Trivia: Bus routes that have been lost due to an operator folding

[Martin1988]

Are there many examples of bus routes that have been lost due to the operator that providing the service ceasing to trade and the service then not being taken on by a new operator?

I know this happened back in the autumn with a few of the BCT (Bristol Community Transport) routes- primarily routes serving Bristol Airport but are there many other examples?

 

[Flange Squeal]

The two-hourly bus service between Eastleigh and Chandlers Ford (route C) was not replaced when Southampton Minilink ceased trading last October. The route had only been operating for around a month or so though, having been a partial replacement for combined hourly Xelabus routes X6/X7 which were only withdrawn themselves the previous month due to increasing costs against falling patronage.

When the Minilink proprietor’s previous previous company, Gardbus, ceased trading in 2015, I don’t recall anyone replacing their 132 between Ringwood and Wimbourne either.

 

[RELL6L]

The material business failures that I can think of which might lead to this were:
Western Greyhound - I think First took on pretty much everything but I believe the direct link from St Columb Minor to Bodmin was lost
GHA - again I think pretty much everything was covered but possibly not straight away. Did Ellesmere Port to Mold take some time to be covered?
Express Motors - I think some routes here were lost, the trunk service 1 from Caernarfon to Porthmadog, most journeys via Criccieth, only got fairly token coverage. I think the routes from Barmouth to Harlech and beyond were not replaced for a while.
Padarn Bus - I think this was mainly Gwynedd and possibly Anglesey routes which were replaced pretty quickly
Halton Transport - Arriva picked up pretty much everything that didn't duplicate, Warrington took a couple of routes
HCT Group - including Bristol Community Transport - routes were lost here in Bristol, South Yorkshire (Powells) and West Yorkshire (was it CT Plus?). Some have still not been replaced.
Bournemouth Transport - some small sections were left out but I don't think anywhere actually lost its service

Much longer ago the privatised Western Welsh went bankrupt and I don't think everything was replaced, I can't remember the sequence of events here. And there were a handful of municipal failures eg Darlington and others which were perhaps not failures but last-ditch recues, eg Barrow, Chester, Rossendale

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

The material business failures that I can think of which might lead to this were:
Western Greyhound - I think First took on pretty much everything but I believe the direct link from St Columb Minor to Bodmin was lost
GHA - again I think pretty much everything was covered but possibly not straight away. Did Ellesmere Port to Mold take some time to be covered?
Express Motors - I think some routes here were lost, the trunk service 1 from Caernarfon to Porthmadog, most journeys via Criccieth, only got fairly token coverage. I think the routes from Barmouth to Harlech and beyond were not replaced for a while.
Padarn Bus - I think this was mainly Gwynedd and possibly Anglesey routes which were replaced pretty quickly
Halton Transport - Arriva picked up pretty much everything that didn't duplicate, Warrington took a couple of routes
HCT Group - including Bristol Community Transport - routes were lost here in Bristol, South Yorkshire (Powells) and West Yorkshire (was it CT Plus?). Some have still not been replaced.
Bournemouth Transport - some small sections were left out but I don't think anywhere actually lost its service

Much longer ago the privatised Western Welsh went bankrupt and I don't think everything was replaced, I can't remember the sequence of events here. And there were a handful of municipal failures eg Darlington and others which were perhaps not failures but last-ditch recues, eg Barrow, Chester, Rossendale

Do you mean National Welsh?

When Darlington collapsed, Stagecoach had registered everything (including the mad unsustainable stuff Darlington registered when in their death spiral) and was operating it for free. So literally a shadow network existed.

When Nippy Bus shut up shop, some routes weren't replaced for 3-4 weeks and when they were, I think a few small settlements were left off the map. Also in Somerset, Webberbus had a number of competing services that were, naturally, not replaced. They introduced a strange Bridgwater to Yeovil service (which was when you knew they'd jumped the shark) that competed with the Hatch Green tendered service from Bridgwater to Langport, and then competed from Langport to Yeovil against First's 54. Suffice to say that the direct link we never knew we needed, didn't survive!

 

[RELL6L]

Yes, National Welsh!
Was doing this all from memory, which is not that good... I had forgotten Webberbus but now you mention it I recall it well, I had used it not long before they imploded, unsustainable services and new leased vehicles. Don't really recall Nippy Bus going under.

 

[LiviCrazy]

If I remember rightly we lost the connection between Livingston and Wishaw once Blue Bus gave up their service operations.

First picked up the connection to Shotts and Stuart’s of Carluke picked up the connection to Lanark but the Wishaw connection was permanently lost.

 

[Roger1973]

After Tillingbourne Buses ceased trading abruptly in 2001, the Reading - Yateley routes (140-142) did not get replaced.

As bus stops in the Berkshire patch are operator's responsibility, there were a few abandoned bus stops complete with Tillingbourne flags and fading timetables in Eversley until a few years ago (the ones I'm aware of got replaced by Reading Buses when they started a school service through the village.)

 

[JD2168]

In South Yorkshire the Powells 10/10a has not been replaced despite many requests from residents for it to be reintroduced. Some of the services that were replaced got poorer frequencies than before some examples being:
5 Sheffield to Firth Park, now only runs between 10am & 3pm on Monday to Friday instead of all day.
61/62 Bradfield circulars never regained their Sunday service.

