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Plymouth CitybusCompanies House extract company no 2004966
Plymouth Citybus Limited
is a bus operator in
Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...
. It is a subsidiary of the
Go South West Go, GO, G.O., or Go! may refer to: Arts and entertainment Games and sport * Go (game), a board game for two players * '' Travel Go'' (formerly ''Go – The International Travel Game''), a game based on world travel * Go, the starting position l ...
sector of 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 ...
.


History


Plymouth City Transport

In 1892, Plymouth Corporation purchased the horse-powered tramways of the Plymouth Tramway Company and placed them in the care of a new Tramways Department. The network was expanded and the horses were replaced by new electric tramcars between 1899 and 1906. Following the union of the
Three Towns Three Towns is a term used to refer to several groups of towns. United Kingdom There are several groups of towns in the United Kingdom referred to as the Three Towns, many of which form contiguous settlements, or are in close proximity to each ...
of Plymouth, Devonport and Stonehouse in October 1914, the Plymouth Tramways Department took control of the tramways in these places too. The
Devonport and District Tramways The tramways in Plymouth were originally constructed as four independent networks operated by three different companies to serve the adjacent towns of Plymouth, Stonehouse and Devonport in Devon, England. The merger of the ' Three Towns' into ...
was sold to the Corporation in 1914 (although the tracks of the two networks were not connected until October 1915) but the
Plymouth, Stonehouse and Devonport Tramways The tramways in Plymouth were originally constructed as four independent networks operated by three different companies to serve the adjacent towns of Plymouth, Stonehouse and Devonport in Devon, England. The merger of the 'Three Towns' into t ...
, which dated back to 1872, remained an independent company until 1922 when it too was sold to the Corporation. The various depots of the old companies were slowly closed and the equipment and rolling stock concentrated at the old Devonport and District depot at
Milehouse Milehouse is a late Victorian and 1930s suburb of Plymouth. It is now notable for a substantial traffic junction, the vast depot base of the local city bus company, a Wetherspoons pub and an undertaker. Formerly it was famous for the site of ...
. Some new tramcars were constructed at the depot, and many more were completely stripped down and rebuilt. In 1923 new administrative offices were built there; that year saw the tram network at its greatest extent. From 1920, the Corporation also operated motor buses on routes beyond the tram tracks. The first four bus routes were operated by a fleet of twenty single-deck 31-seat vehicles with solid tyres. By 1927 this had expanded to ten routes and 57 buses, some of which were one-man operated. Plymouth was granted city status in 1928 and the buses started to carry the city's
coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...
and the "Plymouth City Transport" name. By 1930, it was becoming necessary to renew much of the tramway rolling stock. Consideration was given to converting to
trolleybus A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or troll ...
es, but instead it was decided to implement a ten-year programme of bus replacement. The first line to be converted was the Devonport to St Budeaux line which was closed in October 1930 when six new double-deck buses replaced the trams. The line to West Hoe closed in 1931, the line to Compton closed in 1932, and regular services to the Royal Naval Barracks withdrawn in 1934. Further new buses were brought for these routes, and a few second hand tramcars from the now closed Exeter Tramway Company and
Torquay Tramways Torquay Tramways operated electric street trams in Torquay, Devon, England, from 1907. They were initially powered by the unusual Dolter stud-contact electrification, but in 1911 was converted to more conventional overhead-line supply. The line ...
allowed the oldest of the Plymouth cars to be withdrawn. In 1935 the Milehouse to Devonport line closed following the delivery of the city's first diesel-engined buses. More were needed in 1936 to allow the closure of the line to Prince Rock and in 1937 to allow the withdrawal of the two long circular routes. It was at this time that the bus routes were first numbered. The plan to close the remaining tram lines was put on hold because of the outbreak of
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
in 1939; they were powered by electricity generated by British coal, whereas the buses relied on imported fuel. The one remaining route, from Theatre to Peverell, kept running but following city centre bomb damage in April 1941 (when car 133 was destroyed) the service was only operated between Drake's Circus to Peverell until the final tram ran in September 1945. A large part of the population of Plymouth moved out to the relative safety of the countryside during the war which meant that the Corporation's buses and trams were carrying fewer passengers, but rival
Western National Western National was a bus company operating in South West England from 1929 until the 1990s. Early history Western National Omnibus Company was founded in 1929 as a joint venture between the Great Western Railway (GWR) and the National O ...
was under increasing pressure. Both operators had suffered damage to their depots and fleet – Milehouse was bombed in April 1941 – and so the two companies decided to pool resources under a Plymouth Joint Services agreement. This took effect from 1 October 1942 and resulted in 80% of mileage in and around the city were to be operated by the Corporation and 20% by Western National; the receipts were also divided in the same proportion, irrespective of which company operated which routes. This allowed Plymouth buses to operate beyond the city boundary to places such as Yelverton,
Plympton Plympton is a suburb of the city of Plymouth in Devon, England. It is in origin an ancient stannary town. It was an important trading centre for locally mined tin, and a seaport before the River Plym silted up and trade moved down river to Plym ...
and
Wembury Wembury is a village on the south coast of Devon, England, very close to Plymouth Sound. Wembury is located south of Plymouth. Wembury is also the name of the peninsula in which the village is situated. The village lies in the administrative di ...
, while Western National were now allowed to pick up local passengers within the city where they had previously been restricted to only those travelling beyond the boundary. The Plymouth Joint Services agreement remained in place after the war, enabling both the Corporation and Western National to serve new housing estates that sprang up around the edge of the city. The routes in the Joint Services area, including those of Western National, were renumbered in a single sequence from 1 to 57 in 1957. Buses with front entrances were delivered to Plymouth City Transport from 1960 which paved the way to conversion of routes to
one man operation One-person operation (OPO), also known as driver-only operation (DOO), one-man operation (OMO), single person train operation (SPTO), or one-person train operation (OPTO), similarly to Driver Controlled Operation, is operation of a train, bus, ...
from 1968, the first operator in the South West of England to do so. To help speed boarding times the fares were restructured to multiples of 3 d. Fare stages at regular intervals were introduced in December 1975 to further simplify the fare structure. In 1982 the fare stages were revised to one-mile intervals outside the city centre and promoted as 'Easyfare'; a journey in one zone cost 25p and increased in 10p stages to a maximum of 45p.


