East Yorkshire operates both local and regional bus services in the
East Riding of Yorkshire
The East Riding of Yorkshire, or simply East Riding or East Yorkshire, is a ceremonial county and unitary authority area in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and west, South Yorkshire to t ...
and
North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by National parks of the United Kingdom, national parks, including most of ...
, England. Prior to acquisition by the
Go-Ahead Group
The Go-Ahead Group plc is a passenger transport company based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, with operations in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Singapore, Norway and Germany. Formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange, in 2022 it was purchased ...
in June 2018, the company was known as East Yorkshire Motor Services.
History
East Yorkshire Motor Services was originally made up of two companies, Lee & Beaulah (set up by Ernest John Lee) and Hull & District Motor Services (set up by H.A. Harvey). In October 1926,
British 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 Rent ...
purchased the two companies.
In 1968, the British Electric Traction group was sold to the
Transport Holding Company
The Transport Holding Company (THC) was a British Government-owned company created by the Transport Act 1962 to administer a range of state-owned transport, travel and engineering companies that were previously managed by the British Transport C ...
, which in turn became the
National Bus Company in the following year.
Until 1972, the company's livery was dark blue with a primrose band, with a white relief band also applied to the roofline of buses. Shortly after East Yorkshire was brought under National Bus Company ownership, the primrose band was changed to white and buses were given NBC corporate fleet names. This proved to be short-lived, with the adapted livery being replaced by the standard "poppy" red in October 1973.
In 1987, following the
deregulation of bus services, East Yorkshire's fleet, which had since dropped to 200 vehicles and shared management with
Lincolnshire Road Car, started to grow again. The company was sold in a management buyout, which was led by seven managers. In the same year, the company acquired former
United Automobile Services
United Automobile Services was a bus company, which operated local and regional bus services in County Durham, Cumbria, Northumberland, North Yorkshire and Tyne and Wear, England. It provided bus services across a wide geographical area, stret ...
depots in
Pickering and
Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to:
People
* Scarborough (surname)
* Earl of Scarbrough
Places Australia
* Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth
* Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong
* Scarborough, Queensland, su ...
, with operations rebranded Scarborough & District.
Following the management buyout, East Yorkshire began to expand, acquiring many independent operators in the local area, including Connor & Graham, Cottingham Mini Coaches and Primrose Valley Coaches. The Hardwick's of Scarborough fleet was purchased from
Wallace Arnold
Wallace Arnold (Barr & Wallace Arnold Trust) was one of the UK's largest holiday motorcoach tour operators.
History
Wallace Arnold was founded in 1912 and was named after two of its founders Wallace Cunningham and Arnold Crowe. In 1926, the Bar ...
– this being Wallace Arnold's last bus company.
At the time of privatisation, the livery was silver and blue, with some vehicles branded in the National Bus Company's "poppy" red livery or silver, blue and red minibus livery. The "poppy" red buses were subsequently rebranded into a red and grey livery. In
Hull, a number of
AEC Routemaster
The AEC Routemaster is a Front-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout, front-engined double-decker bus that was designed by London Transport Executive, London Transport and built by the Associated Equipment Company (AEC) and Park Royal Vehicles. The ...
double-deck vehicles entered service in the traditional East Yorkshire livery to compete with
Kingston upon Hull City Transport. The company also suffered competition from Appleby's of Conisholme in
Bridlington
Bridlington is a coastal town and a civil parish on the Holderness Coast of the North Sea in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is about north of Hull and east of York. The Gypsey Race enters the North Sea at its harbour. The 2011 Cen ...
, Hull and
Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to:
People
* Scarborough (surname)
* Earl of Scarbrough
Places Australia
* Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth
* Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong
* Scarborough, Queensland, su ...
, prior to the competitor's sale to the Bowen Transport Group in December 2000.
In 1992, the company completed their first out-of-area acquisition with
Finglands Coachways
Finglands Coachways was a bus and coach operator in Rusholme, Manchester.