 

[JKP]

Lanark to Edinburgh is a lost route. Wilson’s of Carnwath and SMT/Eastern Scottish have operated services between these two places in the past though by different routes.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Don't really recall Nippy Bus going under

Nippy Bus was the South Somerset operator where the owner closed the firm down overnight in Oct 2017, firing off a memo sacking the drivers that said according to the Daily Mail...

The internal message, which was sent over the weekend, said the company had 'ceased operational activity with immediate effect' from Sunday. It added: 'I am quitting to pursue my dream of not having to work here. There is a difference between giving up and knowing when you have had enough. I have had enough and realise I cannot work with you, the people I employ, a moment longer.' The memo also says that 'the gates are now closed and will not open so you [staff] can stay in your scratchers Monday and have a lie in'.

First and South West Coaches covered most of the stage work, with various operators doings schools. However, they couldn't cover everything and I think Somerset Council ended up doing some stuff

 

[Tetchytyke]

When Pennine went bust most stuff got replaced, either by Transdev or by Kirkby Lonsdale coaches. But some of their stuff only got replaced with North Yorkshire County Council minibuses.

 

[robertclark125]

Back in the early 1990s, Black's of Lochgelly had the tender for the Burntisland Town service, and they decided to run a Lochgelly to Burntisland service, via Cowdenbeath. It wasn't frequent, about four journeys each way a day, using one minibus. When Black's ceased trading in 1995, Stagecoach picked up the Burntisland Town service, currently worked by Bay Travel, but the section of route from Cowdenbeath to Burntisland has never been replaced.

 

[Deerfold]

When Pennine went bust most stuff got replaced, either by Transdev or by Kirkby Lonsdale coaches. But some of their stuff only got replaced with NYCC minibuses.

Several routes went from hourly services until early evening, useful for someone working 9-5 in Skipton to 2 or 3 a day.

 

[NorthernSpirit]

61/62 Bradfield circulars never regained their Sunday service.

They did go out for tender sometime last year but no operator stepped up to put in a bid, I and a few other emailed South Pennine CT to see if they'd be willing to run the Bradfield circulars as South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive have the Sunday service out to tender but heard nothing back.


Other routes lost when an operator went into liquidation were:
- Tates Travel service 92/92A which ran from Barnsley to Holmfirth via Cawthorne and Penistone. The route ended up being taken on by Stagecoach who split service leading to the 92 being curtailed to run between Barnsley and Cawthorne only, with the Penistone to Holmfirth section becoming the 25 and interworked with the 23 Penistone to Barnsley. The Sunday service on the 25 was later canned because of the lack of passengers. Shame Stagecoach scrubbed the Sunday extention to Holmfirth on the 57/57A/X57 services as that could have partially replaced the lost link.

- LOT / Ladies Only Travel services when they went down the pan, Arriva regained the evening service on one route, the Bradford City Bus was lost and never replaced along with the 951 between Huddersfield and Glossop in which the service was quietly dropped in 2017 after it came apparent that no operator was wanting to take it on.

- TJ Walsh whose services were in part replaced by South Pennine CT taking on the MetroConnect 257/258 Brighouse to Elland service, the 564 Brighouse to Barkisland and the Elland "E" network of services. The 257, 258 and 564 were absorbed into the Elland E network as services E1 (257), E2 (258) and E4 (564). Anything around Illingworth and Ovenden was more or less replaced by First Halifax's "Red Arrow" services 521/522/523 (Halifax to Illingworth) and the 504 was taken on by Yorkshire Tiger but I'm sure they renumbered it to the 502. Certain sections weren't replaced. The E6 (Elland to Exley) was scrapped and hasn't been replaced and even its replacement the E9 that ran between Elland and Rosemount Estate which is a good five minute walk was also scrapped, maybe this is down to the fact that it ran in the afternoon unlike the mornings E5 to Jagger Green which is still going.

- Ryburn Taxibus service 909 in part has been replaced over the year by various services at the east end of the route mostly between Ripponden / Barkisland and Brighouse via Cromwell Bottom under various route numbers such as (279, MC4, E8, E7, 564 and now E4) but the section between Ripponden and the outlaying area south west of Rishworth have never been replaced.

- CT Plus (Yorkshire) the Huddersfield locals were taken over by Arriva (377/378 Quarmby?), South Pennine taking the 341 Huddersfield to Stocksmoor service and TLC taking the 354/355 Huddersfield to Slaithwaite/Slawit.

- Halifax Joint Committee's "Town Services" 28A Highroad Well, 34 Claremount and 36 Rye Lane were taken on by Centrebus Holdings in 2010. This is around the same time that the C68 Halifax Sainsbury's and C70 Brighouse Tesco shopperbuses were taken on by TJ Walsh and Geldards (both of who went bust themsleves) and any other work that they (HJC) had was disposed of as the 509 Halifax to Bradford via Shelf was withdrawn along with the X79 Halifax to Dewsbury and the 392 Walsden to Halifax? These town services have since been renumbered many times and some sections of the route may have been replaced.