Plymouth Citybus

During the early part of the 1980s, the National Bus Company (of which Western National was a subsidiary) undertook Market Analysis Projects in many areas to match services with demand. This resulted in most Plymouth Joint Services cross-city routes being split into two that terminated in the city centre from 24 October 1982, as the survey revealed that few passengers travelled across the city without changing buses. The revision saw annual mileage reduced from more than 5.4 million miles to around 4.5 million, and the fleet from 185 to 160 vehicles. Buses were repainted and given "Plymouth Citybus" branding. For some time, the Citybus services had been operated to
break even Break-even (or break even), often abbreviated as B/E in finance, (sometimes called point of equilibrium) is the point of balance making neither a profit nor a loss. Any number below the break-even point constitutes a loss while any number above it ...
so that no financial support was needed from the
Plymouth City Council Plymouth City Council is the unitary authority for Plymouth, Devon. It has traditionally been controlled by Labour or the Conservatives. The council is currently in a state of no overall control, with the Conservatives governing as a minority ad ...
, but the
Transport Act 1985 The Transport Act 1985 was an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom. It introduced privatised and deregulated bus services throughout Great Britain and came into effect in October of 1986. The Act was created as a response to growing concern ...
required all council-owned bus operations to be established as
limited companies In a limited company, the liability of members or subscribers of the company is limited to what they have invested or guaranteed to the company. Limited companies may be limited by shares or by guarantee. In a company limited by shares, the lia ...
. As a result, Plymouth Citybus Limited was formed on 26 October 1986. It was owned by Plymouth City Council. The Transport Act was designed to increase competition and reduce subsidies; in Plymouth it resulted in a 'bus war' between Plymouth Citybus and Western National, its former partner in the Joint Services. Strategies included minibuses operating higher frequencies, and fare reductions. On 21 January 1988, Citybus sacked 120 drivers who had stopped work to attend a mass meeting. Their colleagues walked out in solidarity and the Citybus service was crippled for two weeks. Western National used this opportunity to lay on extra buses, using the same numbers as Citybus services they were replacing, and Western National also covered Citybus school and Dockyard routes. Western National threatened to give jobs to sacked Citybus drivers. The ''Plymouth Evening Herald'' reported daily on the war of words between Citybus Director Brian Fisher (formerly Principal Assistant Transport Manager for Plymouth City Transport) and Western National Director John Preece. Agreement between Citybus management and unions was reached on 5 February, with drivers returning to work on 6 February. After a while direct competition between the two companies ceased and they largely returned to operating their old routes. At the end of the century Citybus operated about 75% of routes in Plymouth along with a few routes beyond the city boundaries.


