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National Bus Company

Western National Bristol VR in Forder in May 1979
Parent	Department of Transport
Founded	1 January 1969
Ceased operation	April 1988
Headquarters	London
Service area	England & Wales
Service type	Bus operator

The National Bus Company (NBC) was a nationalised bus company that operated in England and Wales between 1969 and 1988. NBC did not run buses itself, but was the owner of a number of regional subsidiary bus operating companies.

History

National Welsh Omnibus Services Leyland Leopard at Cardiff Central bus station in the poppy red and white "dual purpose" version of the NBC corporate livery in June 1980

Green Line Leyland National on Oxford Street, London in July 1976

Background

Following the Labour Party victory at the 1966 general election, Barbara Castle was appointed Minister for Transport. Castle immediately ordered a review of public transport, with a view to formulating a new transport policy.

Among the issues to be tackled were the ownership and operation of bus services, which were rapidly losing patronage and profitability due to increased prevalence of private motor cars.^[1] The state owned a considerable proportion of scheduled bus operators outside the major cities, having obtained the Tilling Group companies in 1948 as a byproduct of nationalising the railways. The Tilling Group was subsequently placed under the ownership of the nationalised Transport Holding Company (THC). London Transport was also nationalised in 1948 and others voluntarily aquiesced, such as Red & White in 1950. When the Labour Party suddenly lost power to the Conservatives in 1951, the Nationisation Policy remained unfinished.

Castle proposed forming regional transport authorities, which would take over the THC subsidiaries and municipal transport undertakings in their area, and would also have the power to acquire private bus operators.^[1] However, in November 1967 British Electric Traction (BET) unexpectedly offered to sell its bus operations to the government.^[2] BET, who had been the only major private bus operating group, received £35 million for its 25 provincial bus companies and 11,300 vehicles.^[3] The deal meant that the state or municipal bus operators now operated some 90% of scheduled bus services in England and Wales.^[1] Instead of forming the regional authorities, the government published a white paper proposing the merger of the THC and BET organisations into a single National Bus Company.^[4][5]

The recommendations of the white paper formed part of the Transport Act 1968. The 1968 Act also reorganised the already nationalised bus operation in Scotland, where subsidiaries formed the Scottish Bus Group.^[6]

Formation

The National Bus Company was formed on 1 January 1969.^[7]

In 1970, the company was enlarged when it acquired the country area buses of London Transport (as London Country Bus Services), the bus operations of the county boroughs of Exeter and Luton, and the Gosport & Fareham Omnibus Company, trading under the name of Provincial.^[8]

Buses were operated by locally managed subsidiary companies, with their own fleetnames and liveries. In the early years of the company, there was some rationalisation, generally leading to the amalgamation of operators into larger units and the transfer of areas between them. One was the merging of Aldershot & District with Thames Valley on 1 January 1972.^[9] Another example was the transfer of the 'land-locked' Trowbridge operations from Western National to Bristol Omnibus in 1970.

Corporate identity

Eastern Coach Works bodied Bristol in Weymouth in 1978 in National Express livery

Following the appointment of Fred Wood as chairman in 1972, NBC introduced corporate images. Henceforward its coaches were branded as National Travel and painted in unrelieved white, with the NBC logo and the 'NATIONAL' name in alternate red & blue letters. The services were rebranded as National Express soon afterwards. The addition of blue and white stripes appeared in 1978. National Travel was the country's first attempt at a uniformly marketable express network, which superseded Associated Motorways and the plethora of other services provided by individual NBC subsidiaries. The coaches were managed by a few areas and included travel agent booking offices based at major bus stations. A hub and spoke system operated with the main hub at Cheltenham (though this did not serve the North of England very well).

Around the same time the company launched a wide number of UK holiday services under the banner "National Holidays". This brand and its travel agent booking offices existed until the mid-1990s when the coach holiday division closed.

The National Express overseas travel business was relaunched under the name Eurolines; this brand now operates services from the UK across Europe, booked through the main National Express website.