History
Finglands Coachways was founded in 1907, initially as a coach operator. Bus services competing with GM Buses and other operators would be set up following dereg ...
, with further purchases that year including Hull-based Metro Citybus, as well as Rhodes Coaches and Thornton Dale Coaches.
By the turn of the decade, the company had made a significant number of acquisitions: Connor & Graham of
Easington (1993), Hart Coaches of
Stockton-on-Tees
Stockton-on-Tees, often simply referred to as Stockton, is a market town in the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees in County Durham, England. It is on the northern banks of the River Tees, part of the Teesside built-up area. The town had an estimated ...
(1995), former
GM Buses
GM Buses was the main bus company serving the ten metropolitan districts of Greater Manchester in North West England. The company was formed in 1986 by the Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive. In December 1993, it was split into GM ...
coaching arm Charterplan (1996), Hollings Coaches of
North Shields
North Shields () is a town in the Borough of North Tyneside in Tyne and Wear, England. It is north-east of Newcastle upon Tyne and borders nearby Wallsend and Tynemouth.
Since 1974, it has been in the North Tyneside borough of Tyne and Wea ...
(1996), Armstrong Galley (1997) and Kingstonian Travel Services (1997).
In January 2004, the company proceeded with a second out-of-area acquisition, with the purchase of
Whittle Coach & Bus of Kidderminster.
In December 2014, the coach operation was sold to
Johnsons Coach & Bus Travel
Johnsons Coach & Bus Travel is a bus and coach operator based in the Warwickshire town of Henley-in-Arden.
History
In 1909, Jack and Blanch Johnson purchased a carrier business with one carriage and two horses in Henley-in-Arden. In 1922, the ...
.
In March 2009, the company purchased the Hull-based operations of
Veolia Transport
Veolia Transport (formerly Connex and CGEA Transport) was the international transport services division of the French-based multinational company Veolia until the 2011 merger that gave rise to Veolia Transdev. Veolia Transport traded under the ...
. The sale saw all driving and engineering staff transferred to East Yorkshire Motor Services, along with services and nine vehicles.
In May 2014, the company's
Driffield
Driffield, also known as Great Driffield, is a market town and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The civil parish is formed by the town of Driffield and the village of Little Driffield. By road, it is north-east of Leeds ...
depot was closed, with most staff, services and vehicles reallocated to nearby depots. In the same month, the company commenced commercial operation of the Moors Explorer ME1 service, which replaced the former
Moorsbus
Moorsbus is a network of bus services operating to and around the North York Moors National Park and surrounding areas. It was operated from the 1980s by the North York Moors National Park Authority, and linked places such as Malton, Teesside ...
M13 and M14 services. The service operates on Sunday and bank holidays between May and August, running between
Hessle
Hessle () is a town, civil parish and electoral ward in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, west of Kingston upon Hull city centre. Geographically it is part of a larger urban area consisting of the city of Kingston upon Hull, the town of ...
, Hull,
Beverley
Beverley is a market town, market and minster (church), minster town and a civil parishes in England, civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, of which it is the county town. The town centre is located south-east of York's centre ...
and
Danby via
Malton and
Pickering – closely following the route of the former services.
In May 2015, East Yorkshire Motor Services was the first operator in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
to take delivery of the
MCV EvoSeti
The MCV EvoSeti (stylised as eVoSeti) is a low-floor double-decker bus body built by MCV Bus & Coach as a replacement for the MCV DD103. It was unveiled in May 2015.
Description
The EvoSeti is built on the Volvo B5TL and Volvo B5LH 2-axle chass ...
. Following further deliveries in January 2017 and September 2017, an additional eighteen vehicles were added to the fleet.
In May 2018, the company's
Hornsea
Hornsea is a seaside town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The settlement dates to at least the early medieval period. The town was expanded in the Victorian era with the coming of the Hull ...
depot was closed, with the depot's 27 drivers and engineers offered roles elsewhere in the company. The following year, it was announced that the company's Beverley depot was to be closed, with operations relocated to Hull.
