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.
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 consequence of nationalising the railways, all of which had substantial shareholdings in the Tilling Group, having previously merged into it their own bus operations.[2][3] 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 acquiesced, the last being Red & White in 1950. When the Labour Party suddenly lost power to the Conservatives in 1951, the nationalization programme 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.[4] BET, who had been the only major private bus operating group, received £35 million for its 25 provincial bus companies and 11,300 vehicles.[5] 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.[6][7]
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.[8]
Formation
The National Bus Company was formed on 1 January 1969.[9]
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.[11] Another example was the transfer of the 'land-locked' Trowbridge operations from Western National to Bristol Omnibus in 1970.
Following the appointment of Fred Wood as chairman in 1972, the National Bus Company introduced a corporate identity designed by Norman Wilson, who had previously worked with Wood to reshape the identity of the Croda International chemical company. The company's coaches, which previously carried the traditional colours of local subsidiaries, were re-branded as 'National' and painted in unrelieved white, with the NBC logo and the 'NATIONAL' name in alternate red & blue letters using a bespoke typeface. The 'white coach' played a prominent part in changing the image of coach travel, taking advantage of the new national motorway network to offer a consistent national service.[12] The services were rebranded as National Express soon afterwards. The addition of blue and white stripes appeared in 1978.[13] 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.
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 re-launched under the name Eurolines: this brand now operates services from the UK across Europe, booked through the main National Express website.
Example of Norman Wilson's NBC symbol and company identifier ('fleetname') using Wilson's bespoke National lettering, in the green monochrome version of the 1972 corporate identity. Southern Vectis was one of 14 local operating companies which adopted the green version of the identity in 1972. The red version of Norman Wilson's NBC identity for local buses, applied to a Leyland National bus as specified in his Corporate Identity Manual. Eastern Counties was one of 24 local operating companies which adopted the red version of the identity in 1972.
In the 1970s all local service buses adopted a uniform design under Norman Wilson's corporate identity scheme, generally in either leaf green or poppy red, with white relief. All vehicles bore the local company fleetname in white in the bespoke National lettering/Wilson National typeface designed by Wilson and based on Akzidenz-Grotesk. The fleetname was aligned with Wilson's new NBC symbol, an italicised 'N' and its shadow forming an arrow, with the dimensions and positions precisely defined in Wilson's corporate identity manuals of 1972 and 1976.[14][15] Though around 95 per cent of the company's buses appeared in one of the two standard colours,[16] there were exceptions. Buses operating in the area of the Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Executive used yellow in a similar fashion to the PTE's own fleet but to the NBC specifications for layout and colour; some buses operating within West Yorkshire were liveried in WYPTE verona green and cream; Jones (Aberbeeg) was liveried in blue, while local subsidiaries East Yorkshire, Midland General and the Northern General subsidiary, Sunderland District, also retained blue for short periods.[13][17][18]
The NBC inherited from the Transport Holding Company 75% shareholdings in chassis manufacturer Bristol Commercial Vehicles and body builder Eastern Coach Works.[9] 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). This followed on from the West Oxfordshire Market Analysis Project conducted in 1975 by the newly formed Public Transport Unit of Oxfordshire County Council. With an all-county remit Oxfordshire included services from the Banbury area running into the West Oxfordshire survey area. Having assisted in the programme and been fully informed as to the findings, the Midland Red Area Manager (Brian Barrett) was able to recommend that the programme should be extended elsewhere within National Bus Company. Conscious of the very limited information on their market (their passengers), NBC extended the programme throughout the areas served by the subsidiary Companies. 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 fleet names applied to buses, bus stops, timetables and publicity. The process culminated in the splitting of several larger NBC subsidiaries.
From 1986, bus services in the UK were deregulated and progressively privatised, with the remaining larger companies forcibly broken up.
NBC was divided into 70 units, with the first sale being of National Holidays to Pleasurama in July 1986.[19] The last sale was completed in April 1988.[20][21][22]
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.[20] The independence of many however, was short lived, as they were acquired by the emerging large private bus groups, represented today by:
Hebble Motor Services Ltd. – Became part of West Riding group in 1969 and absorbed Yorkshire Woollen's coach fleet in 1970. Bus operations were transferred to West Yorkshire and the Halifax Joint Omnibus Committee in 1970 and 1971 respectively. Hebble thereafter operated coaches only. Merged into National Travel (North East) 1974.
Jones Omnibus Services Ltd. Independent operator acquired in 1969 and operated as a subsidiary of Red & White. Became part of Western Welsh group 1974. Merged into National Welsh in 1978.
Keighley–West Yorkshire Services Ltd. – Jointly owned by West Yorkshire and the Borough of Keighley. Absorbed by West Yorkshire in 1974.
