Stagecoach Merseyside
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 Stagecoach Merseyside Alexander Dennis Pointer Dart SLF operating route 17 into Liverpool City Centre |
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| Slogan | Stagecoach in Merseyside |
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| Parent company | Stagecoach Group plc |
| Founded | Glenvale Transport Ltd (2001) Stagecoach Merseyside (2005) |
| Headquarters | Stagecoach in Merseyside, T/A Glenvale Transport Ltd, Gillmoss Depot, East Lancashire Road, Liverpool, L11 0BB Telephone (0151)-330-6220 |
| Service area | Merseyside, Lancashire |
| Service type | Local bus services |
| Routes | See Services operated |
| Destinations | Liverpool, Knowsley, Sefton, St Helens, West Lancashire |
| Fleet | Approximately 200 |
| Operator | Stagecoach Group |
| Chief executive | Brian Souter (CEO Stagecoach Group) Les Warneford (MD Stagecoach UK Bus) |
| Web site | Stagecoach Merseyside |
Stagecoach Merseyside is a major operator of bus services in the English city of Liverpool and in the surrounding area of Merseyside. It is a subsidiary of the Stagecoach Group. It was formed in July 2005 due to the acquisition of Glenvale Transport Limited (GTL), which in turn had initially been formed by ex-MTL managers bidding for company, following a Competition Commission ruling that Arriva must sell their newly acquired Gillmoss depot to preserve the competition within the Merseyside area.
The fleet of the newly created Glenvale Transport Limited mostly comprised elderly Leyland Titans and aging Dennis Darts, although efforts were made to update the fleet via an agreement with Essex-based dealer Ensignbus, 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, likely due to financial struggles making it difficult to repair the buses.[1] Glenvale had an annual turnover of approximately £25 million.[2]
The company was sold to Stagecoach Group in 2005, who pledged to invest in new buses for Merseyside. The result since takeover has been a £6.5m fleet of 75 new low-floor Alexander Dennis Dart buses that have entered service with the company[2], with the sale and disposal of older buses previously in operation with Glenvale.
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[edit] History
In February 2000 Merseyside's largest bus operator MTL Trust Holdings Ltd was acquired by Arriva Passenger Services plc. The Cowie Group plc (Arriva) had acquired the North Western Road Car Company Ltd which had been part of British Bus Ltd in the summer of 1994. In turn North Western had gained substantial parts of the former Crosville and Ribble operations and acquired or created other companies - most notably Amberline, City Plus and Liverline in Liverpool, Beeline Buzz Company and Star Line Travel in Greater Manchester, Dee Line, Leigh Line, Little White Buses in West Lancashire, Runcorn Busways, South Lancashire Transport in St Helens, Warrington Gold Line and Wigan Bus. By the year 2000 Arriva North West Ltd (North Western) had built up a substantial presence in many parts Merseyside, Cheshire, Greater Manchester and West Lancashire and given the acquisition and subsequent merger of the former MTL companies now known as Arriva Merseyside Ltd into Arriva North West Ltd it gave Arriva an extremely dominant position on Merseyside and in Liverpool in particular. It was perhaps not surprising that the Competition Commission ruled that as a condition of the sale of MTL to Arriva and to preserve competition within the Merseyside bus market - Aintree based CMT Buses - see later, was the only major competitor in Liverpool at that time, Arriva had to divest one of the former MTL garages to a new buyer within one year and not compete with that buyer for a period of three years. The bus corridors of South/East Liverpool tended to be more luccrative and have more competition than those to the North of Liverpool and it was Liverpool's Gillmoss depot on the East Lancashire Road that Arriva sacrificed but sale of Gillmoss would turn out to be a rather protracted process. Its most profitable routes - 12/13 (Stockbridge Village Circular - Liverpool), 14 (Croxteth - Liverpool) and 53/55 (Thornton/Old Roan - Liverpool) were allowed to remain with Arriva Merseyside/North West and were transferred to its Green Lane and Bootle depots. It's unknown whether this detterred prospective buyers but an early front runner did emerge in the form of Go-Ahead Group plc who considered Gillmoss as having similar characteristics to its Go North East operation and therefore almost came to an agreement to buy Gillmoss towards the beginning of 2001. However at the 11th hour Go-Ahead pulled out of the deal opting instead to acquire Arriva Croydon & North Surrey Ltd as it had more strategic fit with its Metrobus subsidiary in Surrey and West Sussex. Arriva was having trouble selling Gillmoss and put a proposal to the Competition Commission to re-invest in Gillmoss if it were allowed to keep to depot. The Competition Commission denied Arriva this option and the search for a buyer continued. In the Spring/Summer of 2001 a number of bids started emerge. The first of these came from Merseyside's largest independent operator CMT Buses who were most likely looking to strengthen their position on Merseyside. The second bidder was London's Metroline parent company Singapore-based DelGro Corporation and the third was an unknown consortium which at the time was shrouded in mystery and years later was known to have come from Stagecoach Holdings plc. However a fourth bid emerged fronted by ex-MTL managers Dominic Brady and Ian Campbell. This was Glenvale Transport Ltd/(GTL) and it successfully acquired Gillmoss and took over from Arriva in July 2001.
