Jim Stones Coaches was a bus operator that operated a number of commercial and supported routes on behalf of

Transport for Greater Manchester Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) is the public body responsible for co-ordinating transport services throughout Greater Manchester in North West England. TfGM is responsible for investments in improving transport services and facilities ...

in Leigh, Greater Manchester. The main hub was located in

Leigh bus Station Leigh is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, Greater Manchester, England, on low-lying land northwest of Chat Moss. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, Leigh was originally the centre of a large ecclesiastica ...

History

Jim Stones Coaches was established in 1968 as a charter operator. Upon the

bus deregulation Bus deregulation in Great Britain was the abolition of Road Service Licensing outside of Greater London for bus services. This began in 1980 with the abolition of Road Service Licensing for long-distance bus services and was extended into local ...

in October 1986 the company started bus operations with two routes, 596 from

Leigh Leigh may refer to: Places In England Pronounced : * Leigh, Greater Manchester, Borough of Wigan ** Leigh (UK Parliament constituency) * Leigh-on-Sea, Essex Pronounced : * Leigh, Dorset * Leigh, Gloucestershire * Leigh, Kent * Leigh, Staf ...

to Landside and 599 from Leigh to Higher Folds. The company expanded operations by filling the bus network where the larger incumbent operator

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 ...

retracted services, as well as winning school and tendered contract services from

. In January 2020, Jim Stones announced his intention to retire with operations ceasing on 18 April 2020.

Diamond North West Diamond Bus (North West) Ltd., trading as Diamond North West, is a bus operator providing services in the districts of Bolton and Wigan in Greater Manchester operating an extensive commercial network along with tendered services on behalf of Tra ...

, Vision Bus and

Warrington's Own Buses Warrington's Own Buses is a municipal bus company which operates a network of services within the Borough of Warrington and the surrounding area, including Altrincham, Leigh, Earlestown, Wigan, Halton, Bolton and Northwich. The company previou ...

took over the services.

Services

As of January 2020, nine routes and two school bus services were operated.

Fleet

As of January 2020, the fleet consisted of eight

Alexander Dennis Enviro200 The Alexander Dennis Enviro200 (previously known as the TransBus Enviro200) is a midibus that was manufactured by TransBus International and later Alexander Dennis between 2003 and 2018. The original TransBus Enviro200 design was innovative bu ...

s and one heritage Leyland-DAB Tiger Cub.Fleet List
Jim Stones Coaches Fleet livery was a white upper body separated by light blue stripes from much darker blue lower panels.

References

External links

Company website
{{Transport in Greater Manchester, state=collapsed Companies based in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan Former bus operators in Greater Manchester Transport companies established in 1968 Transport companies disestablished in 2020 1968 establishments in England 2020 disestablishments in England