North Western Road Car Company (1986)
Encyclopedia
The North Western Road Car Company Ltd was a former bus operator based in Liverpool
, England
. The company operated between 1986 and 1998.
government under the direction of the Secretary of State for Transport
Nicholas Ridley
stipulated that some former National Bus Company (NBC) divisions needed to be split in order to boost competition. Ribble Motor Services
whose operations stretched across North West England
- from Cumbria
to the East Lancashire
/West Yorkshire
borders and Greater Manchester
to West Lancashire
/North Merseyside
was one such company and in the Summer of 1986 its Merseyside - Aintree
and Bootle
, West Lancashire - Skelmersdale
and Greater Manchester - Wigan
depots were incorporated into a new company - North Western Road Car Company Ltd taking the name of a company which historically had been based in Stockport
and whose operations in Cheshire
, Derbyshire
, South-East Lancashire
and what became Greater Manchester
had been absorbed by NBC into Crosville Motor Services
, Ribble and Trent Motor Traction
and the SELNEC
PTE
in 1974. The head office for this 'new' North Western was at 503 Hawthorne Road, Bootle (next door but one to Bootle Depot at 499 Hawthorne Road) later moving to the Aintree depot in Liverpool
and a new livery of red and blue separated by a grey diamond stripe replaced NBC's poppy red along with promotional branding of A New Kind of Service, From a Different Kind of Bus Company.
, Wavertree
, Old Swan
, West Derby
, Broadgreen
/Knotty Ash
/Dovecot
and Huyton
which traditionally were not part of Ribble's operating territory and had seen a decline in service provision from former PTE/NBC operators Merseybus and Crosville in particular after Crosville closed its Liverpool depot after an industrial dispute in February 1987. Many expected Merseybus to retaliate against North Western, but it was under siege from new companies like Fareway and Liverline (see later) who began extensive operations in North/South Liverpool. This allowed North Western's competitive moves to pass unchallenged and further expansion in Liverpool seemed likely. However the next opportunity for expansion came with the troubled Crosville Motor Services.
was unprofitable due to increased competition not only from Merseybus but also from Staffordshire
based Potteries Motor Traction (PMT) which was in a phase of expansion and began a new operation on the Wirral called Red Rider as well as new entrants like Busman Buses, CMT Buses, Gold Star and Wirral Bus. Crosville was sold by NBC in 1988 to American banking consortium ATL but ATL's acquisition of Crosville was thought to be a short term move for them to sell the company on for a profit and indeed ATL did sell Crosville on to Drawlane in the Autumn of 1989. Initially Drawlane claimed it wanted to develop Crosville and by the end of 1989 a brighter 1980s style green/cream livery and Crosville logos was introduced. However these operations bordered not only North Western's but those of Midland Red North which was also owned by Drawlane and at the beginning of 1990 Drawlane took the decision to absorb the Crosville operations at Runcorn
, Warrington
and Winsford
into North Western with those at Crewe
and Macclesfield
becoming part of Midland Red North. Additionally the Crosville depot's at Rock Ferry
- Birkenhead
, Chester
and Ellesmere Port
were sold by Drawlane to PMT who maintained Crosville fleetnames albeit with PMT's red/yellow livery.
. Bee Line used high frequency minibuses and was a major competitor for former PTE operator GM Buses
. After the Drawlane takeover Bee Line became a subsidiary of North Western who retained Bee Line branding but began to refocus the service network more towards the south of Greater Manchester with conventional sized vehicles replacing most of the minibuses. In the Spring of 1993 British Bus Ltd - what Drawlane had become, acquired Crosville Cymru from the National Express Group
who in 1989 had purchased a Liverpool based operator Amberline. This proved a good move for North Western as Amberline's South Liverpool operations were consolidated further when British Bus acquired of one of Liverpool's three medium-sized independents Liverline Travel Services Ltd in the Spring/Summer of 1993. Liverline were one of the newcomers to the bus industry and like with Bee Line in Manchester North Western retained the Liverline branding for this mostly South Liverpool operation.