[edit] Glenvale Transport Limited
The protracted sale of Gillmoss did lead to poor staff morale, compounded by Arriva using Gillmoss as a dumping ground for the remaining ex-London Buses Leyland Titans that Merseybus/MTL had been acquiring since the end of 1992. Gillmoss did have a modern fleet of 25 Volvo Olympian/Northern Counties Palatine II that Liverbus (3) and Merseybus/MTL North (22) had bought new in 1995 and 1998 respectively and had been dubbed The Millennium Fleet. However GTL decided to not take up the leasing arrangements for these vehicles and instead they were passed over to Arriva Merseyside who transferred them mostly to the Speke and Green Lane depots in Liverpool along with a handful for the Laird Street depot in Birkenhead. In return around 30 MCW Metrobuses which were more than 20 years old came in from the former Arriva Croydon & North Surrey operation and had been refurbished for that operation in 1999. MTL's cream and crimson livery was retained and given Arriva couldn't compete with GTL's core route network in North Liverpool and Kirkby for three years (see above) GTL decided to exploit this advantage and the next 18 months saw GTL rapidly expanding its route network throughout much of Merseyside. GTL promised investment in new vehicles for Gillmoss, however this never materialised. Instead further ex-London vehicles in the form of another large batch of Leyland Titans, along with Reeve Burgess/Plaxton Pointer-bodied Dennis Darts and a smaller batch of Metrobuses (some of which briefly operated in the liveries of their former owners Blue Triangle, London Central/General, Metroline and Stagecoach East London/Selkent) were acquired and at its peak GTL acquired a fleet of around 120 Titans and 60 Metrobuses.[3] By 2002 Arriva had invested in approximately 200 new low floor, wheelchair accessible vehicles for its Merseyside operation clearing out the Leyland Atlantean/Alexander ALs and Leyland Titans which had been mainstays of the MTL fleet. GTL's newest vehicles were a batch of 11 Dennis Dart SLF/Marshall Capitals[3] - which were the last batch of vehicles to be purchased new by MTL in 1999, and 8 1997 vintage Dennis Dart SLF/East Lancs Sprytes acquired second hand from Speke based Express Travel in 2002. Furthermore these vehicles only usually operated Merseytravel contracts. In turn a significant amount of the GTL fleet was approaching 25 years of age and given GTL had higher farescales than Arriva Merseyside and CMT Buses it gave GTL a more unfavourable impression in the eyes of Merseyside's bus users. In order to survive, GTL had to consolidate its position within Merseyside's bus market. The only remaining opportunity for GTL to do this was Aintree-based CMT Buses and it was perhaps unsurprising that GTL acquired CMT Buses.
