Stagecoach Merseyside is a major operator of bus services in the city of

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

and the surrounding

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan county, metropolitan and ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of List of ceremonial counties of England, 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Merse ...

region. It is a sub-division of Stagecoach Merseyside and South Lancashire. Stagecoach Merseyside was formed in July 2005 with the acquisition of

Glenvale Transport Glenvale Transport (GTL) was a bus company that operated services in Liverpool between July 2001 and July 2005. Overview In 2003, Glenvale transport controlled 30% of the Liverpool regional bus market. It was operating a fleet of 330 buse ...

, which in turn had initially been formed by ex- MTL managers bidding for the company, following a

Competition Commission The Competition Commission was a non-departmental public body responsible for investigating mergers, markets and other enquiries related to regulated industries under competition law in the United Kingdom. It was a competition regulator under t ...

ruling that

Arriva Merseyside Arriva North WestCompanies House extract company no 1990871

must sell their newly acquired Gillmoss depot to preserve competition between bus operators within the Merseyside area.

History

Glenvale Transport

The fleet of the newly created Glenvale Transport mostly comprised elderly Leyland Titans and aging

Dennis Dart The Dennis Dart is a rear-engined single-decker midibus chassis that was introduced by Dennis Specialist Vehicles of Guildford, England in 1989, replacing the Dennis Domino. Initially built as a high-floor design, In 1996 the low-floor second ...

s, although efforts were made to update the fleet via an agreement with Essex-based dealer

Ensignbus Ensignbus is a bus and coach operator and bus dealer based in Purfleet, Essex. History Ensignbus was formed in 1972 by Peter Newman, who remains involved today as chairman and his sons Ross and Steve as directors. Ensignbus commenced with ...

, seeing newer buses arrive regularly from the end of 2003 right up to the Stagecoach takeover in the summer of 2005. Several much newer buses, although in need of repair, were permanently stationed at the depot. Glenvale had an annual turnover of approximately £25 million.

Stagecoach Merseyside

On numerous occasions Stagecoach made bids for some or all of the companies making up the former MTL Trust Holdings. In June 1998 MTL sold off MTL London but Stagecoach were outbid by the then independent

Metroline Metroline is a bus company operating services in Greater London and south Hertfordshire. It is a subsidiary of ComfortDelGro Corporation and operates services under contract to Transport for London. As at March 2021, the fleet consisted of 1,5 ...

. When MTL went bankrupt in January 2000 Stagecoach were very interested in acquiring the company but was again outbid this time by

Arriva Arriva plc is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Sunderland, England.Stagecoach Ribble/North West service between

Southport Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England. Southport lies on the Irish ...

and Preston and a Sunday only Lancashire County Council contract from

to Preston/

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

it seemed unlikely that Stagecoach would ever have significant operations on Merseyside. When rumours of a sale at Glenvale Transport surfaced around 2005 it was

FirstGroup FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland.First Chester & The Wirral First Chester & Wirral was a British bus operator operating in the Cheshire and Merseyside regions between February 1990 and January 2013. It was a subsidiary of FirstGroup. History In February 1990, the Chester, Ellesmere Port and Rock Ferry ...

and First Greater Manchester - which at the time had a school bus division in nearby

Kirkby Kirkby ( ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley, Merseyside, England. The town, historically in Lancashire, has a size of is north of Huyton and north-east of Liverpool. The population in 2016 was 41,495 making it the largest ...

, 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 ...

and

Transdev Transdev, formerly Veolia Transdev, is a French-based international private-sector company which operates public transport. It has operations in 17 countries and territories as of November 2020. History The group was formed by the merger of V ...

who at the time were bidding for

Merseytravel Merseytravel is the passenger transport executive, responsible for the coordination of public transport in the Liverpool City Region in North West England. Merseytravel was established on 1 December 1969 as the Merseyside Passenger Transpor ...

's cancelled

Merseytram Merseytram was a proposed light rail system for Merseyside, England. Originally proposed in 2001, forming part of the Merseyside Local Transport Plan, it was to consist of three lines, connecting the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley with central ...

scheme who seemed like the front runners to buy Glenvale Transport. However, on 13 July 2005, Glenvale Transport accepted a reported £3.4 million cash offer for the company from the

Stagecoach Group Stagecoach Group is a transport group based in Perth, Scotland. It operates buses, express coaches and a tram service in the United Kingdom. History Stagecoach was born out of deregulation of the British express coach market in the early ...

who in turn agreed to absorb Glenvale's debt of approximately £7 million. Rebranded Stagecoach Merseyside, Glenvale Transport Limited was retained as the company's legal name and introduced 75 new

low-floor Accessibility is the design of products, devices, services, vehicles, or environments so as to be usable by people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design and practice of accessible development ensures both "direct access" (i. ...

Plaxton Pointer The Plaxton Pointer (originally known as the Reeve Burgess Pointer, and later as the TransBus Pointer and Alexander Dennis Pointer) was a single-decker bus body manufactured during the 1990s by Reeve Burgess, Plaxton and latterly built by Alexa ...

-bodied

buses to replace elderly step entrance buses. In late January 2013 Stagecoach purchased

First Chester & The Wirral First Chester & Wirral was a British bus operator operating in the Cheshire and Merseyside regions between February 1990 and January 2013. It was a subsidiary of FirstGroup. History In February 1990, the Chester, Ellesmere Port and Rock Ferry ...

bus operations in and these now operate as part of Stagecoach Merseyside.

Industrial Action

Industrial Action was intended to be undertaken in the

area by Stagecoach staff at their Gilmoss depot in July 2022 as a result of the

UK cost of living crisis 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 European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, however staff voted to accept an offer that the company had made.

Fleet

Stagecoach Merseyside MAN Enviro300 PO59 HXV

As of August 2015 the fleet consisted of 148 buses, which are operated from a single depot in

Gillmoss Gillmoss is an area in north Liverpool, Merseyside, England, located between Croxteth, Fazakerley and Kirkby. Description Gillmoss is a predominantly industrial area with little residential housing although pockets exist around the East Lancashi ...

References

External links

Stagecoach Merseyside official website
{{Bus companies in North West England Stagecoach Group bus operators in England Bus operators in Merseyside