Yorkshire Traction was a bus operator in

South South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...

and

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a Metropolitan counties of England, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and De ...

with subsidiaries in other areas that operated from 1902 until 2005.

History

Yorkshire Traction Scania N113 X92 to Doncaster

In March 1902 the Barnsley & District Electric Traction Company Limited was formed. It operated trams around the

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It is the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. The town's population was 71,422 in 2021, while the wider boroug ...

area until around 1930. In 1928, prior to the trams being withdrawn, the company was renamed from the Barnsley & District Traction Company Limited (the 'electric' part of the name being dropped some years earlier). In October 1968, Yorkshire Traction, by then part of the Transport Holding Company, absorbed fellow subsidiaries Mexborough & Swinton Traction Company and County Motors. As part of the

privatisation Privatization (rendered privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation w ...

of the National Bus Company, Yorkshire Traction was sold in January 1987 to a

management buyout A management buyout (MBO) is a form of acquisition in which a company's existing managers acquire a large part, or all, of the company, whether from a parent company or individual. Management- and/or leveraged buyouts became noted phenomena of 19 ...

. The business subsequently expanded through purchasing other operators including: *Ridings Travel *Barnsley & District formed in July 1990 when Yorkshire Traction bought the bus business of Tom Jowitt Travel and the local bus services of Shearings and Globe Travel * Lincolnshire RoadCar * Lincoln City Transport *

Yorkshire Terrier The Yorkshire Terrier, also known as a Yorkie, is a British breed of toy dog of terrier type. It is among the smallest of the terriers and indeed of all dog breeds, with a weight of no more than . It originated in the nineteenth century in the ...

*Andrews (merged with Yorkshire Terrier in 1998) *Sheffield Omnibus (merged with Andrews in 1996) *South Riding (merged with Andrews in 1995) * Strathtay Scottish in May 1991 *Meffans Coaches (a subsidiary of Strathtay) * London Traveller 35% shareholding, sold on to

Thorpes Thorpes was an English bus operator. It operated services under contract to Transport for London. History Thorpes was a coach operator that diversified into operating bus services under contract to Transport for London in the 1990s. Their Sta ...

in October 2001 In December 2005, Yorkshire Traction was sold to the

Stagecoach Group Stagecoach Group is a transport group based in Perth, Scotland. It operates buses and express coaches in the United Kingdom. Stagecoach was originally founded in 1976 as ''Gloagtrotter'', a recreational vehicle and minibus hire business. Dur ...

, with operations in South Yorkshire subsequently rebranded to

Stagecoach Yorkshire Stagecoach Yorkshire is a bus operator providing local and regional services across South Yorkshire and Derbyshire in England. It is a subsidiary of the Stagecoach Group and is headquartered in Barnsley. The subsidiary was formed in 2005 follow ...

. In May 2008, Stagecoach sold its

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confl ...

operations to independent operator

Centrebus Centrebus Limited, trading as Centrebus, is a bus company based in Leicester operating services in Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and Rutland. Centrebus hold a 51% shareholding in High Peak Buses a ...

, with the part of the business remaining with Stagecoach retained as part of the Yorkshire subsidiary.

Operations

The company operated services across

Doncaster Doncaster ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don, it is the administrative centre of the City of Doncaster metropolitan borough, and is the second largest se ...

Rotherham Rotherham ( ) is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It lies at the confluence of the River Rother, South Yorkshire, River Rother, from which the town gets its name, and the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don. It is the largest settlement ...

and parts of

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

and

Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 109,766 in the 2021 census, up from 99,251 in the 2011 census. The city is the administrative centre of the wider Metropolit ...

Metropolitan Districts. From the 1974 formation of the South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive, which took over the Sheffield, Rotherham and Doncaster municipal bus operations until the mid-1990s, the operating area of South Yorkshire was split between South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive and Yorkshire Traction with the former dominating Sheffield and Rotherham. Through the acquisitions of Sheffield Omnibus, South Riding, Andrews and

in the early 1990s, the company gained a significant foothold in Sheffield. Yorkshire Traction had for decades been a major regional operator of

National Express Mobico Group, formerly National Express Group, is a British multinational public transport company with headquarters in Birmingham, England. Domestically it currently operates bus and coach services under brands including National Express. Th ...

services covering nationwide routes in addition to its regular and long established services in and out of

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

to Yorkshire towns and cities. It had also operated alongside ''National Travel'', the short break holiday arm of National Bus Company. Upon privatisation, YTC launched "Yorkshire Traction's Coachlink" which became a popular choice for the short break coach holidaymaker within the region. In 1989, neighbouring operator West Riding Automobile Company left the coaching industry and sold the name "Ridings Travel", the order book and the goodwill, but no vehicles, to YTC. They merged this operation into their existing coaching unit and painted several coaches in full Ridings Travel livery.

References

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External links

{{Defunct British Bus Companies 1902 establishments in England 2005 disestablishments in England Companies based in Barnsley Former bus operators in South Yorkshire National Bus Company (UK)

History

Operations

See also

References

External links