In 1995 North Western also entered into a series of gentleman's agreements with other bus companies in the North West of England. The first of these was to share Merseyside's bus market with its largest operator, MTL Trust Holding's Ltd, from which wasteful competition would be eliminated by co-ordinating the services. The second was a direct consequence of its acquisition of the Wigan Bus Company. GM Buses North
had some peripheral services linking Wigan and Leigh to St Helens and Warrington and decided to pass these routes to North Western's Wigan Bus in return for North Western giving up its town-based services in Wigan. These and other agreements were subject to a 1995/96 Monopolies & Mergers Commission study which found MTL, GM Buses North/South, North Western and other Merseyside bus operators guilty of collusion, and in breach of fair trade in all the parties involved were fined accordingly.
/Plaxton Pointer
s were drafted into North Western's Warrington depot and Warrington Goldlines - later re-named Warrington Gold Line, along with MTL's Lancashire Travel duplicated the service network of local authority owned Warrington Borough Transport
(WBT) with high frequency copy-cat services. This tactic had previously been employed by Stagecoach
when its Stagecoach Ribble
and Stagecoach Busways
subsidiaries flooded Lancaster
and Darlington
with similar high frequency operations that in turn put Lancaster City Transport and Darlington Corporation Transport out of business. It was thought the Cowie Group plc/North Western and MTL to a lesser extent were using these tactics to acquire and/or put out of business WBT. However the people of Warrington remained fairly loyal to WBT who campaigned for them to support the 'locally owned' company. WBT also began competing services in Cheshire and Merseyside to irritate North Western and to a lesser degree MTL who were the first to retreat from Warrington in the Summer of 1996. A few months later a peaceful agreement was reached with WBT which saw North Western considerably scale down Warrington Gold Line.
North Western increasingly became a secondary fleet name to these brandings and in the Summer of 1995 a new yellow, red and blue livery was introduced fleet-wide except for City Express which used white instead of yellow. South Lancashire Transport was one notable exception to this re-branding as North Western acquired this company in the Autumn of 1997. However the most likely reason for this was the corporate re-branding of Cowie Group plc which saw it become Arriva
and along with Stagecoach
and FirstGroup Arriva's bus division Arriva Passenger Services plc introduced a corporate livery. For its operations outside of London this was a livery of aquamarine with a Cotswold stone (cream) swoop relief an Arriva fleetname along with a secondary strapline of the region they were operating in - for example in the North West for North Western. North Western Road Car Co. Ltd ceased to exist in the Spring of 1998 when Arriva decided to give its bus subsidiaries an 'Arriva' identity. It became Arriva North West Ltd with the associated Bee Line operation becoming Arriva Manchester Ltd and Liverline the original Arriva Merseyside Ltd. The development of this company under Arriva ownership is explained in Arriva North West and Wales.
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. The company operated between 1986 and 1998.
History
In 1986 prior to deregulation the of bus industry the then ConservativeConservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
government under the direction of the Secretary of State for Transport
Secretary of State for Transport
The Secretary of State for Transport is the member of the cabinet responsible for the British Department for Transport. The role has had a high turnover as new appointments are blamed for the failures of decades of their predecessors...
Nicholas Ridley
Nicholas Ridley, Baron Ridley of Liddesdale
Nicholas Ridley, Baron Ridley of Liddesdale, PC was a British Conservative Party politician and government minister.-Personal life:...
stipulated that some former National Bus Company (NBC) divisions needed to be split in order to boost competition. Ribble Motor Services
Ribble Motor Services
Ribble Motor Services was a large regional bus operator in the North West of England, based in Preston. The company was started in 1919, and grew to be the largest operator in the region, with a territory stretching from Carlisle to south Lancashire...
whose operations stretched across North West England
North West England
North West England, informally known as The North West, is one of the nine official regions of England.North West England had a 2006 estimated population of 6,853,201 the third most populated region after London and the South East...