Go-Ahead Group

In May 2009,
Plymouth City Council Plymouth City Council is the unitary authority for Plymouth, Devon. It has traditionally been controlled by Labour or the Conservatives. The council is currently in a state of no overall control, with the Conservatives governing as a minority ad ...
announced that it intended to sell the company. Early interest came from
FirstGroup FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland.House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...
in October 2009. A £20 million bid 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 ...
was accepted in November 2009.


Operations

As of October 2013, Plymouth Citybus employed 443 people, operated 151 buses and coaches, and carried about 14 million passengers annually. In addition to its bus and coach operations, it also provides vehicle repairs and servicing for other commercial road operators and private car drivers through its Car and Commercial division. Its fleet is based at a depot in
Milehouse Milehouse is a late Victorian and 1930s suburb of Plymouth. It is now notable for a substantial traffic junction, the vast depot base of the local city bus company, a Wetherspoons pub and an undertaker. Formerly it was famous for the site of ...
. In October 2013, Plymouth Citybus launched a new service to
Tavistock Tavistock ( ) is an ancient stannary and market town within West Devon, England. It is situated on the River Tavy from which its name derives. At the 2011 census the three electoral wards (North, South and South West) had a population of 13,028 ...
. This has since been withdrawn leaving Tavistock-Plymouth services in the hands of Stagecoach South West.


Plymouth Citycoach

Plymouth City Transport's first coach-seated vehicles was a
Leyland National The Leyland National is an integrally-constructed British step-floor single-decker bus manufactured in large quantities between 1972 and 1985. It was developed as a joint project between two UK nationalised industries – the National Bus Co ...
fitted with coach seats. Plymouth Citycoach was created as a separate unit within Citybus with its own management and a remit to produce a profit. It offered both advertised day trips and holiday tours, as well as hiring out its vehicles. They carry a version of the bus livery, but generally with more white.


Go Cornwall Bus

The
Liskeard Liskeard ( ; kw, Lyskerrys) is a small ancient stannary and market town in south-east Cornwall, South West England. It is situated approximately 20 miles (32 km) west of Plymouth, west of the Devon border, and 12 miles (20 km) eas ...
-based operations of
Western Greyhound Western Greyhound was a bus operator based in Summercourt, near Newquay, which operated services in Cornwall and Devon from January 1998 until March 2015. History Western Greyhound was established in January 1998 to take over the three veh ...
were purchased on 8 December 2014 with 9
Optare Solo The Optare Solo is a low-floor minibus/midibus with one or two doors manufactured by Optare in the United Kingdom since 1998. The Solo name is a play on its low-floor status, the manufacturer marketing its vehicle as having an entrance that is ...
buses and relaunched as Go Cornwall Bus. This included the Liskeard-Plymouth section of route 593 but the Liskeard-Newquay section of the same route remained with Western Greyhound and through tickets were made available. It was announced on 6 January 2020 that
Cornwall Council Cornwall Council ( kw, Konsel Kernow) is the unitary authority for Cornwall in the United Kingdom, not including the Isles of Scilly, which has its own unitary council. The council, and its predecessor Cornwall County Council, has a tradition o ...
had awarded the entire tendered county bus network (except the Truro
Park & Ride A park and ride, also known as incentive parking or a commuter lot, is a parking lot with public transport connections that allows commuters and other people heading to city centres to leave their vehicles and transfer to a bus, rail system (rap ...
) to 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 ...
from 1 April. It will be operated under Go Cornwall Bus brand. The contract consists of 73 routes and will require approximately 130 vehicles.
FirstGroup FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland.Kernow retained the Truro Park & Ride contract and will continue to run their commercially-operated routes.