[edit] Acquisition of CMT Buses
CMT Buses was formed from C&M Travel Ltd who were a long established coach hire operator in the Merseyside area. After deregulation CMT gained a foothold into bus operation by winning Merseytravel contracts and by the late 1980s had begun a commercial service network on the Wirral. Between 1991 and 1994 the company turned its focus to the Liverpool bus market which was already a hotbed of intense competition between Merseybus/MTL, City Fleet, Fareway, Liverline, Liverbus, Halton Transport, Merseyline, North Western, Village Group and GM Buses (North/South). The coach hire and Wirral based services were discontinued and a significant number of new services on many of Liverpool's most lucrative bus corridors were started by CMT with a large fleet of Leyland Nationals. These were very successful and sparked a bus war in Liverpool which led to a period of consolidation in which MTL acquired Fareway, Liverbus and Village Group, North Western acquiring Liverline, GM Buses North/South withdrawing from Merseyside and MTL, North Western, CMT Buses, GM Buses North/South and Halton Transport enter into a controversial agreement which limited competition between these parties in the North West bus market, controlled fares and a Competition Commission investigation which ruled this was illegal and fined the parties involved. Despite this CMT Buses was a successful player within the Merseyside bus market and from the Summer of 1995 to the Summer of 2002 it gradually began adding substantial numbers of new vehicles to its fleet including Volvo B10B/Wright Endurance, Volvo B10L/Wright Liberator, Volvo B10BLE/Wright Renown, Dennis Dart/Northern Counties Paladin, Dennis Dart SLF/Wright Crusader and Dennis Dart SLF/Plaxton Pointer SPDs along with relatively modern second hand acquisitions like Volvo B10B/Alexander Strider from Blazefield-owned Harrogate & District and Leyland Lynxes from a variety of sources to replace the aging Leyland Nationals.
Towards the end of 1998, CMT acquired Formby-based independent ABC Travel which had substantial contracts for Merseytravel services and a modern fleet of mainly Optare products including MetroRiders, Deltas, Excels and Solos. Merseytravel contractor L&M Transport/Greenbus, which it was rumoured CMT Buses had an interest, was integrated into CMT around 2001 and the operations centred upon the CMT base in Aintree. Arguably CMT Buses was an attractive target for prospective purchasers and it's rumoured that both MTL and Arriva had a view to acquire CMT at some point and time. However on 15th June 2003 it would be GTL who'd acquire the CMT operation further consolidating GTL's position within the Merseyside bus market, expanding the fleet to approximately 290 vehicles and adding CMT's Aintree[1] garage to that at Gillmoss.
[edit] The development of GTL (June 2003 to July 2005)
The acquisition of CMT Buses enabled GTL to become Merseyside's second largest bus operator behind Arriva. Initially GTL kept CMT Buses as a separate entity maintaining their all over bright red livery and yellow CMT Buses/liver bird logos along with CMT's route network some of which duplicated those of GTL.
However in October 2003 management of the Aintree depot was passed over to GTL's management team and service network rationalised to create strategic fit with those of GTL. New blue 'GTL' logos were applied to the CMT vehicles and GTL adopted a darker all over red livery to replace the ex-MTL cream/crimson livery. There was again talk of investment in new vehicles along with possible expansion on Merseyside (opening a depot in the Speke area to compete directly with Arriva's South Liverpool services) and beyond. A possible network of services on the Wirral along with rumours of GTL acquiring First Cheshire & Wirral's depot at Rock Ferry and a move into London Buses tendered contracts - Dominic Brady and Ian Campbell were part of MTL London's management team, along with an Alternative Investments listing on the London Stock Exchange as a means for GTL to raise funds for investment. However GTL achieved none of this and by the end of 2003 it was still perceived by many within the bus industry as a small Merseyside-based operator with a rapidly aging fleet of ex-London double deckers - even after the CMT Buses acquisition, with high fares and poor staff morale a hang over of the original acquisition of Gillmoss from Arriva.
Despite this, GTL used Essex-based Ensign Bus to modernise the fleet and from late 2003 to the Spring of 2005 approximately 94 Volvo B6/Dennis Dart with Alexander Dash bodywork - ironically coming from various companies within the Stagecoach Group, along with smaller batches of Dennis Dart/Wright Handybus from Go North East and ex-Metroline Dennis Dart/Northern Counties Paladin - once part of the fleet at MTL London, came in. However these vehicles were 9-12 years old and not the new vehicles GTL constantly promised. Furthermore two significant events ultimately sealed the fate for GTL's long term future.