- from Cumbria
Cumbria
Cumbria , is a non-metropolitan county in North West England. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local authority, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumbria's largest settlement and county town is Carlisle. It consists of six districts, and in...
to the East Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
/West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....
borders and Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 2.6 million. It encompasses one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom and comprises ten metropolitan boroughs: Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan, and the...
to West Lancashire
West Lancashire
West Lancashire is a non-metropolitan district with the status of a borough in Lancashire, England. Its council is based in Ormskirk. The other town in the borough is Skelmersdale....
/North Merseyside
Merseyside
Merseyside is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 1,365,900. It encompasses the metropolitan area centred on both banks of the lower reaches of the Mersey Estuary, and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wirral, and the city of Liverpool...
was one such company and in the Summer of 1986 its Merseyside - Aintree
Aintree
Aintree is a village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside. It lies between Walton and Maghull on the A59 road, about north of Liverpool city centre, in North West England....
and Bootle
Bootle
Bootle is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England, and a 'Post town' in the L postcode area. Formally known as Bootle-cum-Linacre, the town is 4 miles to the north of Liverpool city centre, and has a total resident population of 77,640.Historically part of...
, West Lancashire - Skelmersdale
Skelmersdale
Skelmersdale is a town in West Lancashire, England. It lies on high-ground on the River Tawd, to the west of Wigan, to the northeast of Liverpool, south-southwest of Preston. As of 2006, Skelmersdale had a population of 38,813, down from 41,000 in 2004. The town is known locally as Skem.The...
and Greater Manchester - Wigan
Wigan
Wigan is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It stands on the River Douglas, south-west of Bolton, north of Warrington and west-northwest of Manchester. Wigan is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its administrative centre. The town of Wigan had a total...
depots were incorporated into a new company - North Western Road Car Company Ltd taking the name of a company which historically had been based in Stockport
Stockport
Stockport is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies on elevated ground southeast of Manchester city centre, at the point where the rivers Goyt and Tame join and create the River Mersey. Stockport is the largest settlement in the metropolitan borough of the same name...
and whose operations in Cheshire
Cheshire
Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...
, Derbyshire
Derbyshire
Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains. The county contains within its boundary of approx...
, South-East Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
and what became Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 2.6 million. It encompasses one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom and comprises ten metropolitan boroughs: Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan, and the...
had been absorbed by NBC into Crosville Motor Services
Crosville Motor Services
Crosville Motor Services was a bus operator running within the north west of England and north and mid Wales.-History:The company was formed as Crosville Motor Company Limited on 27 October 1906 in Chester, by George Crosland Taylor and his French business associate Georges de Ville, with the...
, Ribble and Trent Motor Traction
Trent Barton
Trent Barton is one of the very small number of significant independent bus operators in the United Kingdom. It was formed as the result of merging Derbyshire's Trent Buses with Nottinghamshire's Barton Transport....
and the SELNEC
Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive
Transport for Greater Manchester is the public body responsible for co-ordinating public transport services throughout Greater Manchester, in North West England. The organisation traces its origins to the Transport Act 1968, when the SELNEC Passenger Transport Executive was established to...
PTE
Passenger Transport Executive
In the United Kingdom, passenger transport executives are local government bodies which are responsible for public transport within large urban areas...
in 1974. The head office for this 'new' North Western was at 503 Hawthorne Road, Bootle (next door but one to Bootle Depot at 499 Hawthorne Road) later moving to the Aintree depot in Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
and a new livery of red and blue separated by a grey diamond stripe replaced NBC's poppy red along with promotional branding of A New Kind of Service, From a Different Kind of Bus Company.
