 | |
%2c_Bolton_Victoria_Square_bus_rally%2c_2_May_2009_(2).jpg) | |
| Founded | May 1919; 106 years ago (1919-05) |
|---|---|
| Ceased operation | May 1989; 36 years ago (1989-05) |
| Headquarters | Preston |
| Service area | Lancashire Cumbria Merseyside Greater Manchester |
| Service type | Bus operator |
Ribble Motor Services[1] was a large regional bus operator inNorth West England based inPreston.
Ribble Motor Services commenced operations in May 1919 following the acquisition of a depot consisting of fourdouble-decker and onesingle-deck bus inGregson Lane; bus services operated out of the depot consisted of services from Preston to Gregson Lane,Bamber Bridge,Higher Walton andLongridge.[2][3] Multiple companies were acquired throughout the 1920s and 1930s, including W. C. Standerwick ofBlackpool in 1934, which was eventually rationalised as the name used for Ribble's coach excursion operations,[4] and Ribble Motor Services soon grew to be the largest operator in the region, with a territory eventually stretching fromCarlisle inCumberland to southernLancashire at the company's peak.[5]
In 1961, the Scout Motor Services business was purchased, initially organised as a subsidiary of Ribble Motor Services.[6] Scout's operations were later absorbed into both Ribble and W.C. Standerwick in 1968.[7][8]
On 1 January 1969, Ribble Motor Services, then a subsidiary ofBritish Electric Traction, passed into the ownership of the state-ownedNational Bus Company following the passing of theTransport Act 1968.[9]
.jpg)
Prior to thederegulation of bus services in 1986, Ribble's territory was reduced with the company's north Cumbrian operations passing toCumberland Motor Services and Merseyside operations to a recreatedNorth Western.[10] As part of the privatisation of the National Bus Company, Ribble was sold on 2 March 1988 in amanagement buyout.[11][12] In April 1989, Ribble was purchased byStagecoach Holdings.[13]
The following May, Barrow Borough Transport was purchased by Stagecoach Ribble,[14] and shortly afterwards, the company's Cumbrian operations based from depots inKendal,Barrow-in-Furness andUlverston were transferred to fellow Stagecoach subsidiaryCMS Cumberland, leaving Stagecoach Ribble with operations only in Lancashire andGreater Manchester.[15] Stagecoach Ribble went on to acquire the depot and 20 vehicles from the fleet of Lancaster City Transport in 1993,[16][17] followed by the operations of Hyndburn Transport in 1996.[18]
In April 2001, Stagecoach sold the Ribble operations inBlackburn,Hyndburn,Clitheroe andBolton to theBlazefield Group for £13 million, which rebranded them asLancashire United andBurnley & Pendle.[19]
As a subsidiary of Stagecoach, the company remained registered as Ribble Motor Services. Its services were operated under the trading name Ribble Buses, then as Stagecoach Ribble, Stagecoach in Lancashire (which became part ofStagecoach North West) and finally as part ofStagecoach Merseyside & South Lancashire.[citation needed] Its bus routes were transferred to Glenvale Transport Ltd (formerlyStagecoach Merseyside) in 2013.[20][full citation needed] In 2021, Stagecoach Merseyside & South Lancashire changed their trading name from Glenvale Transport Limited to Ribble Motor Services Limited to reflect heritage of the Ribble brand.[citation needed]
![[icon]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aWiki_letter_w_cropped.svg) | This sectionneeds expansion with: more information about Ribble's local services across Lancashire, Merseyside and Cumbria. You can help byadding to it.(July 2023) |
_(cropped).jpg)
Upon the creation of the National Bus Company in January 1969, Ribble Motor Services gained the Carlisle operations ofUnited Automobile Services, which too had joined the National Bus Company. United had established a presence in Carlisle in 1931, building a depot on Scotch Street in 1938, which was acquired by Ribble Motor Services alongside United's bus services in the city.[21]
Ribble Motor Services was one of several operators to operate in theMerseyside region in the 1950s and 1960s, following the acquisition of a number of bus operators in the area. Following the acquisition of Waterloo and Crosby Motor Services, Ribble operated 12 'L'-prefixed services from Liverpool toWaterloo,Crosby, Hall Road andThornton viaBootle andSeaforth. Operating for nineteen hours a day, these services had bus frequencies that varied between every seven minutes to every 30 minutes.[22] Joint agreements for Ribble Motor Services to run bus services across both Liverpool as well asSt Helens were made by both cities' respective corporations' transport departments on several occasions.[23]In January 1972, Ribble signed an agency agreement with Merseyside Passenger Transport Executive, giving the Executive in the PTE area control of Ribble's services. Much rationalisation of both operators' activities took place in the north Merseyside area, but Ribble buses kept to their traditional areas. In the run-up to deregulation in 1986, Ribble's depots at Bootle, Southport, Aintree, Wigan and Liverpool were transferred to a new company, North Western Road Car.