Out-of-area acquisitions
Finglands Coachways
The company's first out-of-area expansion was in early 1992, following the purchase of
Finglands Coachways of Rusholme.
In October 1995, the original operation of
was also purchased.
In August 2013,
FirstGroup
FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland.[Office of Fair Trading
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) was a non-ministerial government department of the United Kingdom, established by the Fair Trading Act 1973, which enforced both consumer protection and competition law, acting as the United Kingdom's economic ...]
, it had agreed to purchase the bus operations of Finglands Coachways. The sale included the lease of the company's depot in Rusholme, as well as routes, and approximately 100 members of staff – but no vehicles.
The deal was approved in January 2014, with
taking over on operations in February 2014.
In October 2013, East Yorkshire Motor Services sold the Finglands Coachways coach charter business to
Bullocks Coaches
Bullocks Coaches is a bus and coach operator in Cheadle, Greater Manchester.
History
The company was founded in 1928 by Ralph Bullock, initially as a haulage firm, with milk deliveries being the early focus. On weekends, the trucks turned int ...
.
Whittle Bus & Coach
Whittle Bus & Coach of Kidderminster was acquired by East Yorkshire Motor Services in January 2004. This was the second major out-of-area acquisition for the company, following the
management buyout
A management buyout (MBO) is a form of acquisition in which a company's existing managers acquire a large part, or all, of the company, whether from a parent company or individual. Management-, and/or leveraged buyout became noted phenomena of 1 ...
in February 1987. The business operated a total of 50 vehicles at the time of purchase, running bus services in rural
Shropshire
Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to th ...
and
Worcestershire
Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see His ...
.
In December 2014, the coach operation was sold to
Johnsons Coach & Bus Travel
Johnsons Coach & Bus Travel is a bus and coach operator based in the Warwickshire town of Henley-in-Arden.
History
In 1909, Jack and Blanch Johnson purchased a carrier business with one carriage and two horses in Henley-in-Arden. In 1922, the ...
, along with nine coaches.
Following the sale, the company's
National Express
National Express Group is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Birmingham, England. It operates bus, coach, train and tram services in the United Kingdom, Ireland (National Express operates Eurolines in conjunction ...
contracted services were transferred to other operators, with local bus services withdrawn in January 2015.
Acquisition by the Go-Ahead Group
In June 2018, East Yorkshire Motor Services was acquired by the
Go-Ahead Group
The Go-Ahead Group plc is a passenger transport company based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, with operations in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Singapore, Norway and Germany. Formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange, in 2022 it was purchased ...
, bringing an end to 30 years of family ownership. East Yorkshire will continue to run as a standalone company within
Go North East
Go North East operates both local and regional bus services in County Durham, Cumbria, Northumberland, North Yorkshire and Tyne and Wear, England. It was previously known as the Northern General Transport Company and Go-Ahead Northern. The compa ...
. In October 2018, the company invested a total of £1 million in new
Ticketer
Ticketer is the brand name for a range of electronic ticket machines provided by British company Corvia Ltd, primarily for usage on buses. The "innovative" cloud-based system, first marketed on a small scale in 2008, has since developed int ...
smart ticket machines – which include the ability to accept
contactless and
mobile payment
A mobile payment, also referred to as mobile money, mobile money transfer and mobile wallet, is any of various payment processing services operated under financial regulations and performed from or via a mobile device, as the cardinal class of d ...
s.
In March 2019, a new livery and corporate branding was announced. The new livery is an evolution of the well-known burgundy and cream colour scheme. Under the changes, the trading name for the company was changed to East Yorkshire, with a new typeface and logo design, with the white rose of
Yorkshire
Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...
replacing the letter O and forming part of the logo. The new corporate branding was launched at an event at
KCOM Stadium
The MKM Stadium (also known as the Hull City Stadium due to UEFA sponsorship regulations) is a multi-purpose facility in the city of Kingston upon Hull, England. The stadium was previously called the KC Stadium, but was renamed the KCOM Stadi ...
, with two vehicles displayed in the new livery.