Drawlane ownership
In March 1988 North Western was sold by NBC to one of the emerging groups in the British bus industry the Drawlane Group Ltd - later known as British Bus Ltd. Prior to this North Western had been expanding - the most notable being the introduction of high frequency minibus services to areas of Liverpool/Merseyside like KensingtonKensington, Liverpool
Kensington is an inner city area of Liverpool, England. It is located immediately to the east of Liverpool city centre, and is bordered by Everton to the north, Fairfield to the east and Edge Hill to the south....
, Wavertree
Wavertree
Wavertree is an area of Liverpool, in Merseyside, England, and is a Liverpool City Council ward. It is bordered by a number of districts to the south and east of Liverpool city centre from Toxteth, Edge Hill, Fairfield, Old Swan, Childwall and Mossley Hill....
, Old Swan
Old Swan
Old Swan is an inner-city area of Liverpool, Merseyside, England and a Liverpool City Council Ward. It is located fairly centrally in the city, bordered by Stoneycroft, Broadgreen, Fairfield and Wavertree...
, West Derby
West Derby
West Derby is a suburb in the north of Liverpool, Merseyside, England. It is also a Liverpool City Council ward. At the 2001 Census, the population of the ward was 14,801 .-History:...
, Broadgreen
Broadgreen
Broadgreen is a suburb of Liverpool, Merseyside, England. Located on the eastern edge of the city, it is bordered by Old Swan to the north west, Knotty Ash to the north east, Childwall to the south and, further east, Bowring Park...
/Knotty Ash
Knotty Ash
Knotty Ash is an area of Liverpool, Merseyside, England and a Liverpool City Council Ward. Historically within Lancashire, at the 2001 Census, the population was 13,200.-Description:...
/Dovecot
Dovecot, Merseyside
Dovecot is a district of Liverpool, Merseyside, England. It is situated to the east of the city, bordered by Knotty Ash, West Derby, Broadgreen and to the east, Roby...
and Huyton
Huyton
Huyton is a suburb of Liverpool within the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley, with some parts belonging to the borough of Liverpool in Merseyside, England. It is part of the Liverpool Urban Area and has close associations with its neighbour, Roby, having both formerly been part of the Huyton with...
which traditionally were not part of Ribble's operating territory and had seen a decline in service provision from former PTE/NBC operators Merseybus and Crosville in particular after Crosville closed its Liverpool depot after an industrial dispute in February 1987. Many expected Merseybus to retaliate against North Western, but it was under siege from new companies like Fareway and Liverline (see later) who began extensive operations in North/South Liverpool. This allowed North Western's competitive moves to pass unchallenged and further expansion in Liverpool seemed likely. However the next opportunity for expansion came with the troubled Crosville Motor Services.
Crosville acquisition
Crosville like Ribble had seen its English and Welsh operations - now Crosville Cymru, split and after abandoning Liverpool (see above) what remained of Crosville in Cheshire and in particular the WirralMetropolitan Borough of Wirral
The Metropolitan Borough of Wirral is a metropolitan borough of Merseyside, in North West England. It has a population of 311,200, and encompasses of the northern part of the Wirral Peninsula. Major settlements include Birkenhead, Wallasey, Bebington, Heswall, Hoylake and West Kirby. The city of...
was unprofitable due to increased competition not only from Merseybus but also from Staffordshire
Staffordshire
Staffordshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. Part of the National Forest lies within its borders...
based Potteries Motor Traction (PMT) which was in a phase of expansion and began a new operation on the Wirral called Red Rider as well as new entrants like Busman Buses, CMT Buses, Gold Star and Wirral Bus. Crosville was sold by NBC in 1988 to American banking consortium ATL but ATL's acquisition of Crosville was thought to be a short term move for them to sell the company on for a profit and indeed ATL did sell Crosville on to Drawlane in the Autumn of 1989. Initially Drawlane claimed it wanted to develop Crosville and by the end of 1989 a brighter 1980s style green/cream livery and Crosville logos was introduced. However these operations bordered not only North Western's but those of Midland Red North which was also owned by Drawlane and at the beginning of 1990 Drawlane took the decision to absorb the Crosville operations at Runcorn
Runcorn
Runcorn is an industrial town and cargo port within the borough of Halton in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. In 2009, its population was estimated to be 61,500. The town is on the southern bank of the River Mersey where the estuary narrows to form Runcorn Gap. Directly to the north...
