Islwyn Borough Transport

Last updated

Islwyn Borough Transport
New Bus Station Blackwood - geograph.org.uk - 510502.jpg
Preserved Leyland Leopard in Blackwood in July 2007
FoundedApril 1974
Ceased operationJanuary 2010
Headquarters Pontllanfraith
Service area Islwyn (1974-1996); Caerphilly (1996-2010); Cardiff
Service typeBus operator
Fleet33 (January 2010)

Islwyn Borough Transport [1] was a Welsh bus operator providing services around Blackwood, Caerphilly, and surrounding towns in the former Borough of Islwyn between 1974 and 2010.

Contents

History

Islwyn Borough Transport was formed on the creation of the Borough of Islwyn in April 1974. The area had previously been part of West Monmouthshire. From 1926, it had been served by the West Monmouthshire Omnibus Board, which, as MynyddIslwyn Urban District Council, was a joint operation with Bedwellty Urban District Council. It was expanded by taking over some of the services and vehicles of three local operators. A depot in Blackwood High Street was used from 1926 to 1984, when a new depot in Pontllanfraith was opened. A second change in local government saw Islwyn become part of Caerphilly County Borough in April 1996, and control of the company passed to Caerphilly County Borough Council. [2]

In November 2009, it was announced that the Borough Council had agreed to sell the company to Stagecoach. [3] The move attracted some criticism within the region, as no other potential buyers had been consulted: local bus operator Clayton Jones stated that he would have made a bid had the proposal been openly discussed. It was also noted that the council had lost around £15 million after the collapse of an Icelandic bank during the Late-2000s financial crisis earlier in the year. The council described claims that the two events were linked as a "wild accusation", noting that Stagecoach intended to retain all Islwyn staff members. [4] The deal was concluded in early January 2010, with Islwyn's operations integrated with those of Stagecoach in South Wales. [2] [5] [6] At the time of the sale, it was the smallest of the remaining municipal bus companies.

Operations

Bus routes

Prior to its sale in 2010, Islwyn operated 18 local bus routes centred on Caerphilly and Blackwood, taking in Cardiff and Bargoed. School contracts were also operated, but no services were run on Sundays. [3]

Its routes are now operated by Stagecoach in South Wales. [2]

Coaches

The logo for IBT's coach brand, Kingfisher Travel Kingfisher Travel logo.png
The logo for IBT's coach brand, Kingfisher Travel

The company operated coaches from 1988. Independent operator Paul Diaper Tours was taken over in 1991, and the coaching division rebranded to Kingfisher Travel. The operations were sold to Diamond Holidays in 2009. [2]

Related Research Articles

Abercarn Human settlement in Wales

Abercarn is a small town and community in Caerphilly county borough, Wales. It is 10 miles (16 km) northwest of Newport on the A467 between Cwmcarn and Newbridge, within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire.

Caerphilly Town in South Wales

Caerphilly is a town and community in Wales, United Kingdom. It is situated at the southern end of the Rhymney Valley. It is the largest town in Caerphilly County Borough, within the historic borders of Glamorgan, on the border with Monmouthshire. At the 2011 Census, the town had a population of 41,402 while the wider Caerphilly Local Authority area has a population of 178,806.

Caerphilly County Borough County borough in South Wales

Caerphilly County Borough is a county borough in southern Wales, straddling the ancient county boundary between Glamorgan and Monmouthshire. It is governed by Caerphilly County Borough Council.

Blackwood, Caerphilly Human settlement in Wales

Blackwood is a town, community and an electoral ward on the Sirhowy River in the South Wales Valleys administered as part of Caerphilly County Borough. It is located within the historic county of Monmouthshire.

Cardiff Bus Municipal bus operator in Cardiff, Wales

Cardiff Bus is the dominant operator of bus services in Cardiff, Wales and the surrounding area, including Barry and Penarth. The company is wholly owned by Cardiff Council and is one of the few municipal bus companies to remain in council ownership.

Cwmfelinfach is a small village located in the Sirhowy valley of south-east Wales. It is part of the district of Caerphilly within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire. It is located north of Wattsville, about 5 miles north of the nearest town Risca, and south of Blackwood. To the east the valley is bordered by the hills of Pen-y-Trwyn. To the west is Mynydd y Grug.

