Cleveland Transit

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Cleveland Transit
Cleveland 7 (cropped).jpg
Cleveland Transit Northern Counties bodied Dennis Dominator at Middlesbrough bus station, 1993
Founded1 April 1974;51 years ago (1974-04-01)
DefunctNovember 1994;30 years ago (1994-11)
Headquarters Stockton-on-Tees
Locale Cleveland, England
Service areaMiddlesbrough
Langbaurgh-on-Tees
Stockton-on-Tees
Service typeBus and coach
AllianceHartlepool Borough Transport

Cleveland Transit was a municipal bus operator based in the former county of Cleveland in northern England, operating from 1974 until its purchase by the Stagecoach Group in 1994.

Contents

History

Preserved Cleveland Transit Bristol VRT at the South Yorkshire Transport Museum, 2019 Cleveland Transit H106 - RDC 106R (cropped).jpg
Preserved Cleveland Transit Bristol VRT at the South Yorkshire Transport Museum, 2019

The non-metropolitan county of Cleveland was formed by the Local Government Act 1972, incorporating the County Borough of Teesside and other authorities including Hartlepool. Its new districts were Stockton-on-Tees, Middlesbrough, Langbaurgh-on-Tees and Hartlepool. Upon this reorganisation in April 1974, the six-year-old Teesside Municipal Transport's operations became a joint council committee of the first three of these districts, named Cleveland Transit. [1] [2]

The municipal operation provided bus and coach services in the new county for the next twelve years, adopting a green and primrose livery for its fleet. [1] Cleveland Transit standardised on a fleet of Northern Counties-bodied Leyland Fleetlines, which were rebodied in the 1980s, [3] Bristol VRs and Dennis Dominator double-decker buses and Leyland Leopard single-decks in this period, [2] also experimentally operating a Rolls Royce-engined Leyland Fleetline converted to run on liquid petroleum gas, the first LPG-powered double-decker in the United Kingdom, in the mid-1970s. [4]

Deregulation in 1986 saw Cleveland Transit take on a new green, white and yellow corporate identity and be reincorporated as an 'arm's length' company. [5] After a protracted period of negotiation between Cleveland Transit staff and the councils involved in the joint committee, [6] during which the company became engaged in a bus war with rival Trimdon Motor Services in Stockton-on-Tees, [7] [8] endured a net loss of £484,000 (equivalent to £1,521,000in 2023) in 1989 and closed a depot in Middlesbrough, Cleveland Transit was purchased by its employees in May 1991 in an employee share ownership plan, with the company adopting the slogan 'Employee Owners Working for You'. [9] [10]

Originally founded in September 1991 and responsible for contracted school services and bookable day trips, [11] Cleveland Transit reorganised its coaching arm Cleveland Coaches in 1992, turning it into a National Express contractor which also offered coach holidays to various destinations. [12] Cleveland Transit purchased Kingston upon Hull City Transport (KHCT), a former municipal bus operator located in the non-metropolitan county of Humberside that was losing £100,000 (equivalent to £257,000in 2023) a month, from the city council for over £2 million (equivalent to £5,146,000in 2023) in December 1993. Employees at KHCT retained 49% ownership of the company and the livery of KHCT was changed to one similar to Cleveland Transit. [13] [14]

In November 1994, Cleveland Transit and KHCT were both purchased by Stagecoach Holdings for £8.3 million (equivalent to £20,852,000in 2023). [15] The Cleveland Transit identity was originally retained by Stagecoach for a short period, with new Northern Counties Palatine bodied Volvo Olympians being delivered with 'Part of the Stagecoach Group' slogans on the Cleveland Transit logos, [16] [17] however full Stagecoach identity began to be adopted for the Cleveland Transit fleet from 1995 onwards. [18] The operations of Cleveland Transit are today part of Stagecoach North East.

References

  1. 1 2 "Transit tees up". Buses . Stamford: Key Publishing. 20 April 2017. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
  2. 1 2 Millier, Noel (25 May 1979). "Municipal buses with a difference". Commercial Motor . Vol. 149, no. 3809. London: IPC Transport Press. pp. 35–37. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
  3. ↑ "Newsbrief". Commercial Motor. Vol. 163, no. 4172. Sutton: Transport Press. 31 May 1986. p. 37. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
  4. ↑ Hayes, Martin (14 March 1975). "Cleveland's Rolls-powered Fleetline is a gas". Commercial Motor. Vol. 141, no. 3690. London: IPC Transport Press. pp. 37–40. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
  5. ↑ "Cleveland invests £60,000 for deregulation". Commercial Motor. Vol. 162, no. 4133. Sutton: Transport Press. 10 August 1985. p. 15. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
  6. ↑ "Cleveland staff bid for buyout". Commercial Motor. Vol. 170, no. 4302. Sutton: Reed Business Publishing. 19 January 1989. p. 15. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
  7. ↑ "Dereg 'causing driver fights'". Commercial Motor. Vol. 163, no. 4263. Sutton: Reed Business Publishing. 17 March 1988. p. 19. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
  8. ↑ "No halt in Stockton bus war". Commercial Motor. Vol. 163, no. 4263. Sutton: Reed Business Publishing. 17 March 1988. p. 24. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
  9. ↑ "ESOP's able at Cleveland". Commercial Motor. Vol. 173, no. 4418. Sutton: Reed Business Publishing. 9 May 1991. p. 24. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
  10. ↑ "Cleveland Transit boss reveals big coach plans". Coachmart . No. 638. Peterborough: Emap. 9 May 1991. p. 7. Retrieved 3 August 2025.
  11. ↑ "Cleveland's new venture". Coachmart. No. 656. Peterborough: Emap. 12 September 1991. p. 7. Retrieved 20 November 2024.
  12. ↑ "Cleveland in coaches re-jig". Coach & Bus Week . No. 6. Peterborough: Emap. 28 March 1992. p. 13.
  13. ↑ "Hull completion due". Coach & Bus Week. No. 95. Peterborough: Emap. 11 December 1993. p. 5.
  14. ↑ Jarosz, Andrew (18 December 1993). "Transit sews up the sale of KHCT and wields axe". Coach & Bus Week. No. 96. Peterborough: Emap. p. 3.
  15. ↑ Smithers, Rebecca (7 December 1994). "Stagecoach profits gallop ahead". The Guardian. London. ProQuest   294858806.
  16. ↑ "Important role for CT's deckers". Coach & Bus Week. No. 176. Peterborough: Emap. 15 July 1995. p. 6.
  17. ↑ "Olympian goes back to original" . Coach & Bus Week. Peterborough. 31 March 2022. Retrieved 10 June 2023.
  18. ↑ "History of Teesside's buses". Evening Gazette. Middlesbrough. 11 May 2012. ProQuest   1012466301.

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