, Warrington
Warrington
Warrington is a town, borough and unitary authority area of Cheshire, England. It stands on the banks of the River Mersey, which is tidal to the west of the weir at Howley. It lies 16 miles east of Liverpool, 19 miles west of Manchester and 8 miles south of St Helens...
and Winsford
Winsford
Winsford is a town and civil parish within the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It lies on the River Weaver south of Northwich and west of Middlewich, and grew around the salt mining industry after the river was canalised in the...
into North Western with those at Crewe
Crewe
Crewe is a railway town within the unitary authority area of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. According to the 2001 census the urban area had a population of 67,683...
and Macclesfield
Macclesfield
Macclesfield is a market town within the unitary authority of Cheshire East, the county palatine of Chester, also known as the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The population of the Macclesfield urban sub-area at the time of the 2001 census was 50,688...
becoming part of Midland Red North. Additionally the Crosville depot's at Rock Ferry
Rock Ferry
Rock Ferry is an area of Birkenhead on the Wirral Peninsula, England. Administratively it is a ward of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral. Before local government reorganisation on 1 April 1974, it was part of the county of Cheshire...
- Birkenhead
Birkenhead
Birkenhead is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in Merseyside, England. It is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite the city of Liverpool...
, Chester
Chester
Chester is a city in Cheshire, England. Lying on the River Dee, close to the border with Wales, it is home to 77,040 inhabitants, and is the largest and most populous settlement of the wider unitary authority area of Cheshire West and Chester, which had a population of 328,100 according to the...
and Ellesmere Port
Ellesmere Port
Ellesmere Port is a large industrial town and port in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It is situated on the south border of the Wirral Peninsula on the banks of the Manchester Ship Canal, which in turn gives access to the River...
were sold by Drawlane to PMT who maintained Crosville fleetnames albeit with PMT's red/yellow livery.
Bee Line, Amberline and Liverline
In the early 1990s Drawlane purchased Greater Manchester-based Bee Line Buzz Company Ltd from the BET GroupBritish Electric Traction
British Electric Traction Company Limited, renamed BET plc in 1985, was a large British industrial conglomerate. It was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index but was acquired by Rentokil in 1996, and the merged company is now known as Rentokil Initial.- Early history :The company was founded as...
. Bee Line used high frequency minibuses and was a major competitor for former PTE operator GM Buses
GM Buses
GM Buses was the main bus company serving Greater Manchester, a metropolitan county in North West England. The company was public owned by Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive, which is a public body responsible for helping to co-ordinate public transport services in the Greater...
. After the Drawlane takeover Bee Line became a subsidiary of North Western who retained Bee Line branding but began to refocus the service network more towards the south of Greater Manchester with conventional sized vehicles replacing most of the minibuses. In the Spring of 1993 British Bus Ltd - what Drawlane had become, acquired Crosville Cymru from the National Express Group
National Express Group
National Express Group plc is a British transport group headquartered in Birmingham that operates bus, coach, rail and tram services in the UK, the US and Canada, Spain, Portugal and Morocco and long-distance coach routes across Europe...
who in 1989 had purchased a Liverpool based operator Amberline. This proved a good move for North Western as Amberline's South Liverpool operations were consolidated further when British Bus acquired of one of Liverpool's three medium-sized independents Liverline Travel Services Ltd in the Spring/Summer of 1993. Liverline were one of the newcomers to the bus industry and like with Bee Line in Manchester North Western retained the Liverline branding for this mostly South Liverpool operation.
