbanStar bodies and 8.8-metre Mini Pointer bodies. Along with some Alexander Dennis Enviro200 Darts. Also in the fleet now are 1 Alexander Dennis Enviro 400 integral diesel delivered in 2010 and 8 Alexander Dennis Enviro 400H hybrids delivered in April 2011 with 2 more due in June 2011. At Finglands are 5 Alexander Dennis Enviro300s and 4 Alexander ALX400-bodied Dennis Tridents. Latest additions for the 2012 summer season in Scarborough are ex London Dennis Tridents which will be converted to open top during the winter.
The Leylands are mainly Leyland Olympians. The remaining Olympians have Northern Counties bodies. Also owned is a PD2 in the heritage fleet.
Other vehicles are Optare Excels, Optare Solos, a batch of MAN 18.220s with Alexander ALX300 bodies and East Yorkshire was an early customer for the Plaxton Primo, taking 6 in 2006.
The heritage fleet consits of the aforementioned PD2, a Willowbrook bodied AEC Regent with Beverley Bar roof, an AEC Open Top Routemaster and a Bedford OB with Duple Vista body.
For an up-to-date fleetlist, see [1].
East Yorkshire operate two Moorsbus duties from the Hull Depot. These are normally operated using Volvo B7RLE/Wright Eclipse Vehicles.
In Addition, the Scarborough & District Service 128 extends to Sutton Bank, and issues and accepts Moorsbus Tickets on Moorsbus Dates
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