The ''Flash''

In more recent years, Citybus launched a range of services known as the Flash, with the colour of the livery preceding Flash, with Red, Blue, Green, Yellow and Orange. The ''RedFlash'' being the 21/A service between
Barne Barton Barne Barton is an area within St Budeaux, Plymouth, Devon, England. Geography Barne Barton is located to the North West of Plymouth about 2 miles by road, or 1 mile as the crow flies, from the Tamar Bridge. From the southern side of the hill, ...
and Chaddlewood, ''BlueFlash'' being a number of services in the city of Plymouth, such as the 42/A/B/C between the City Centre and
Woolwell Woolwell is a suburb on the north-east fringe of the city of Plymouth, England, located just outside the city's boundaries in the district of the South Hams. It is situated along the A386, close to the boundary of Dartmoor National Park, with g ...
,
Derriford Hospital Derriford Hospital is a large teaching hospital in Plymouth, England. The hospital serves Plymouth and nearby areas of Devon and Cornwall. It also provides tertiary cardiothoracic surgery, neurosurgery and renal transplant surgery for the whol ...
and
Tamerton Foliot Tamerton Foliot is a village situated in the north of Plymouth, England, that also lends its name to the ecclesiastical parish of the same name. Situated near the confluence of the rivers Tamar and Tavy, the village is situated in a valley, ...
, as well as the 11 between
Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...
and
Bodmin Bodmin () is a town and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated south-west of Bodmin Moor. The extent of the civil parish corresponds fairly closely to that of the town so is mostly urban in character. It is bordere ...
, in
Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...
. ''GreenFlash'' was the name given to the commuter services 8/9 and 23/24 between the City Centre and
Efford Efford (anciently ''Eppeford, Elforde'', etc.) is an historic manor formerly in the parish of Eggbuckland, Devon, England. Today it has been absorbed by large, mostly post-World War II, eastern suburb of the city of Plymouth. It stands on high ...
and Mount Gould, as well as the 5/A/B/C serving
Plymstock Plymstock is a commuter suburb of Plymouth and former civil parish in the English county of Devon. Geography Situated on the east bank of the River Plym, Plymstock is geographically and historically part of the South Hams. It comprises the vil ...
. ''YellowFlash'' buses were commonly
Volvo B7TL The Volvo B7TL is a Low-floor bus, low-floor double-decker bus chassis which was launched in 1999 and replaced the 2-axle version of the Volvo Olympian (its 3-axle version was replaced by the Volvo Super Olympian). It was built as the United King ...
s running the 50/A/51 services that loop around the City in clockwise and anticlockwise directions, serving the City Centre,
Plymouth railway station Plymouth railway station serves the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. It is on the northern edge of the city centre, close to the North Cross roundabout. It Is the second busiest station in the county of Devon, and is the largest of the six su ...
, Camels Head,
Derriford Hospital Derriford Hospital is a large teaching hospital in Plymouth, England. The hospital serves Plymouth and nearby areas of Devon and Cornwall. It also provides tertiary cardiothoracic surgery, neurosurgery and renal transplant surgery for the whol ...
,
Estover Estover is a district in Devon, England, within the Plymouth boundary area. The original hamlet was extensively developed during the 1970s, into what became back then a large housing estate, consisting almost entirely of council houses (construc ...
and
Marsh Mills Marsh Mills, also known as Haley's Mill or Spielman Mill, is a historic home located at Fairplay, Washington County, Maryland, United States. It is a -story, three-bay-wide limestone house. The structure was built about 1850 as a mill, then conv ...
. Finally the most recent addition, the ''OrangeFlash'', was the service 43 between the City Centre and
Ernesettle Ernesettle is mentioned in the Domesday Book, which documented land in England and Wales, and describes as an ‘old Saxon manor’ there. By the 15th century, there were two farms, Great Ernesettle and Little Ernesettle, both named after Willia ...
, with the buses running the route being MAN EcoCity Gas Buses. 'Flash' branding has now been withdrawn in favour of the default Plymouth Citybus brand.