In 2002 Merseytravel unveiled plans for a tram network on Merseyside, Merseytram. Merseytram's route 1 was to be between Kirkby and Liverpool City Centre via many of the areas of North/East Liverpool of which were part of GTL's core bus network. In turn French-based utilities group Transdev was part of the consortia involved in Merseytram and had government funding/approval for Merseytram been given - which wasn't and ultimately led to the scheme being scrapped in 2006, Transdev was rumoured most likely ready to acquire GTL and integrate its services into the Merseytram system.
Secondly by the Autumn of 2004 the Competition Commission ban on Arriva competing against GTL in Kirkby and North Liverpool was over. In response to significant expansion by GTL throughout Merseyside, Arriva registered high frequency copycat services over much of the GTL network in Kirkby and North Liverpool including 2 (Kirkby Northwood-Liverpool), 14A/B (Kirkby Tower Hill-Liverpool), 17 (Fazakerley Hospital-Liverpool), 19 (Fazakerley Lower Lane-Liverpool), 20 (Skelmersdale-Kirkby-Liverpool).
These services mostly used modern low-floor easy access vehicles and gave Arriva a competitive advantage over GTL's aging, step entrance vehicles further reinforcing a mostly negative impression in the eyes of Merseyside's bus users of GTL in comparison to that of Arriva. Whether as a consequence of these or other events there was always a general air of uncertainty and short-termism with GTL.
Firstly GTL never bought a new vehicle despite promising on numerous occasions a significant reinvestment in its fleet.
Secondly despite GTL's core routes in Kirkby and North Liverpool being considered as good, profitable bus territory - GTL had an annual turnover of approximately £25m, and still relatively low levels of car ownership there had seen a significant decline in patronage with GTL's aging and generally down at heel fleet being considered a major reason for this decline.
Finally many observers of the Merseyside and the bus scene in general considered GTL to have expanded too much, too fast and simply competing with Arriva for competition's sake.
In hindsight this may have been an unwise move and when Arriva could compete with GTL on their 'bread and butter' services in Kirkby and North Liverpool it was perhaps unsurprising that by March 2005 GTL had run up debts of approximately £7m and was rumoured to be struggling to pay its bills and staff wages. GTL was therefore on the market and out of all the potential purchasers the ultimate buyer was perhaps the most surprising.
A final event of note for GTL was ex-Stagecoach East Midlands Volvo B6/Alexander Dash (7282/L448LWE) had a starring role in the successful Liverpool FC UEFA Champion's League homecoming on 26th May 2005. After becoming stranded in the vast crowd of people on Lime Street some Liverpool fans used 7282's roof as a vantage point to see Liverpool's open top bus parade in the city centre. Apart from a few small dents to the roof no damage was caused to the vehicle.
[edit] Stagecoach Merseyside
On numerous occasions Stagecoach has made bids for some or all of the companies making up the former MTL Trust Holdings Ltd group. At the beginning of 1998 it was rumoured to have tabled a £100m bid for the complete MTL group including its Merseyrail and Northern Spirit rail franchises and the MTL London bus operation. Later that year MTL sold off MTL London but Stagecoach was outbid by the then independent Metroline in June 1998. When MTL went bankrupt in January 2000 Stagecoach was very interested in acquiring the company but was again outbid this time by Arriva. It wasn't known at the time but Stagecoach did bid for the Gillmoss depot after Arriva was ordered to dispose of it. But again it was an unsuccessful bidder losing out to GTL. Apart from a Stagecoach Ribble/North West service between Southport and Preston and a Sunday only Lancashire County Council contract from Liverpool to Preston/Blackpool it seemed highly unlikely that Stagecoach would ever have significant operations on Merseyside. When rumours of a sale at GTL surfaced around 2005 it was FirstGroup plc with its nearby operations First Cheshire & Wirral and First Manchester - which has a school bus division in nearby Kirkby, the Go-Ahead Group plc and Transdev who were partners with Merseytravel on the ill-fated Merseytram scheme who seemed like front runners to buy GTL. However on Wednesday 13 July 2005, GTL accepted a reported £3.4M cash[4] offer for the company from the Stagecoach Group who also agreed to absorb GTL's debt of approximately £7m. The management of Stagecoach Merseyside as GTL had become - although Glenvale Transport Ltd still remains on the company's legal lettering, was passed over from Dominic Brady and Ian Campbell to Stagecoach UK Bus MD Les Warneford.
