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 A Bullocks Scania K410EB6, at the firm's depot | |
| Parent | Bullock family |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1928 |
| Headquarters | Cheadle |
| Service area | Greater Manchester |
| Service type | Bus & coach services |
| Fleet | 39 (September 2013) |
| Website | www.bullockscoaches.com |
Bullocks Coaches [1] is a bus and coach operator in Cheadle, Greater Manchester.
The company was founded in 1928 by Ralph Bullock, initially as a haulage firm, with milk deliveries being the early focus. On weekends, the trucks turned into cloth-top charabancs for trips to the seaside. By the mid-1930s, the fleet included trucks and proper coaches, but the trucks were nationalised under the Transport Act 1947 by the Clement Attlee government, leaving only the coaches. Ralph was fond of Foden coaches and the majority of the fleet throughout the 1940s to 1960s were Fodens, of which two still survive to this day. The oldest, dating from 1949, is still roadworthy and is currently on loan to the Museum of Transport in Manchester.
The firm remained small with around 20 vehicles, until 1986, when deregulation of the bus market allowed Bullocks to diversify. The fleet grew to around 75-80 vehicles in total with Bullocks acquiring many bus routes, and introducing new ones, including route 42 from Stockport to Manchester via Wilmslow Road. Over the years, the number of services declined having been lost to other operators. By 2008, it was operating seven routes and several school services, all except one of the commercial routes were sold off, most to Stagecoach Manchester and a couple to Arriva North West.
In August 2008, Stagecoach Manchester purchased all of the commercial bus operations of Bullocks except route 147. [2] Bullocks continue to operate several school bus services, as well as coaches.
In October 2013, Bullocks purchased the Finglands Coachways coach charter business from East Yorkshire Motor Services. [3]
Until 2018, Bullocks Coaches operated one route, the 147 Oxford Road Link that linked Manchester Piccadilly station with Manchester's main hospitals on Oxford Road. [4] However, in September 2018, the contract for this route passed to Stagecoach, [5] who now operate the route under their Magic Bus brand. [6]
At the present time, the only regular bus routes operated by Bullock's are school services. [7]
As well as coaches, Bullocks formerly operated four Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 bodied Volvo B5Ls on route 147, [8] In 2018 these passed to Lothian Buses [9] in exchange for several Scania Omnicities, which will be used on school services.
As at September 2013, the fleet consisted of 39 buses and coaches. [10]
Magic Bus is a brand of Stagecoach Group for local bus operations in the United Kingdom, usually operated on routes with strong competition from other operators. The brand is currently used in Manchester and in the past has been used in Glasgow, Newcastle, Liverpool, and Rotherham. A similar brand Magic Mini have also been used in Corby, Ayrshire and the Scottish Highlands.
Stagecoach East Scotland is an operating region of Stagecoach UK Bus, with its regional base in Dunfermline, Scotland. The company operators under six different brands.
East Yorkshire operates both local and regional bus services in the East Riding of Yorkshire and North Yorkshire, England. Prior to acquisition by the Go-Ahead Group in June 2018, the company was known as East Yorkshire Motor Services.
The Plaxton President was a low floor double-decker bus body built at Northern Counties plant in Wigan, England and branded as a Plaxton product for its main production run. It was first unveiled in 1997 on the longitudinal Volvo B7L chassis and later built between 1998 and 2005 following a body redesign. When it became part of TransBus International, the body was sold under the TransBus name. The President was built on the Dennis/TransBus Trident, the DAF DB250 and the Volvo B7TL chassis.
The Alexander Dennis Enviro400 is a twin-axle low-floor double-decker bus that was built by the British bus manufacturer Alexander Dennis between 2005 and 2018. It replaced the Alexander ALX400, Dennis Trident and Plaxton President. In 2014, the Enviro400 was succeeded by the updated Alexander Dennis Enviro400 MMC and production of the classic Enviro400 ceased in 2018.
The Wright Eclipse Gemini is a low-floor double-decker bus body that was built by Wrightbus since 2001, based on the single-deck Wright Eclipse design. The second-generation Eclipse Gemini 2 was launched in 2009, followed by the third-generation Gemini 3 in 2013. Additionally, the body was available on Volvo Super Olympian chassis in Hong Kong between 2003 and 2005, marketed as the Wright Explorer.
MTL Trust Holdings was an English bus, coach and train operator based in Liverpool. MTL was originally part of the MPTE. To comply with the Transport Act 1985, the bus operations were divested into a new independent company, Merseyside Transport Limited (MTL). Merseyside PTA retained shareholding, but the company was purchased by its management and staff in 1993. On 17 February 2000, MTL was purchased by Arriva.
Stagecoach West is the trading name of Cheltenham & Gloucester Omnibus Company Limited, a bus operator providing services in Gloucestershire, Bristol, Swindon, Oxfordshire, Wiltshire, North Somerset and Herefordshire, in the West of England. The company is a subsidiary of Stagecoach Group.
Lothian Buses Limited is a major bus operator based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is the largest municipal bus company in the United Kingdom: the City of Edinburgh Council owns 91%, Midlothian Council 5%, East Lothian Council 3% and West Lothian Council 1%.
First Greater Manchester is a bus operator in Greater Manchester. It is a subsidiary of FirstGroup. It was once a major operator in the northern areas of the county competing against Stagecoach Manchester which was dominant in southern areas of the county; however in recent years it has scaled back its operations, now primarily serving north eastern suburbs of Manchester, and the metropolitan boroughs of Oldham and Rochdale.
Stagecoach Manchester is a major bus operator in Greater Manchester. It is the largest UK bus subsidiary of Stagecoach Group outside of Greater London, as well as the largest within the metropolitan county of Greater Manchester by passenger numbers, carrying up to 96.2 million passengers in 2019/20. It is made up of two brands: Stagecoach and Magic Bus.
JPT Bus Company, was a bus company based at Middleton, Greater Manchester, England. Operations ceased on 25 April 2014, with the business taken over by Stagecoach Manchester.
Finglands Coachways was a bus and coach operator in Rusholme, Manchester.
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 Buses North and GM Buses South in order to increase competition for services in the area, before they were sold to the FirstGroup and Stagecoach respectively.
The Wilmslow Road bus corridor is a 5.5-mile-long section of road in Manchester that is served by a large number of bus services. The corridor runs from Parrs Wood to Manchester city centre along Wilmslow and Oxford Roads, serving Didsbury, Withington, Fallowfield and Rusholme.
Greater Manchester bus route 192 runs between Hazel Grove in the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport and Piccadilly Gardens in Manchester city centre. It is operated by Stagecoach Manchester.
Lothian Buses is the largest provider of bus services in and around Edinburgh, the capital city of Scotland. It is entirely municipally owned, being 91% owned by the City of Edinburgh Council, with the remainder owned by Midlothian, East Lothian and West Lothian councils, although it no longer provides bus services in West Lothian under the same name. Lothian Buses plc is registered in Annandale Street, Edinburgh as company number SC096849.
The Alexander Dennis Enviro400 MMC is a low-floor double-decker bus produced by the British bus manufacturer Alexander Dennis since 2014, replacing the Alexander Dennis Enviro400. The Enviro400 MMC is produced at Alexander Dennis' Falkirk and Scarborough factories in the United Kingdom.
The MCV Evora is a single-decker bus bodywork produced by Manufacturing Commercial Vehicles (MCV) since 2018, as the successor to the MCV Evolution. The Evora is currently available on Volvo B8RLE and Volvo B5LH chassis.
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