In August 2020, the EastRider premium sub-brand was launched. The first services to be upgraded were services 45 and X46, which link Bridlington and Hull with York. A total of eight
Alexander Dennis Enviro 400 MMC double-deck vehicles were ordered for this upgrade.
In January 2021, services 75 and X7, which operate between Hull and Withernsea were encompassed under the sub-brand, using refurbished
MCV EvoSeti
The MCV EvoSeti (stylised as eVoSeti) is a low-floor double-decker bus body built by MCV Bus & Coach as a replacement for the MCV DD103. It was unveiled in May 2015.
Description
The EvoSeti is built on the Volvo B5TL and Volvo B5LH 2-axle chass ...
double-deck vehicles. At the same time, services 55 and X5, which operate between
Goole
Goole is a port town and civil parish on the River Ouse in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The town's historic county is the West Riding of Yorkshire.
According to the 2011 UK census, Goole parish had a population of 19,518, an increa ...
and Hull were brought under the sub-brand, using a fleet of former
National Express
National Express Group is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Birmingham, England. It operates bus, coach, train and tram services in the United Kingdom, Ireland (National Express operates Eurolines in conjunction ...
Volvo B9R
The Volvo B9R is a rear-engined coach chassis built by Volvo. It can be built with bodies up to long and a maximum gross weight of .
The B9R is equipped with a rear-mounted Volvo 9.0-litre 6-cylinder diesel engine under the floor, producing and ...
/
Caetano Levante
The Caetano Levante is a coach body built by Salvador Caetano on Mercedes-Benz OC 500 RF, Scania K EB, Volvo B8R, Volvo B9R, Volvo B11R, Volvo B12B and Volvo B13R chassis, exclusively for National Express in the United Kingdom. It was specifical ...
coaches and
Volvo B9TL
The Volvo B9TL is a low-floor double-decker bus built by Volvo from 2002 until 2018. It superseded the Volvo Super Olympian and the Volvo B7TL. The 2-axle version has been superseded by the Volvo B5TL in 2014 and the 3-axle version has been sup ...
/
Wright Gemini 2
The Wright Gemini 2 is a double-decker bus built by Wrightbus between 2009 and 2013. It was announced in December 2007 but was not named until 2008. It was constructed as a semi-integral vehicle, with chassis modules provided by VDL. The bodywo ...
double-deck vehicles cascaded from
Go North East
Go North East operates both local and regional bus services in County Durham, Cumbria, Northumberland, North Yorkshire and Tyne and Wear, England. It was previously known as the Northern General Transport Company and Go-Ahead Northern. The compa ...
.
In June 2022, it was announced that East Yorkshire would be split from Go North East, becoming a separate company of the Go-Ahead Group. Following the departure of Martijn Gilbert at Go North East in August 2022, Ben Gilligan, who previously served as East Yorkshire's Area Director since the company's takeover, has been promoted to Managing Director at East Yorkshire.
Fleet and operations
Depots
As of May 2022, the company operates from seven bus depots across the region:
Bridlington
Bridlington is a coastal town and a civil parish on the Holderness Coast of the North Sea in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is about north of Hull and east of York. The Gypsey Race enters the North Sea at its harbour. The 2011 Cen ...
,
Elloughton,
Kingston upon Hull
Kingston upon Hull, usually abbreviated to Hull, is a port city and unitary authority in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England.
It lies upon the River Hull at its confluence with the Humber Estuary, inland from the North Sea and south-east ...
,
Pocklington
Pocklington is a market town and civil parish situated at the foot of the Yorkshire Wolds in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The 2011 Census recorded its population as 8,337. It is east of York and northwest of Hull.
The town's sk ...
,
Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to:
People
* Scarborough (surname)
* Earl of Scarbrough
Places Australia
* Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth
* Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong
* Scarborough, Queensland, su ...
(Barry's Lane & Westwood Road) and
Withernsea
Withernsea is a seaside resort and civil parish in Holderness, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. Its white inland lighthouse, rising around above Hull Road, now houses a museum to 1950s actress Kay Kendall, who was born in the town.