Ribble Motor Services was notable for operating a number of express bus and coach services across Great Britain. In the early 1930s, after reaching inter-working agreements with various regional bus operators in both England and Scotland, Ribble began serving destinations such asBarnsley, Carlisle,Doncaster,Edinburgh,Glasgow,Halifax,Huddersfield,Leeds,Newcastle upon Tyne,Middlesbrough,Scarborough andWakefield.[5]
Ribble Motor Services, as well as theNorth Western Road Car Company andLancashire United Transport, jointly operated the service X60 and X70 between Manchester, Bolton,Chorley, Preston and Blackpool.[5] This joint operation, first started in 1928, was known[according to whom?] as the world's most frequent express service in the 1960s, maintaining a scheduled departure every fifteen minutes in the summer.[citation needed]
Ribble Motor Services made use of double-deck coaches known as 'White Ladies' for this service, first introduced in the form of a combination of Burlingham and laterEast Lancashire Coachbuilders-bodied 8 feet (2.4 m) wideLeyland Titan PD2s in the late 1940s.[5][24]
Throughout the 1950s the 'White Ladies' ran on all the major express and limited stop services out of Lower Mosley Street, Manchester. In particular they served the routes due north including X3 & X13 toGreat Harwood, X23Clitheroe,X43Skipton andColne, X53Burnley, and X66Blackburn. They also ran on the X27 service from Liverpool to Skipton viaSouthport.
In 1962, the 'White Lady' Leyland Titan PD2s were replaced by 20Leyland Atlanteans with coach-seatedWeymann bodies. As the buses were used on medium-distance express services as opposed to long-distance services, no toilet facility was carried, increasing seating capacity on the coaches from 50 to 59.[25] These 'White Lady' Atlanteans were retained into NBC ownership, albeit eventually downgraded to service buses by the application of standard NBC livery.
%2c_Showbus_2010_(2).jpg)
Motorways were developed in the late 1950s, and in 1958, theM6 Preston Bypass, located within Ribble Motor Services' operating area, was opened as the first motorway in the United Kingdom. In November 1959, Ribble Motor Services were granted authorisation by the NorthernTraffic Commissioner to operate a service fromKeswick to London'sVictoria Coach Station via the newM1 motorway;[26] in order to accommodate long-distance motorway travel, Ribble Motor Services had developed the 'Gay Hostess' double-deck express coach, based on theLeyland Atlantean chassis, featuring 50 reclining seats, a toilet and spaces for luggage.[citation needed] The 'Gay Hostess' Leyland Atlantean coaches were split between Ribble, who operated 15, and subsidiary Standerwick, who operated 22.[27][28]
To replace the 'Gay Hostess' Atlanteans, a 60-seater double-deck coach built on aBristol VRL/LH chassis was developed around 1968 for motorway running by the Standerwick subsidiary. TheEastern Coach Works-bodied coach was driven by a Leyland Power Plus 680 engine mounted vertically and longitudinally behind the offside rear axle.[29][30] In total, 30 Bristol VRL coaches were delivered.[citation needed]
The company mainly operatedLeyland vehicles, which were built nearby inLeyland, Lancashire. Under the ownership of the National Bus Company, Ribble standardised on Leyland National single-deckers andLeyland Leopard coaches.[31][32] Two prototypeLeyland Olympians withEastern Coach Works bodies were delivered to Ribble in 1980;[33] Ribble went on to purchase further ECW-bodied Olympians for 'Timesaver' express services between Burnley and Manchester in 1984.[34]
In 1949, Sentinel developed an underfloor-engined single-deck bus, which increased the seating capacity to a total of 40 seats. Ribble took two batches of these buses.[35] In the 1960s, Ribble ordered ten lightweight Bedford coaches for their extended tour fleet.[specify]
A batch ofBristol RELL single-deck buses was delivered to Ribble Motor Services in 1968, shortly before the government brought together Leyland Bus and the National Bus Company into the plan to build theLeyland National bus factory in Cumberland.[36] After the first batch of 10 fitted with Leyland engines showed poor fuel economy, a larger batch of 56 Bristol RESLs equipped withGardner engines were ordered in 1969.[37] SomeBristol VR double-deckers were also acquired in 1970.[38]
Two batches of thelowbridgeAlbion Lowlander double-decker bus were purchased by Ribble, all being the LR1 model. These had a fully fronted cab and were a replica of the highbridge PD3s that Ribble operated; they were not popular buses.[according to whom?] Ribble acquired a 17th example when they took over Bamber Bridge Motor Services; this was Ribble's only half-cab Lowlander.[citation needed]
Ribble's head office was located on Frenchwood Avenue, Preston, and was opened in 1937.[39] At its peak in 1949, Ribble Motor Services had over 40 depots across Lancashire, Merseyside and Cumbria of varying size and use.[5]
Operations in the Merseyside area were based at depots in Liverpool, Bootle, Seaforth Sands andAintree in the 1950s.[22] In 1979, a new open-plan depot was brought into use in Bootle 250 yards (230 m) away from the original garage on Hawthorne Road.[40] Bootle depot was acquired by Liverpool independent company Liverline in 1992 and is still in use today byArriva Merseyside.[41] Other new depots were constructed in Carlisle in 1967,[42] as well as inSkelmersdale in October 1974, replacing an existing site inOrmskirk.[43]
One depot was a former railway terminus, this being the formerSouthport Lord Street railway station, once owned by theSouthport and Cheshire Lines Extension Railway, which had closed in 1952. Ribble Motor Services converted the former railway building into a bus station, which opened in 1954, and later added maintenance facilities to commence the former station's use as Ribble's Southport depot.[44]
Media related toRibble Motor Services (bus company) at Wikimedia Commons