A major priority was updating the mainly elderly fleet inherited from GTL and many 'Stagecoach Standard' Volvo B10M/Alexander PSs were sent to Merseyside in the initial months after the takeover along with a handful of Leyland Olympian/Alexander R Types and oddities like Volvo B6/Wright Crusader (30342/N416KPS) which had been used in rural Scotland by Docherty of Irvine. A £6.5m order for 75 low-floor Alexander Dennis Dart SLF/Pointer 2 were received from September 2005 to March 2006 along with 8 similar TransBus/Dennis Dart SLFs new in 2003/04 which came from Stagecoach North West's Carlisle operation and refurbished after being damaged in the January 2005 floods in the town. The ex-CMT vehicles which had been left in various states of disrepair after GTL hit financial problems were also refurbished.
Many of the loss making services started by GTL to compete with Arriva along with some Merseytravel contracts have been withdrawn. In turn Arriva has withdrawn from Kirkby and North Liverpool with the exception of the 14/14A (Croxteth-Liverpool). Stagecoach have significantly reduced the fleet from a peak of 290 to approximately 195 vehicles and many of the former GTL vehicles have now left the fleet. The Volvo B6/Alexander Dash were again sold to Ensignbus, although some newer examples moved to other companies within the Stagecoach Group. Stagecoach Yorkshire received some Reeve Burgess/Plaxton Pointer-bodied Dennis Darts along with the ex-CMT Buses Volvo B10B/Wright Endurance and Alexander Striders and the DAF SB220s with Optare Delta and Northern Counties Paladin bodies which had been new to ABC Travel after Stagecoach acquired the Yorkshire Traction Group in December 2005. Stagecoach North West also became home to the ex-CMT Dennis Dart/Northern Counties Paladins, ex-MTL Dennis Dart SLF/Marshall Capitals and a handful of Leyland Titans. The remaining MCW Metrobuses and Leyland Titans, some of which were now 27 years old, were mostly scrapped although given the historical nature the Titan had on Merseyside's post deregulation bus scene Stagecoach Merseyside arranged a Last Titan Day on Saturday 4th February 2006 (see below).
However the new investment and changes at Stagecoach Merseyside has attracted some criticism. Historically the routes inherited from GTL in Kirkby and North Liverpool have been double deck with low - but increasing, levels of car ownership and high - but reducing, passenger numbers. However after the Leyland Titans were withdrawn in February 2006 amidst general concerns about vandalism and anti-social behaviour on public transport - although Merseyside is generally considered no worse than other urban areas in this regard, the management at Stagecoach Merseyside decided to make the operation 100% single deck transferring the remaining Alexander-bodied Leyland Olympians to other parts of the Stagecoach Group. The Alexander Dennis Dart SLF/Pointer 2 now forms the bulk of the frontline fleet and although bus use on Merseyside has to some degree declined in the post deregulation period standing loads and overcrowding is quite common on the vast majority of routes operated Stagecoach Merseyside defeating many of the benefits low-floor vehicles can offer. A Spring 2006 review of services in Kirkby and North Liverpool compounded this problem with many former GTL routes being rationalised, curtailed, withdrawn or reduced in frequency - in particular in the evening and Sunday period, and has attracted adverse comment from both bus users on Merseyside and Merseytravel who've criticised the profit driven approach Stagecoach and Arriva seemingly have towards the Merseyside bus market and Merseytravel has used this as a platform for re-regulation of the bus industry more generally. Observers of the Merseyside bus scene also consider 12m single deckers like the MAN 18.220/Alexander ALX300 and Alexander Dennis Enviro 300 more suited to the urban characteristics of the bus network on Merseyside than the midi-sized SLFs Stagecoach Merseyside are operating at present. However there is no sign of new orders or a shift in vehicle policy at Stagecoach Merseyside at present.