Cowie Group and consolidation
In June 1994 North Western's parent British Bus Ltd was acquired by the Cowie Group plc. Along with much of the bus industry it was to enter a period of consolidation which saw it acquire further bus operators in the North West of England which included:- 'Little White Bus' - Acquired in 1994/95 and an operator of minibus services in the West Lancashire towns of OrmskirkOrmskirkOrmskirk is a market town in West Lancashire, England. It is situated north of Liverpool city centre, northwest of St Helens, southeast of Southport and southwest of Preston.-Geography and administration:...
and Skelmersdale. - Lofty's - Acquired in 1994/95 although they were based some distance away from North Western's core operations in the Mickle Trafford, near Chester.
- 'South Lancashire Transport' - Acquired in 1997 they were one of the major independent operators in the Merseyside town of St. HelensSt Helens, MerseysideSt Helens is a large town in Merseyside, England. It is the largest settlement and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens with a population of just over 100,000, part of an urban area with a total population of 176,843 at the time of the 2001 Census...
. - Star Line Travel - Acquired in 1994/95 they were a KnutsfordKnutsfordKnutsford is a town and civil parish in the unitary authority area of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, in North West England...
based operator who had built up a substantial network of services in AltrinchamAltrinchamAltrincham is a market town within the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford, in Greater Manchester, England. It lies on flat ground south of the River Mersey about southwest of Manchester city centre, south-southwest of Sale and east of Warrington...
and SaleSale, Greater ManchesterSale is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford, in Greater Manchester, England. Historically part of Cheshire, the town lies on flat ground on the south bank of the River Mersey, south of Stretford, northeast of Altrincham, and southwest of the city of Manchester...
- exactly within the operating area of North Western's Bee Line subsidiary. - Wigan Bus Company - Acquired in the Summer of 1995 and one of the major independent operators in the town.
In 1995 North Western also entered into a series of gentleman's agreements with other bus companies in the North West of England. The first of these was to share Merseyside's bus market with its largest operator, MTL Trust Holding's Ltd, from which wasteful competition would be eliminated by co-ordinating the services. The second was a direct consequence of its acquisition of the Wigan Bus Company. GM Buses North
GM Buses
GM Buses was the main bus company serving Greater Manchester, a metropolitan county in North West England. The company was public owned by Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive, which is a public body responsible for helping to co-ordinate public transport services in the Greater...
had some peripheral services linking Wigan and Leigh to St Helens and Warrington and decided to pass these routes to North Western's Wigan Bus in return for North Western giving up its town-based services in Wigan. These and other agreements were subject to a 1995/96 Monopolies & Mergers Commission study which found MTL, GM Buses North/South, North Western and other Merseyside bus operators guilty of collusion, and in breach of fair trade in all the parties involved were fined accordingly.
Warrington bus war
In January 1995 North Western considerably expanded their Warrington operations. A large fleet of Dennis DartDennis Dart
The Dennis Dart is a rear-engined midibus built by Dennis in the United Kingdom. More than 11,000 were built during 18 years of production....
/Plaxton Pointer
Plaxton Pointer
The Plaxton Pointer is a successful single-decker bus body manufactured during the 1990s by Plaxton and latterly built by Alexander Dennis.With the launch of the Dennis Dart in 1989, Plaxton's subsidiary Reeve Burgess made the Pointer body on the short 8.5 m...
s were drafted into North Western's Warrington depot and Warrington Goldlines - later re-named Warrington Gold Line, along with MTL's Lancashire Travel duplicated the service network of local authority owned Warrington Borough Transport
Warrington Borough Transport
Warrington Borough Transport is a bus operator running a network of services within the Borough of Warrington, England and into the surrounding area, including Altrincham, Leigh, Earlestown and Northwich. The network of services is marketed under the Network Warrington name, with both names...