Fleet

The first buses delivered in 1920 were twenty 31-seat
Straker-Squire Straker-Squire (also known as Brazil Straker) was a British automobile manufacturer based in Bristol, and later Edmonton in North London. The company was formed in 1893 at St Philips, Bristol, as Brazil, Straker & Co by the Irish engineer J.P. ...
vehicles with solid tyres. By 1927 the fleet included Burford,
Shelvoke and Drewry Shelvoke and Drewry was a Letchworth, Hertfordshire manufacturer of special purpose commercial vehicles. It was best known for its innovative waste collection vehicles that were the preferred choice of municipal authorities in the UK together w ...
, Guy and AEC models and totalled 57 buses; The tram replacement scheme of 1930 saw the introduction of double-deck buses, initially Leyland TD1s. by 1929 it had expanded to 83. As well as more Leylands, some Dennis Lancet buses were brought for later route conversions. In 1935 the city's first diesel-engined double-deck buses were delivered (more Leylands); some as tram replacements and others so that older single-deck buses could be replaced. During the war a mixture of buses were acquired as few new buses were being built. Further Leyland Titan PD1 buses were delivered once production resumed after the war, but the spread of suburbs onto the hilly hinterland saw more powerful Leyland PD2s entering service from 1948.
Leyland Atlantean The Leyland Atlantean is a predominantly double-decker bus A double-decker bus or double-deck bus is a bus that has two storeys or decks. They are used for mass transport in the United Kingdom, the United States, New Zealand, Europe, Asi ...
s were introduced from 1960. These had rear-engines and front entrances which eventually paved the way to conversion to
one man operation One-person operation (OPO), also known as driver-only operation (DOO), one-man operation (OMO), single person train operation (SPTO), or one-person train operation (OPTO), similarly to Driver Controlled Operation, is operation of a train, bus, ...
from 1968. Single-deck buses reappeared in the fleet in 1975 in the shape of
Leyland National The Leyland National is an integrally-constructed British step-floor single-decker bus manufactured in large quantities between 1972 and 1985. It was developed as a joint project between two UK nationalised industries – the National Bus Co ...
s. In October 1986 85 Renault/Dodge S56A minibuses was introduced, which represented 70% of the Citybus fleet at the time. These allowed narrow housing estate roads to be served and service frequencies to be increased on existing routes. They were replaced by Mercedes-Benz 709D minibuses. Mid-size single deck buses replaced most double-deck vehicles on busier routes to give high service frequencies, principally
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.


Preservation

A number of Plymouth City Transport and Plymouth Citybus vehicles have been preserved by members of the Plymouth City Transport Preservation Group.


Liveries and brands

Plymouth City Tramways initially used a maroon colour scheme but a yellow and white livery was introduced in 1922 although some had varnished teak bodies. A change to maroon and white was made in 1929. Buses later used a bright red and cream livery. A new image (designed by Ososki Graphics of
Exmouth Exmouth is a harbor, port town, civil parishes in England, civil parish and seaside resort, sited on the east bank of the mouth of the River Exe and southeast of Exeter. In 2011 it had a population of 34,432, making Exmouth the List of town ...
) was introduced to coincide with the revised Plymouth Joint Services network in 1982. Plymouth's red and cream colours were retained, but the cream area was extended below the lower deck windows and also added around the upper deck windows; the red skirt was upswept at the rear. The new 'Plymouth City bus' logo was placed on the cream below the windows near the centre of each side; 'city' was red and the other words black. Western National buses used on Plymouth Joint Services carried the same 'Plymouth City bus' logos on a broad white panel around the lower deck on their otherwise green buses. Six
Bristol LH The Bristol LH was a single-decker bus chassis built by Bristol Commercial Vehicles (BCV) in Bristol, England. Nearly 2,000 were built between 1967 and 1982 in a variety of sizes and body types, including some as goods vehicles. Models The LH de ...
s that operated beyond the city boundaries were given a matching 'Country bus' logo, and a Leyland National with a wheelchair lift was branded as 'Mobility bus'. The Minibuses introduced in 1986 were painted in cream with red and orange bands and branded 'City shuttle'. A few years later a black, red and white livery was adopted for all buses, but the black was eventually replaced by grey. When low floor buses were introduced they were given 'Super Rider' branding.
Park and ride A park and ride, also known as incentive parking or a commuter lot, is a parking lot with public transport connections that allows commuting, commuters and other people heading to city centres to leave their vehicles and transfer to a bus, Rail t ...
services were introduced using Mercedes-Benz minibuses in a mid-grey scheme but the Dennis Dart MPDs that replaced them were given special green and yellow livery. The red, white and grey livery later became red and white. Following the takeover by Go Ahead in 2009, Best Impressions designed a two tone red livery with a white 'swoosh', this accompanied a new version of the Plymouth CityBus logo. However this has since been adapted by the company, who now use a plain red with a different style of swoosh (which covers more of the bus) and a simplified version of the Best Impressions devised logo.


References


External links

*
Company website
{{Go-Ahead Bus Companies, state=collapsed Bus operators in Cornwall Bus operators in Devon Companies based in Plymouth, Devon Go-Ahead Group companies Transport in Plymouth, Devon 1892 establishments in England British companies established in 1892 Transport companies established in 1892