A recent development was the closure of Aintree depot on 15 June 2007 exactly 4 years after the acquisition of CMT Buses by GTL. Stagecoach Merseyside is unique in being the only company within the Stagecoach Group to have just one depot with all the operations now based at Gillmoss. A small problem was a software incompatibility between the Wayfarer 3 ticket machines used at Aintree and Gillmoss resulting in the former Aintree vehicles staying on their former routes. This problem was resolved on 20th January 2008 when new ERG Systems TP5000 machines were introduced resulting in the vehicle allocation at Gillmoss being seen on a wider variety of routes than had previously been the case.
Currently there are no signs of any further acquisitions or expansion by Stagecoach on Merseyside as competition with Arriva North West Ltd is minimal and on the whole relations between the two operators appear to be good. Rumours of a Magicbus operation within Stagecoach Merseyside have been circulating with route 86/86C (Gartson/Liverpool Hope University-Liverpool) via the Allerton and Smithdown Road corridor in South Liverpool considered a prime candidate for such a move as it has similar characteristics and a student clientele to that which exists along the Wilmslow Road in South Manchester. Despite this there is no sign of Stagecoach bringing such an operation to Merseyside at present. Local authority owned Halton Transport however does interest Stagecoach and an approach was made by the Stagecoach Group to acquire the company from Halton Borough Council in 2005/06. At the moment Halton Borough Council doesn't want to sell Halton Transport and it's unknown how serious the approach from Stagecoach really was. However the recent sale of local authority owned Yellow Buses Bournemouth and Blackburn Transport to Transdev and Chesterbus to FirstGroup plc does raise the possibility of a future sale of Halton Transport in the non too distant future and its Widnes depot would allow Stagecoach Merseyside more strategic fit for its routes in St Helens and East/South Liverpool than Gillmoss offers at present.
[edit] Last Leyland Titan Day
In 1992 Merseybus in an effort to modernise its fleet entered into an agreement with London Buses to purchase a significant quantity of their Leyland Titans dating from 1978 to 1984. These proved popular with other operators on Merseyside and overall approximately 400 Titans saw service in the region and by the time of the takeover of GTL by Stagecoach there were still quite healthy numbers in service.
However Stagecoach quickly made the replacement of the aging fleet on Merseyside (see above) a top priority and by the beginning of 2006 only a handful remained in service. Most Merseyside bus enthusiasts took to the Titan well with some of these vehicles spending more time on Merseyside than they did in London and Stagecoach Merseyside therefore decided to hold a Last Titan Day on Saturday 4th February 2006.
The last serviceable examples at Gillmoss (10046/WYV46T), (10377/KYV377X), (10624/NUW624Y), and (10850/A850SUL) - formally 2046, 2377, 2624 and 2850 in the GTL fleet took enthusiasts on a tour of Liverpool and the Wirral and were joined by London's first production Titan (T1/THX401S) at the time still owned by Stagecoach London, Stagecoach North West's (10698/OHV698Y) which had been GTL 2698 and preserved Titan (T910/A910SYE) which had also operated on Merseyside, for Merseyline of Garston.
This event was very successful and also featured a host other vehicles including Stagecoach Chesterfield's ex-Grimsby-Cleethorpes open-top Daimler Fleetline/Roe (15513/MBE613R), Stagecoach Manchester/Magicbus Scania N113DRB/Northern Counties (15344/J144HMT) which had been new as London Buses S44 and based at the East London subsidiary - a former stronghold of the Titan, ex-Merseyside Transport Leyland Atlantean/Alexander AL (1055/A135HLV) once based at Gillmoss, ex-Greater Manchester Transport (8551/ANA551Y) once based at Wigan and a regular visitor to Merseyside and finally Arriva London AEC Routemaster (RML2716/SMK716F) which was the oldest vehicle to participate in the event.