(WBT) with high frequency copy-cat services. This tactic had previously been employed by Stagecoach
Stagecoach Group
Stagecoach Group plc is an international transport group operating buses, trains, trams, express coaches and ferries. The group was founded in 1980 by the current chairman, Sir Brian Souter, his sister, Ann Gloag, and her former husband Robin...
when its Stagecoach Ribble
Stagecoach North West
Stagecoach North West is a major operator of bus services in North West England. It is a subsidiary of the Stagecoach Group, and has its origins in the purchase of Cumberland in 1987 and Ribble in 1988 from the National Bus Company. The head office of Stagecoach North West is in Carlisle...
and Stagecoach Busways
Busways Travel Services Ltd.
Busways Travel Services Limited was a large bus operator in the 1990s in the north east of England. In July 1995 Busways was acquired by Stagecoach Group.-PTE divestment:...
subsidiaries flooded Lancaster
Lancaster, Lancashire
Lancaster is the county town of Lancashire, England. It is situated on the River Lune and has a population of 45,952. Lancaster is a constituent settlement of the wider City of Lancaster, local government district which has a population of 133,914 and encompasses several outlying towns, including...
and Darlington
Darlington
Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, part of the ceremonial county of County Durham, England. It lies on the small River Skerne, a tributary of the River Tees, not far from the main river. It is the main population centre in the borough, with a population of 97,838 as of 2001...
with similar high frequency operations that in turn put Lancaster City Transport and Darlington Corporation Transport out of business. It was thought the Cowie Group plc/North Western and MTL to a lesser extent were using these tactics to acquire and/or put out of business WBT. However the people of Warrington remained fairly loyal to WBT who campaigned for them to support the 'locally owned' company. WBT also began competing services in Cheshire and Merseyside to irritate North Western and to a lesser degree MTL who were the first to retreat from Warrington in the Summer of 1996. A few months later a peaceful agreement was reached with WBT which saw North Western considerably scale down Warrington Gold Line.
Mid-90s re-branding and Arriva
In 1994 North Western replaced their post deregulation red, blue and silver stripe livery with a new red and blue livery with the associated Bee Line and Liverline having a similar yellow and red and light and dark blue schemes. White was later added to Liverline's livery and a minibus livery of mainly white with blue relief was added. With acquisitions and competitive changes within the company North Western began to trade under different brandings and company names including:- Bee Line - in Greater Manchester.
- City Express - Used from 1995 on a new fleet of Dennis LanceDennis LanceThe Dennis Lance is a single-decker bus built by Dennis between 1991 and 2000, replacing the Dennis Falcon. Its low-floor variant, the Dennis Lance SLF, was built between 1993 and 1996...
/Plaxton VerdePlaxton VerdeThe Plaxton Verde was a single-decker bus body built by Plaxton between 1991 and 1997. It was built on rear-engined chassis, the most popular of which was the Dennis Lance which accounted for over half of the Verdes built. The rest were on Volvo B10B, DAF SB220 and Scania N113 chassis.The Verde has...
s that North Western introduced on inter-urban services including H5 Warrington - Liverpool, X5 Runcorn - Liverpool and X30 Chester - Runcorn - Warrington. - City Plus - Used from 1995 on a new fleet of Dennis DartDennis DartThe Dennis Dart is a rear-engined midibus built by Dennis in the United Kingdom. More than 11,000 were built during 18 years of production....
/East Lancs EL2000East Lancs EL2000The East Lancs EL2000 is a type of single-deck bus body built on a wide variety of chassis by East Lancashire Coachbuilders.-Chassis:Many different chassis types, both new and secondhand, were fitted with EL2000 bodywork...
s based at Bootle for cross city services 82 Speke - Liverpool City Centre - Netherton and 86 Garston - Liverpool City Centre - Thornton. - Dee Line - A re-branding of the acquired Lofty's company (see above).
- Little White Buses - A branding used from 1994/95 on minibus services in the West Lancashire area.
