Cleveland Transit
Cleveland Transit was a municipal bus operator based in the former county of Cleveland in northern England, operating from 1974 until its purchase by the Stagecoach Group in 1994. History.jpg) The non-metropolitan county of Cleveland was formed by the Local Government Act 1972, incorporating the County Borough of Teesside and other authorities including Hartlepool. Its new districts were Stockton-on-Tees, Middlesbrough, Langbaurgh-on-Tees and Hartlepool. Upon this reorganisation in April 1974, the six-year-old Teesside Municipal Transport's operations became a joint council committee of the first three of these districts, named Cleveland Transit.[1][2] The municipal operation provided bus and coach services in the new county for the next twelve years, adopting a green and primrose livery for its fleet.[1] Cleveland Transit standardised on a fleet of Northern Counties-bodied Leyland Fleetlines, which were rebodied in the 1980s,[3] Bristol VRs and Dennis Dominator double-decker buses and Leyland Leopard single-decks in this period,[2] also experimentally operating a Rolls Royce-engined Leyland Fleetline converted to run on liquid petroleum gas, the first LPG-powered double-decker in the United Kingdom, in the mid-1970s.[4] Deregulation in 1986 saw Cleveland Transit take on a new green, white and yellow corporate identity and be reincorporated as an 'arm's length' company.[5] After a protracted period of negotiation between Cleveland Transit staff and the councils involved in the joint committee,[6] during which the company became engaged in a bus war with rival Trimdon Motor Services in Stockton-on-Tees,[7][8] endured a net loss of £484,000 (equivalent to £1,521,000 in 2023) in 1989 and closed a depot in Middlesbrough, Cleveland Transit was purchased by its employees in May 1991 in an employee share ownership plan, with the company adopting the slogan 'Employee Owners Working for You'.[9][10] Originally founded in September 1991 and responsible for contracted school services and bookable day trips,[11] Cleveland Transit reorganised its coaching arm Cleveland Coaches in 1992, turning it into a National Express contractor which also offered coach holidays to various destinations.[12] Cleveland Transit purchased Kingston upon Hull City Transport (KHCT), a former municipal bus operator located in the non-metropolitan county of Humberside that was losing £100,000 (equivalent to £257,000 in 2023) a month, from the city council for over £2 million (equivalent to £5,146,000 in 2023) in December 1993. Employees at KHCT retained 49% ownership of the company and the livery of KHCT was changed to one similar to Cleveland Transit.[13][14] In November 1994, Cleveland Transit and KHCT were both purchased by Stagecoach Holdings for £8.3 million (equivalent to £20,852,000 in 2023).[15] The Cleveland Transit identity was originally retained by Stagecoach for a short period, with new Northern Counties Palatine bodied Volvo Olympians being delivered with 'Part of the Stagecoach Group' slogans on the Cleveland Transit logos,[16][17] however full Stagecoach identity began to be adopted for the Cleveland Transit fleet from 1995 onwards.[18] The operations of Cleveland Transit are today part of Stagecoach North East. References
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