[edit] Liverpool FC Stagecoach Champions of Champions Buses
On Wednesday 20 June 2007, Stagecoach Merseyside and Stagecoach North West, in partnership with World Football Exhibitions Ltd and Liverpool Football Club, launched two branded Liverpool FC Champions of Champions buses to celebrate Liverpool FC's remarkable history in European Competition.
The buses were launched at Anfield by Tom Wileman, Stagecoach Regional Director, and Liverpool FC legends Phil Neal, Alan Kennedy, David Fairclough, Ian Callaghan, Chris Lawler and David Johnson. Also at the ribbon cutting ceremony was the actual UEFA Champions League trophy which Liverpool FC won for a record fifth time in Istanbul in 2005.
Speaking at the ribbon cutting, Liverpool legend David Fairclough said: "Both buses look brilliant, it's a great tribute to our European history". Tom Wileman of Stagecoach added, "Liverpool's achievements in European football have been fantastic, not only for the city but for the whole region and we wanted to recognise and celebrate that".
The new buses feature images and facts from Liverpool FC's 5 successful European Cup victories of 1977, 1978, 1981, 1984 and 2005. The double decker is operated by Stagecoach North West and will operate on the X2 route between Liverpool, Southport and Preston while the single decker is operated by Stagecoach Merseyside and will operate across the city of Liverpool and other parts of Merseyside.
A similarly branded bus for Everton FC was also introduced into service at the end of September 2007 and these buses will be in service through to 2008 when the city of Liverpool will celebrate being European Capital of Culture.
[edit] Services operated
As at April 2008
- 10A St Helens Bus Station - Liverpool City Centre via Whiston, Prescott, Page Moss, Knotty Ash, Old Swan & Kensington
- 10B Page Moss - Liverpool City Centre via Knotty Ash, Old Swan & Kensington
- 14 Croxteth - Liverpool City Centre via Norris Green & Breck Road
- 14A Kirkby Tower Hill - Liverpool City Centre via Kirkby Civic Centre, Southdene, Croxteth, Norris Green & Breck Road
- 14B Knowsley - Liverpool City Centre Limited Monday - Friday peak service via Kirkby Industrial Estate, Knowsley, Croxteth, Norris Green & Breck Road
- 14C Kirkby Tower Hill - Liverpool City Centre Limited Monday - Friday peak service via Kirkby Civic Centre, Kirkby Industrial Estate, Knowsley, Croxteth, Norris Green & Breck Road
- 17 Kirkby Civic Centre/Fazakerley - Liverpool City Centre via Westvale, Fazakerley Hospital, Utting Avenue, Liverpool FC & Everton Valley
- 19/19A Kirkby Civic Centre - Liverpool City Centre via Southdene, East Lancashire Road & Everton FC
- 20 Kirkby Tower Hill - Liverpool City Centre via Fazakerley, Walton Vale & Kirkdale
- 21 Kirkby Northwood - Liverpool City Centre via Fazakerley, Walton Vale & Netherfield Road (Everton)
- 22 Fazakerley Hospital - Liverpool City Centre (peak) via Walton Vale & Netherfield Road (Everton)
- 53 Crosby - Liverpool City Centre via Waterloo, Seaforth, Bootle Strand & Kirkdale
- 70 Prescot - St Helens via Whiston Hospital, Thatto Heath and Knowsley Road/St Helens RLFC
- 79 Netherley - Liverpool City Centre via Belle Vale, Childwall Five Ways & Picton Road
- 82/82D Garston - Liverpool City Centre via Aigburth Road & Dingle
- 86 Garston - Liverpool City Centre via Allerton Road & Smithdown Road