Southern Vectis fleetname and "double-N" logo on leaf green livery

In the 1970s all local service buses adopted a uniform design, generally in either leaf green or poppy red, initially with white relief, and bearing the company fleetname in white with the new NBC "double-N" arrow logo. There were, however, exceptions: buses operating in the area of the Tyne & Wear Passenger Transport Executive became yellow in a similar fashion to the PTE's own fleet but to the NBC design; some buses operating within West Yorkshire were liveried in WYPTE verona green and cream; Jones (Aberbeeg) and Midland General both liveried in blue until 1980, and the Northern General subsidiary, Sunderland District, also retained blue for a short period.

Area of operation

Although NBC operated throughout England and Wales, it was not a monopoly. Services were provided by London Transport in Greater London, the fleets of the municipal bus companies and passenger transport executives, and by independent operators in some rural areas and a few small towns.

Bus manufacture

Trent Motor Traction Eastern Coach Works bodied Bristol RE and Leyland National at Derby bus station in January 1980

The NBC inherited from the Transport Holding Company 75% shareholdings in chassis manufacturer Bristol Commercial Vehicles and body builder Eastern Coach Works.^[7] In 1969 NBC formed a joint venture with British Leyland (who owned the other 25% of Bristol and ECW), by means of which British Leyland became a 50% owner of the NBC's manufacturing companies. The joint venture designed and built a new single-deck bus, the Leyland National. The first was delivered in 1972, and it remained in production until 1986. The National was also available to other bus operators. In 1982 NBC sold its 50% interest in the joint venture (including Bristol and ECW) to British Leyland.

Service reforms

In the late 1970s and early 1980s services were reviewed under a process known within instigator Midland Red as the Viable Network Project and subsequently more generally as the "Market Analysis Project" (MAP). Each company carefully considered its existing and potential new demands, surveyed both on and off bus, and recast local networks to reflect the results, indicating to local authorities those services requiring subsidy. As part of the MAP local area identities were invariably introduced, with new fleetnames applied to buses, bus stops, timetables and publicity. The process culminated in the splitting of several larger NBC subsidiaries.

Deregulation and privatisation

Midland Red Eastern Coach Works bodied Leyland Leopard in National Holidays livery

From 1986 buses were deregulated and progressively privatised, and the remaining larger companies were forcibly broken up.

NBC was divided into 70 units, with the first sale being of National Holidays to Pleasurama in July 1986.^[10] The last sale was completed in April 1988.^[11][12][13]

The sales spawned a renewed interest in individual liveries, and the "double-N" logo disappeared. However, it was kept by National Express when it was sold to their management, and continued to be used until 2003, when the NBC logo finally disappeared in favour of a new logo, since replaced in 2007. Most local companies passed from state control to management buyouts.^[11] The independence of many however, was short lived, as they were acquired by the emerging large private bus groups, represented today by:

• Abellio


• Arriva


• FirstGroup


• Go-Ahead Group


• National Express


• RATP Group


• Stagecoach Group


• Transdev

Subsidiaries

Preserved former Crosville Eastern Coach Works bodied Bristol VR in August 2010

Midland Red South Leyland National in Tamworth in 1986

Original companies

The original bus-operating subsidiaries of the National Bus Company in 1969 and 1970 were:

• 
  Aldershot & District
  
  • Beeline operated the northern franchise of Alder Valley, introducing a minibus hopper called Busy Bees.
  
  


• Bath Services - absorbed by Bristol Omnibus in December 1969. Buses continued to carry "Bath" fleetnames.
  


• Black & White Luxury Coaches


• 
  Brighton, Hove & District – became a subsidiary of Southdown in January 1969
  


• 
  Bristol ‡


• Cheltenham District – a subsidiary of Bristol
  


• County Motors – absorbed by Yorkshire Traction 1969
  


• Crinage's – coach fleetname and livery used by Southern Vectis
  


• Crosville


• Cumberland


• 
  Devon General - absorbed Exeter Corporation buses 1 April 1970
  


• East Kent


• East Midland


• Eastern National


• East Yorkshire


• Eastern Counties


• Fountain Coaches – coach fleetname and livery used by Southern Vectis
  


• Gateshead & District – a subsidiary of Northern General
  


• 
  Green Line – coach fleetname and livery used by London Country
  


• Greenslades Tours – coaches only
  


• Grey Cars – coach fleetname and livery used by Devon General
  


• Hants & Dorset


• Hebble – coaches only
  


• Jones - Independent operator acquired April 1969
  


• Lincolnshire


• 
  London Country – formed 1 January 1970 from the country area services of London Transport
  