The Pr ...
.
Vehicles
As of 15 July 2021, the fleet consists of 271 buses and coaches.
The fleet consists mainly of diesel-powered single and double-deck buses manufactured by
Alexander Dennis
Alexander Dennis is a British bus manufacturing company based in Larbert, Scotland. The largest bus and coach manufacturer in the United Kingdom with a 50% market share in 2019, it has manufacturing plants and partnerships in Canada, China, ...
and
Volvo
The Volvo Group ( sv, Volvokoncernen; legally Aktiebolaget Volvo, shortened to AB Volvo, stylized as VOLVO) is a Swedish multinational manufacturing corporation headquartered in Gothenburg. While its core activity is the production, distributio ...
. The company also operate a fleet of open-top
Volvo B7TL/
Wright Eclipse Gemini
The Wright Eclipse Gemini is a low-floor double-decker bus body that was built by Wrightbus since 2001, based on the single-deck Wright Eclipse design. The second-generation Eclipse Gemini 2 was launched in 2009, followed by the third-generat ...
double-deck vehicles, which operate seasonally on seafront services in
Bridlington
Bridlington is a coastal town and a civil parish on the Holderness Coast of the North Sea in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is about north of Hull and east of York. The Gypsey Race enters the North Sea at its harbour. The 2011 Cen ...
and
Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to:
People
* Scarborough (surname)
* Earl of Scarbrough
Places Australia
* Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth
* Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong
* Scarborough, Queensland, su ...
.
East Yorkshire Coaches
The company operates a fleet of coaches for hire, day trips and short holidays under the East Yorkshire Coaches brand. They also operate regional and national coach services under contract to National Express. Between November 2001 and October 2007, East Yorkshire Coaches also traded as Frodingham Coaches, following acquisition of the company.
The previous coaching operation, East Yorkshire Travel, was once a nationwide operator – prior to sale to the Godfrey Burley Group in 1996.
Preservation
A fleet of preserved heritage vehicles are maintained by the company, which (as of July 2021) consists of a double-deck
AEC Regent V
The AEC Regent V was a front-engined double-decker bus built by the Associated Equipment Company between 1954 and 1969. It was the last AEC Regent series double-decker model, and was the successor to the AEC Regent III (not to be confused with ...
(644; VKH 44) and an open-top double-deck
Leyland Titan (202; 202 YTE).
In popular culture
In July 2014, the company was the subject of an eight-part documentary series, ''
On The Yorkshire Buses
''On the Yorkshire Buses'' is a British television documentary programme narrated by Simon Farnaby, first broadcast on Channel 5 in the United Kingdom between 11 July and 29 August 2014. The show follows various staff from the East Yorkshire M ...
''. The documentary originally aired on
Channel 5 and was narrated by
Simon Farnaby
Simon Farnaby (born 2 April 1973) is an English actor, comedian and writer. He is a member of the British Horrible Histories troupe in which he starred in the television series ''Horrible Histories'', ''Yonderland'' and ''Ghosts''. He has writte ...
.
In April 2021, the company was the subject of an episode of ''Dom Digs In'', which aired on
BBC One
BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...
. Narrated by
Dominic Littlewood
Dominic Littlewood (born 29 March 1965), known as Dom Littlewood, is a British journalist and television presenter who specialises in consumer protection. He is best known for his roles with BBC and Channel 5, presenting programmes such as ...
and filmed over the course of a week during the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
, the episode sees Dominic take on a number of roles at the company's Hull depot.
Notes
References
External links
*
East Yorkshire Motor Services Limitedon
Companies House
Companies House is the executive agency of the company registrars of the United Kingdom, falling under the remit of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. All forms of companies (as permitted by the Companies Act) are i ...
East Yorkshirewebsite
{{Go-Ahead Bus Companies
Bus operators in the East Riding of Yorkshire
Coach operators in England
Companies based in Kingston upon Hull
Bus operators in North Yorkshire
Vintage bus operators in the United Kingdom
1926 establishments in England