- 86C Childwall Taggart Avenue (Liverpool Hope University) - Liverpool City Centre via Allerton Road & Smithdown Road - NB some am/pm peak journeys start/end at Fazakerley via Walton and Everton Valley
- 103 Aigburth Vale - Waterloo Interchange (Merseytravel Contract) via Dock Road & Dingle
- 119 Kirkby Civic Centre - Liverpool City Centre (Merseytravel Contract) via Southdene, East Lancashire Road & Everton FC
- 120 Fazakerley - Liverpool City Centre (Merseytravel Contract) via Walton Vale & Kirkdale
- 121 Broadway - Aintree Station (Merseytravel Contract) via Norris Green, Fazakerley Hospital & Aintree Altcourse Prison
- 130 Old Roan - Dingle Mount (Merseytravel Contact) via Netherton, Aintree, Walton Vale, Kirkdale & Liverpool City Centre
- 133 Kirkby Admin - Waterloo Interchange (Merseytravel Contract) via Southdene, Kirkby Civic Centre, Maghull & Crosby
- 197/198 Kirkby Circular via Tower Hill, Westvale, Kirkby Civic Centre, Southdene & Kirkby Admin
- 202 Alder Hey Hospital - Dingle (Sunday Merseytravel Contract) via Broadgreen Hospital, Wavertree, Liverpool Women's Hospital & Toxteth
- 215/216 Walton Hall Park - Croxteth (Merseytravel Contract) via Broadway, Norris Green & Croxteth Park Estate
- 217/227 Kirkby Civic Centre - Huyton Bus Station Monday - Friday daytime via Northwood (227), Southdene (217), Knowsley Village & Page Moss - NB Saturday journey's are currently operated on the behalf of Merseytravel by HTL Buses.
- 220 Kirkby Tower Hill - Liverpool City Centre (Merseytravel Contract) via Fazakerley, Walton Vale & Kirkdale
- 242 Kirkby Civic Centre - Liverpool City Centre (Merseytravel Contact) via Fazakerley, Walton Vale & Netherfield Road (Everton)
- 244 Kirkby Civic Centre - Liverpool City Centre (Merseytravel Contract) via Southdene, East Lancashire Road & Everton FC
- 319 St Helens - Southport via Rainford & Ormskirk
- 620 Kirkby All Saints School - Kirkby Tower Hill (Merseytravel School Service)
- 892 Kirkby Admin - Liverpool City Centre (Merseytravel Contact) via Fazakerley, Walton Vale & Bootle
[edit] Vehicle types in use
| Image | Chassis | Body | Number | Year(s) built |
Low floor? | Obtained from |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
Volvo B10M | Alexander PS Type | 37 | 1992-1998 | No | Stagecoach group |
 |
Volvo B10L | Wright Liberator | 10 | 1997-1998 | Yes | CMT Buses |
 |
Volvo B10BLE | Wright Renown | 18 | 1998-2000 | Yes | CMT Buses |
 |
Alexander Dennis Dart SLF TransBus Dart SLF Dennis Dart SLF / MPD / SPD |
Alexander Dennis Pointer TransBus Pointer Plaxton Pointer |
101 | 1999-2006 | Yes | purchased new (75) Stagecoach Group (18) CMT Buses (3 MPD, 5 SPD) |
 |
Dennis Dart SLF | Wright Crusader | 12 | 1997 | Yes | CMT Buses |
 |
Dennis Dart SLF | East Lancs Spryte | 8 | 1997 | Yes | GTL Glenvale |
.jpg/100px-34079_-_S479_BWC(1).jpg) |
Dennis Dart SLF | Alexander ALX200 | 2 | 1998 | Yes | Stagecoach Group |
[edit] References
- ^ a b Merseyside Dennis Dart - Archive 26 Merseyside Dennis Dart
- ^ a b Stagecoach invests in new buses for Merseyside Stagecoach Group, 10 August 2005
- ^ a b Stagecoach Merseyside - History StagecoachMerseyside.tripod.com
- ^ Merseyside Dennis Dart - Archive 19
[edit] External links
- Stagecoach Merseyside official website
- Liverpool FC News page featuring bus launch ceremony
- Liverpool FC News page announcing bus launch
- World Football Exhibitions Newspage featuring Champions of Champions bus
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