• Maidstone & District


• Mansfield District


• Mexborough & Swinton – absorbed by Yorkshire Traction 1969
  


• Midland General


• 
  Midland Red (Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Company)


• Neath & Cardiff Luxury Coaches


• Northern General


• North Western


• Notts & Derby – fleetname used by Midland General, it had been a separate company until 1953.
  


• Oxford (City of Oxford Motor Services)


• Potteries Motor Traction


• Provincial (Gosport & Fareham Omnibus Company) - acquired from the Swaine Group 1 January 1970
  


• Red & White Services


• Rhondda


• Ribble


• 
  Royal Blue – coach fleetname and livery used by Western National
  


• Samuelson - coaches only
  


• Shamrock & Rambler – coach fleetname and livery used by Hants and Dorset, also the Bournemouth operation of National Travel South West.
  


• Sheffield United Tours


• South Midland - coaches only
  


• South Wales


• Southdown


• Southern National – absorbed by Western National in November 1969
  


• Southern Vectis


• Standerwick – coach operating subsidiary of Ribble
  


• Stratford Blue (Stratford-upon-Avon Blue Motors) – a subsidiary of Midland Red
  


• Sunderland District – a subsidiary of Northern General
  


• Thames Valley Traction


• Thomas Bros


• Tilling's Transport – coaches only
  


• Timpson (A Timpson and Sons) – coaches only
  


• Trent Motor Traction


• Tynemouth and District Transport – a subsidiary of Northern General
  


• Tyneside Omnibus Company – a subsidiary of Northern General
  


• United Automobile Services


• United Counties – acquired Luton Corporation buses January 1970
  


• United Welsh


• 
  Venture Transport – acquired April 1970 and immediately placed under Northern General control as a subsidiary
  


• Wakefield's – absorbed by Northern General 1969
  


• West Riding


• 
  West Yorkshire †


• Western National


• Western Welsh


• Wilts & Dorset


• Yorkshire Traction


• Yorkshire Woollen

‡Bristol Omnibus Company also operated city services in Bristol for Bristol Joint Services, a joint undertaking of the company and Bristol City Council. It also leased services from the county borough of Gloucester, buses in the city bearing a Gloucester fleetname and city coat of arms.

†Keighley-West Yorkshire Services, jointly owned by West Yorkshire and the Borough of Keighley, operated by this company. They also provided municipal bus services for the County Borough of York on behalf of the York-West Yorkshire Joint Committee.

Consolidation

NBC pursued a policy of merging subsidiaries to form larger regional companies. At the same time some of its operations and depots passed to passenger transport executives. On 1 January 1972, North Western was split up: part going to the SELNEC PTE, the remainder to Crosville and Trent. In 1973 the operations of Midland Red within the area of West Midlands PTE passed to the executive.

NBC bus-operating subsidiaries in 1981

United Automobile Services Northern General Cumberland Ribble West Yorkshire East Yorkshire West Riding / Yorkshire Woollen Yorkshire Traction East Midland / Mansfield Lincolnshire Potteries Motor Traction Trent Motor Traction Midland Red Crosville United Counties Eastern Counties South Wales / De Cymru National Welsh / Cymru Cenedlaethol Bristol Oxford South Midland Eastern National Alder Valley London Country / Green Line Western National / Devon General Hants & Dorset Southern Vectis Provincial Southdown Maidstone & District East Kent

By 1978 the following bus-operating companies existed:

• 
  Alder Valley – formed 1 January 1972 from Aldershot & District and Thames Valley
  


• 
  Bristol – absorbed Cheltenham District Traction in 1975, separate "Cheltenham" fleetname retained
  


