List Of Former Municipal Bus Companies Of The United Kingdom

This is a list of former municipal bus companies of the United Kingdom and a brief description of their fate, with the exception of the several municipals which disappeared in 1968 and 1974 with the formation of the PTE bus operations.

Of the remaining municipals, post-1986 many were sold off or collapsed during bus deregulation, which required their separation into stand-alone arm's-length companies.

Only a handful of municipal operators remain, with some securing their futures with equity partnership deals with private operators. Of the remaining operators, Cardiff Bus, Lothian Buses and Nottingham City Transport are the largest.

Former UK local authority-owned bus companies

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

*Barrow Borough Transport Following the operation's failure in May 1989, services were replaced by Stagecoach.
* Blackburn Transport On 22 January 2007, Transdev acquired the business of Blackburn Transport from Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council and integrated it with its Lancashire United operation. This now trades as Blackburn Bus Company.
*Yellow Buses, Bournemouth Yellow Buses was sold first 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. Transdev returned ten percent of the equity to the council. The undertaking had been under municipal control or ownership for over 100 years. On 3 March 2011 the company became part of RATP Group as a consequence of that group's exit from its part ownership of Transdev. In July 2019 Yellow Buses was bought out from RATP by its management. The company entered administration in July 2022 and ceased trading on 4 August 2022.
*Brighton Borough Transport The municipal operator was sold by the then Brighton Borough Council 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 it into its existing Brighton & Hove operations.
* Burnley & Pendle Transport Burnley & Pendle was jointly owned by Burnley and Pendle borough councils. Liberal Democrat-controlled Pendle Borough Council's fifty-percent share was sold to Stagecoach in February 1996. At the time, Labour-controlled Burnley Borough Council stated 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 to sell the former Burnley & Pendle garage and operations to Blazefield Group in 2001. The Blazefield Group was bought by Transdev in 2006.
*ChesterBus In June 2007 ChesterBus was sold to FirstGroup. The sale process was longer than anticipated due to a court case against Arriva was sold to Stagecoach Merseyside & South Lancashire in January 2013.
*Chesterfield Transport Sold to its managers in April 1990, the operation is now part of Stagecoach East Midlands. It was acquired by the Stagecoach group in 1995 and merged with their East Midland Motor Services operations. Although most of the Chesterfield rolling stock was disposed of in the first year the former Chesterfield Transport Stonegravels depot is still in use. There are still many Stagecoach buses in the Chesterfield area billed as "Stagecoach in Chesterfield" still carrying Chesterfield transport legal lettering although the legal lettering now has a registered address further afield at Stagecoach Yorkshire's Barnsley area office (previously Yorkshire Traction). As at April 2009, the Chesterfield area is part of both of the East Midlands and Yorkshire area according to Stagecoach's own publicity but is effectively run from Barnsley.
*Cleveland Transit Bought out by the management and employees in May 1991. Sold to Stagecoach in November 1994.
*Colchester Borough Transport Acquired by British Bus in November 1993, which was subsequently sold to the Cowie Group, the bus operations of Colchester were rebranded as Arriva Colchester when Cowie renamed itself Arriva in August 2004, after which it traded under the name Network Colchester. Tellings-Golden Miller was bought by Arriva in January 2008, bringing Colchester operations back under Arriva control. The services operate under the Arriva brand once again.
*Cynon Valley Transport Taken over in August 1992 by Red & White. Red & White was a subsidiary of Western Travel, which was itself taken over by Stagecoach Western in December 1993.
*Darlington Transport Amid widely reported events, the bus operations of the Darlington Borough Council went into administration in November 1994 during an attempted sale, due to historical financial difficulties and the effects of the Darlington Bus War.
* Derby City Transport Sold in July 1989 to a consortium of its managers and employees and Luton & District. These sold out to British Bus, which was taken over by Cowie, now Arriva just before the implementation of the Transport Act 1985. Stevensons was taken over in 1994 by British Bus, who in turn became Arriva, although the Stevensons of Uttoxeter operator’s licence was later used only in the Stoke-on-Trent area for Wardle Transport services, until they were sold to D&G Bus in May 2015. Julian Peddle, who sold Stevensons to Arriva, has financial interests in both D&G Bus and Midland Classic, who also operate some former ESDC routes.
*Eastbourne Buses Sold to Stagecoach in January 2009.
*Fylde Sold by Fylde Borough Council to its management in December 1993, the company was bought by Blackpool Transport, itself a municipal operator, in summer 1994.
*Grampian Regional Transport Sold by the then Grampian Regional Council to its employees in January 1989, the company expanded into the GRT Group, predecessor to FirstGroup's 49-vehicle fleet and operations were acquired by FirstBus, precursor of FirstGroup