Neath & Cardiff Luxury Coaches Ltd. (coaches only) Split between Western Welsh and South Wales in 1970–71.
Notts & Derby (i.e. Nottinghamshire & Derbyshire Traction Co. Ltd.) – Midland General subsidiary, absorbed by Trent in 1972.
North Western Road Car Co. Ltd. – Bus operations split between SELNEC PTE, Crosville and Trent in 1972. North Western thereafter operated coaches only. Renamed National Travel (North West) in 1974.
W. C. Standerwick Ltd. (coaches only). Ribble subsidiary, absorbed by National Travel (North West) 1974.
Stratford Blue (i.e. Stratford-upon-Avon Blue Motors Ltd.) – Midland Red subsidiary, absorbed by Midland Red 1971.
Sunderland District Omnibus Co. Ltd. – Northern General subsidiary, absorbed by Northern General 1975.
Thames Valley Traction Co. Ltd., including South Midland coach unit. South Midland transferred to City of Oxford in 1971, Thames Valley merged into Thames Valley & Aldershot 1972.
Thomas Bros. (Port Talbot) Ltd. – Absorbed by South Wales in 1971.
Tilling's Travel (NBC) Ltd. (coaches only) – Eastern National subsidiary, absorbed by Eastern National in 1970 but re-established in 1971. Merged into National Travel (South East) 1974.
A. Timpson & Sons Ltd. (coaches only) – Merged into National Travel (South East) 1974.
West Yorkshire Road Car Co. Ltd., including operation of York-West Yorkshire Joint Committee services provided on behalf of the County Borough of York.
Wakefield's Motors Ltd. (coaches only) - Tynemouth & District subsidiary, absorbed by Tynemouth & District 1970.
Yorkshire Woollen District Transport Co. Ltd. Became part of West Riding group in 1969.
In addition, another NBC subsidiary Amalgamated Passenger Transport Ltd. inherited the former British Railways/THC shareholdings in several further Joint Omnibus Committees in Yorkshire, comprising Halifax JOC and Todmorden JOC (merged to form Calderdale JOC in 1971), Huddersfield JOC and Sheffield JOC.
Consolidation
During its early years, NBC pursued a policy of merging smaller subsidiaries to form larger regional companies. At the same time, some depots were transferred between subsidiaries to reduce overlap between operating territories. In addition to those businesses inherited from the Transport Holding Company, NBC took over the municipal bus operations in Exeter and Luton during 1970, with these operations being absorbed by Devon General and United Counties respectively, while the country area services of London Transport also passed to NBC in 1970 as London Country. Notable independent operators acquired during this period included Jones of Aberbeeg, Venture of Consett, Provincial of Fareham, and Wessex of Bristol which were (at least initially) retained as subsidiaries. 1974 saw the coach-only subsidiaries consolidated into four "National Travel" companies, while a fifth was established to take over another independent coach operator, Don Everall of Wolverhampton.
On the other hand, the NBC shareholdings in Huddersfield and Sheffield JOCs were sold to the respective local authorities in 1969, and most of Hebble's bus operations passed to the jointly owned Halifax JOC during 1970. The 1968 Transport Act gave the new passenger transport executives the right to purchase any bus operations within their territories, including those of the National Bus Company. Not all of the PTEs chose to exercise this power, but on 1 January 1972 SELNEC PTE purchased the majority of North Western Road Car, and in 1973 the services of Midland Red within the West Midlands PTE passed to that executive. In 1974 the remaining NBC interest in Calderdale JOC was acquired by the newly-formed West Yorkshire PTE.
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
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
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.
^ abc"'State buses plan goes' : report". The Times. 4 December 1967. p. 1.
^John A Birks et al (1990): National Bus Company 1968-1989, a commemorative volume; pp9-12, 'The pre-history of the National Bus Company: its origins and background' (The Other Oxford Company, Oxford, 1990)
^Richard Price (1983): City and county, an economic study of the Eastern Counties Omnibus Company (Hewett, Norwich, 1983)
^"BET could benefit from bus sale". The Times. 18 November 1967. p. 12.
^"BET to accept £35m". The Times. 23 November 1967. p. 19.
^Michael Baily (6 December 1967). "£20m subsidy plan for city transport". The Times. p. 3.
^Public Transport and Traffic (Cmnd 3481), 5 December 1967
^ abLyons, Mark (7 August 2022). "Creating a National identity". Buses. No. 810. Stamford: Key Publishing. pp. 42–45. Retrieved 18 August 2022.(subscription required)
^National Bus Company (1976): Corporate Identity Manual (NBC, London, 1976)
^Richard Price (2022): Norman Wilson: a Manchester modernist (The Modernist, no 44, Autumn 2022, pp33-44)
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