• Crosville


• Cumberland


• 
  Devon General became subsidiary of Western National in 1971
  


• East Kent


• East Midland – absorbed Mansfield District in 1975, separate "Mansfield" fleetname retained
  


• East Yorkshire


• Eastern Counties


• Eastern National


• 
  Hants & Dorset – absorbed Wilts & Dorset 1972
  


• Jones (finally absorbed by National Welsh 1980)
  


• Lincolnshire


• London Country


• Maidstone & District


• 
  Midland Red (Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Company) – absorbed Stratford Blue 1971
  


• National Travel London – formed 1974 from Samuelson, Timpson's and Tillings (as National Travel South East), renamed 1978
  


• National Travel East – formed 1973 (as National Travel North East) from Hebble, Sheffield United Tours, renamed 1977
  


• National Travel South West – formed 1973 from Black & White, Greenslades, Grey Cars
  


• National Travel West formed 1977 from National Travel North West (formed 1974 from Standerwick) and National Travel Midlands (formed 1973 from part of former South Midland)


• 
  National Welsh – formed 1978 from Western Welsh (which had absorbed Rhondda in 1971 and Red and White
  


• 
  Northern General – absorbed Sunderland District, Tynemouth & District, Venture 1975; absorbed Tyneside, Gateshead & District 1976
  


• Oxford (City of Oxford Motor Services) – absorbed South Midland January 1971
  


• Potteries Motor Traction


• Provincial (Gosport & Fareham Omnibus Company)


• Ribble


• 
  South Wales – absorbed Neath & Cardiff, Thomas Bros, United Welsh 1971
  


• 
  Southdown – absorbed Brighton, Hove & District, March 1974
  


• Southern Vectis


• Trent Motor Traction, absorbed Midland General 1971


• United Automobile Services


• United Counties


• West Riding


• West Yorkshire


• Western National


• Yorkshire Traction


• Yorkshire Woollen – under West Riding management
  

Break-up and privatisation

In 1981 Midland Red, weakened by losing its core area, was broken into six smaller operating companies. Most of the National Travel companies were closed down in the mid-1980s, with coaches mainly going to local bus companies. Wessex National was formed from part of National Travel South West, and Pilgrim Coaches from part of National Travel West.

In preparation for the introduction of deregulation in 1986, and for privatisation soon after, many of the companies were broken up into smaller units. In some cases the names of earlier companies – such as Wilts & Dorset or North Western – were revived, although often with quite different areas from their namesakes.

NBC bus-operating subsidiaries at privatisation

Northumbria Northern General United Cumberland Ribble West Yorkshire East Yorkshire West Riding / Yorkshire Woollen Yorkshire Traction North Western Crosville East Midland / Mansfield Lincolnshire Potteries Motor Traction Trent Motor Traction Crosville Wales Midland Red North Midland Red West Midland Fox Midland Red South United Counties Cambus Milton Keynes City Bus Eastern Counties Luton & District Eastern National/Thamesway South Wales / De Cymru National Welsh / Cymru Cenedlaethol Cheltenham & Gloucester Oxford South Midland Badgerline Bristol Western National North Devon (Red Bus) Devon General Southern National Wilts & Dorset Hampshire Bus Southern Vectis Provincial The Beeline Alder Valley South Southdown Brighton & Hove Bus & Coach Company London Country North West London Country North East London Country South West Kentish Bus Hastings & District Maidstone & District East Kent

Two additional non-bus-operating subsidiaries were also disposed of in 1988:

• 
  National Express Limited was sold to its management.


• 
  Victoria Coach Station Limited passed to the state-owned London Transport.

The Scarborough operations of United Automobile Services passed to East Yorkshire Motor Services in September 1986.

References

Sources

• Stewart J Brown, NBC: antecedents and formation, Shepperton, 1983


• D R Kennedy and A Kennedy, National Bus Company 1981, Oxford, 1982


• Ray Stenning, A National Bus Company Album, Wiveliscombe, 1979


• Ray Stenning, The Years before National 1948 – 1968, Swindon, 1982