- Leigh Line - A short-lived branding used from 1996 on services in the Leigh area following North Western's acquisition of local operator Heatons Travel. Leigh to Warrington services were moved to this section.
- Liverline - in Liverpool.
- No Fuss Bus - A short lived operation which began in the Spring/Summer of 1997. It used white liveried Leyland Nationals with low fares on popular Liverpool service 86 Gasrton - City Centre akin to Stagecoach Manchester's Magic Bus concept.
- North Western - Used as a fleet name for all un-branded vehicles/operations.
- Premier - A branding used from 1995 on services linking Altrincham to Warrington.
- Runcorn Bus Ways - In the Summer of 1994 some of the North Western vehicles based at Runcorn depot were branded Runcorn Busway. In 1995 the entire Runcorn operation was re-named Runcorn Bus Ways although no major changes or expansion of the service network occurred.
- Skelmersdale - A branding used from 1997 onwards on a new fleet of Scania L113Scania L113The Scania L113 was a single-deck bus built by Scania AB of Sweden between 1989 and 1998.-Design:The L113 was largely a cross between the N113 and K113, with the front section of its chassis of a similar height to that of the N113, and an 11-litre engine that was mounted longitudinally as per the...
/Northern Counties PaladinNorthern Counties PaladinThe Northern Counties Paladin, also badged as the Plaxton Paladin towards the end of production, is a step-entrance single-deck bus body built by Northern Counties of Wigan, UK, between 1991 and 1998....
s based at Skelmersdale depot. - Warrington Gold Line - Used from 1995 on a network of competitive services in Warrington (see above).
- Star Line - Used for the former Star Line Travel services generally in and around Altrincham.
- Wigan Bus - Used from 1996 on former Wigan Bus Company and North Western inter-urban services in/around Wigan. This operation mostly comprised a new fleet of Scania L113Scania L113The Scania L113 was a single-deck bus built by Scania AB of Sweden between 1989 and 1998.-Design:The L113 was largely a cross between the N113 and K113, with the front section of its chassis of a similar height to that of the N113, and an 11-litre engine that was mounted longitudinally as per the...
/Wright Axcess-UltralowWright Axcess-UltralowThe Wright Axcess-Ultralow is a low-floor single-deck bus body built on the Scania L113CRL chassis by Wrightbus between 1995 and 1998.-History:A total of 330 were built, of which 244 were for companies owned by FirstBus/Group...
s.
North Western increasingly became a secondary fleet name to these brandings and in the Summer of 1995 a new yellow, red and blue livery was introduced fleet-wide except for City Express which used white instead of yellow. South Lancashire Transport was one notable exception to this re-branding as North Western acquired this company in the Autumn of 1997. However the most likely reason for this was the corporate re-branding of Cowie Group plc which saw it become Arriva
Arriva
Arriva plc is a multinational public transport company owned by Deutsche Bahn and headquartered in Sunderland, United Kingdom. It has bus, coach, train, tram and waterbus operations in 12 countries across Europe, employs more than 47,500 people and services over 1.5 billion passenger journeys each...
and along with Stagecoach
Stagecoach Group
Stagecoach Group plc is an international transport group operating buses, trains, trams, express coaches and ferries. The group was founded in 1980 by the current chairman, Sir Brian Souter, his sister, Ann Gloag, and her former husband Robin...
and FirstGroup Arriva's bus division Arriva Passenger Services plc introduced a corporate livery. For its operations outside of London this was a livery of aquamarine with a Cotswold stone (cream) swoop relief an Arriva fleetname along with a secondary strapline of the region they were operating in - for example in the North West for North Western. North Western Road Car Co. Ltd ceased to exist in the Spring of 1998 when Arriva decided to give its bus subsidiaries an 'Arriva' identity. It became Arriva North West Ltd with the associated Bee Line operation becoming Arriva Manchester Ltd and Liverline the original Arriva Merseyside Ltd. The development of this company under Arriva ownership is explained in Arriva North West and Wales.