Cumfybus is a bus company based in

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 Iris ...

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 ...

. Its operations were small scale throughout the 1990s, but it has expanded significantly since its incorporation as a limited company in 2002, and in 2010 had a fleet of nearly 100 buses.

History

Cumfybus was founded in 1986 by Marshall and Patricia Vickers when a minibus was purchased to service nursing homes in

. before starting to bid for contracts tendered by

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 ...

. As time went on, depots were opened in Aintree, Southport, Kirkby and on the Wirral (initially at Birkenhead before moving to Moreton in 2012). Cumfybus had a short venture outside of Merseyside when it operated services around Blackpool and the Fylde area in 2010. In late 2012 the company moved all operations to a central location at Aintree. The yard at Southport was kept for additional storage and/or maintenance. The Fylde, Kirkby and Wirral depots were closed. In July 2013 Cumfybus opened a depot in

Bolton Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish people, Flemish weavers settled in the area i ...

following it being awarded tendered routes by

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 the wake of the collapse of

Maytree Travel Maytree Travel was a bus operator based in Bolton in Greater Manchester. History The company was formed in 2008 by owner Gary Hawthorne, who took over the Bolton operations of Tyrer Bus, who first started operating in Bolton in 2007. The compan ...

. In March 2019, following the expiry of, or unsuccessful renewal bids for, some of the tendered contracts, the company closed Bolton depot. The vehicles returned to Merseyside and were allocated to the remaining depots at Aintree and Southport for use on new contracts and to replace older vehicles on existing routes. The remainder of the Greater Manchester operation - 5 routes, all drivers, management and support staff and four Optare Versa hybrid vehicles provided by

) transferred to local firm Tyrers Coaches from 1 April 2019.

Operations

Cumfybus operates numerous commercial and tendered local services throughout Merseyside. It has also previously operated services in parts of Lancashire and Greater Manchester. A few school and college services are also operated. The company also operates the Southport 'Park & Ride' service from the Esplanade and Fairways Car Parks into Southport Town Centre on behalf of

Sefton Council Sefton Council is the governing body for the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in the county of Merseyside, north-western England. The council was under no overall control from the 1980s until 2012 when the Labour Party took control. It is a cons ...

. As of April 2019 it operates 21 service routes and 6 school services.

Fleet

The current fleet consists of over 100 buses predominantly

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 ...

s and

Optare Versa The Optare Versa is a low-floor midibus that was manufactured by Optare at its Sherburn-in-Elmet factory. In total 883 were produced between 2007 and 2018.Diesel-Electric Hybrid Buses were introduced for the

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 ...

city centre CityLink C1-C5 routes in May 2012. These came in the form of 13 Hybrid

s of the original design (not SR). These look very similar to the Yellow Solos that they replace but they have the extra box on the roof which houses all the electrical equipment.

Livery

The standard fleet livery is all-over yellow, with multi-coloured fleet names. A few vehicles carry other liveries, including white, silver, or overall advertisements.

Depots

Cumfybus operate depots in

Aintree Aintree is a village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England. Historically in Lancashire, it lies between Walton and Maghull on the A59 road, north-east of Liverpool city centre, in North West England. I ...

and

References

External links

Cumfybus website
{{Bus companies in North West England Bus operators in Merseyside Transport companies established in 1986 1986 establishments in England