Stagecoach North West

Stagecoach North West was a major operator of bus services in North West England. It was a subsidiary of the Stagecoach Group, and had its origins in the purchase of Cumberland in 1987 and Ribble Motor Services in 1988 from the National Bus Company. The head office of Stagecoach North West was in Carlisle. Although the cities of Liverpool and Manchester are in the North West of England, Stagecoach Manchester and Stagecoach Merseyside were run as separate divisions.

Arriva North West and Wales

Arriva North West and Wales was a division of Arriva that operated bus services around North West England and Wales. It was made up from several previous bus operators including North Western, most of MTL North, the Bee Line Buzz Company, and most of what was once Crosville Motor Services.

Stagecoach South East Bus operator based in Canterbury

Stagecoach South East is the trading name of East Kent Road Car Company Limited, a bus operator based in Canterbury providing services in Kent and East Sussex in the south east of England. It is a subsidiary of Stagecoach Group.

Bedwas, Trethomas and Machen Community in Wales

Bedwas, Trethomas and Machen is a community and an electoral ward in the county borough of Caerphilly, constituting the villages of Machen, Trethomas, Bedwas, and Upper and Lower Graig-y-Rhacca. It lies in the Caerphilly Basin in the shadow of Mynydd y Grug and Mynydd Machen. All villages in the area grew as a result of the coal mining industry, which carries its legacy on today.

Bedwellty

Bedwellty was a parish and urban district in Monmouthshire, South Wales, until 1974.

Gwent (county)

Gwent is a preserved county and a former local government county in south-east Wales. It was formed on 1 April 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, and was named after the ancient Kingdom of Gwent. The authority was a successor to both the administrative county of Monmouthshire and the county borough of Newport.

National Welsh Omnibus Services was a bus company which operated in south-east Wales and in the Forest of Dean area of Gloucestershire from 1978 to 1992. It used the trading name National Welsh and its Welsh equivalent Cymru Cenedlaethol.

Stagecoach South Wales

Stagecoach in South Wales is a bus operator providing services in South East Wales. It is a subsidiary of Stagecoach.

Rail linc

rail linc is a brand name applied to routes formerly operating under the now-defunct South East Wales Transport Alliance- but now operating under NAT Group.

Red & White Services

Red & White Services was a bus company operating in south east Wales and Gloucestershire, England between 1929 and 1978.

Ynysddu Human settlement in Wales

Ynysddu is a small village and community in the Sirhowy valley of south-east Wales. It is part of the district of Caerphilly within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire. It lies btween to Cwmfelinfach and Wyllie, 4.3 miles (6.9 km) north of the town of Risca and 4 miles (6.4 km) south of the market town of Blackwood. It is about 10 minutes by road from the M4 motorway and 20 minutes from the Second Severn Crossing. The population in 2008 was 2,905, increasing to 3,948 at the 2011 Census.

Julian Peddle is an entrepreneur who has worked in the bus industry since the early 1980s, having owned or part-owned numerous bus companies. He spent 11 years as co-owner of Stevensons of Uttoxeter between 1983 and 1994, having previously been its traffic manager. During the late 1990s and early 2000s he ran Status Group, a group of small bus companies spread across England which included BakerBus, Choice Travel and MK Metro. He was a major shareholder in Tellings-Golden Miller and Centrebus Holdings before their sale to Arriva.

NAT Group

New Adventure Travel is a bus and coach company in South Wales. It is a subsidiary of ComfortDelGro.

References

  1. Companies House extract company no 2002020 Islwyn Borough Transport Limited
  2. 1 2 3 4 Lidstone, John G. (February 2010). "Fleet in Focus: Islwyn Borough Transport". Buses . Ian Allan Publishing (659): 62–63.
  3. 1 2 Tiny bus company plans to sell up to national carrier WalesOnline 5 November 2009
  4. Council deny accusations of secret ruling on bus firm sale WalesOnline, 17 December 2009
  5. Stagecoach Completes Acquisition of Islwyn Borough Transport Stagecoach 11 January 2010
  6. Islwyn Borough Transport sold to Stagecoach Caerphilly Observer 13 January 2010

Commons-logo.svg Media related to Islwyn Borough Transport at Wikimedia Commons