The 2 biggest bus companies neither Stagecoach nor First

[317 forever]

I thought it might be fun to reflect on some towns in Britain where neither of the 2 biggest bus companies are Stagecoach or First. A few I can think of are:-

Birmingham - National Express West Midlands and Rotala Diamond Bus
Nottingham - Nottingham City Transport and TrentBarton
Derby - Arriva and TrentBarton
Gateshead - Go-Ahead and Arriva
Wrexham - Arriva and GHA Coaches
Bridlington - East Yorkshire and Transdev Coastliner

Feel free to list some other examples you can think of!

 

[HMS Ark Royal]

Driffield - East Yorkshire and BusKing

 

[boyaloud]

Blackburn - Transdev

 

[delt1c]

Edinburgh, Lothian Buses

 

[hassaanhc]

What about London, where the largest operators are Go Ahead Group and Metroline

 

[ValleyLines142]

Cardiff: Cardiff Bus and New Adventure Travel.

Saying that Stagecoach have got a sizeable presence in the city but Cardiff Bus are the dominant operator AND NAT are slowly creeping up, with their expansion on local service routes such as the X1 and X11.

 

[richw]

Plymouth- Plymouth city bus (go ahead)

 

[mlambeuk]

Whitby - Arriva and Coastal & country
Harogate - Transdev and Connexions (HCT)

 

[causton]

Hatfield - Uno and Arriva
St Albans - Uno and Arriva
Stevenage - Arriva and Centrebus
Potters Bar - Metroline and Sullivan Buses I guess?
Watford - Arriva and Red Rose (pretty much just Arriva though)

 

[90019]

Edinburgh, Lothian Buses

Doesn't apply in this thread, because the second biggest is First.

 

[pemma]

Warrington - Network Warrington have most routes and Arriva have a few

Since no minimum size of town was specified:
Knutsford - GHA and D&G Bus

 

[SCH117X]

Ripon Transdev and Dales & District

 

[GaryMcEwan]

McGill's - Inverclyde and Renfrewshire.

 

[Strathclyder]

West Coast Motors is the biggest (if not the only) operator in/around the Oban area.

Now that I think about it, the same applies for Rothesay on the Isle of Bute, where W.C.M are also pretty much the only bus operator.

 

[CatfordCat]

To be honest, there must be quite a lot.

A lot of the 'home counties' round London are Arriva land (First have a presence in Essex, then around Slough and that's about it) and Stagecoach only cover East Kent and the remains of Aldershot & District.

Reading's probably among the largest in the south east - Reading Buses now by far the largest operator, (Go Ahead) Thames Travel and Arriva have more frequent services running in than Stagecoach (former Countywide / Fleet Buzz route) do.

After Stagecoach bought Fleet Buzz and until First closed their Bracknell operation, Reading had a small presence from 4 of the major groups.

Bracknell's main operator is independent Courtney; Reading Buses have 4 buses per hour, First are down to 1 per hour on route 702, and Stagecoach have pulled the plug on their operation on the Camberley - Bracknell route. (slightly off topic, but must be fairly rare for an independent to see Stagecoach off)

Wokingham is now a First free zone, and Stagecoach only have one or two college / football services.

ETA - another fairly obvious one is the Bournemouth / Poole patch, with Transdev Yellow Buses and whatever that bit of Go-Ahead Wilts & Dorset call themselves this week

 

[pemma]

A few others:

Northwich - Arriva and GHA
Altrincham - Arriva and Go Goodwins
Crewe - D&G Bus and GHA
Congleton - GHA and D&G Bus
Wilmslow - GHA and Arriva
Nantwich - D&G Bus and GHA

Macclesfield - difficult to say who are the biggest 2 but the biggest 3 are Arriva, GHA and High Peak

 

[THarris123]

Isle of Wight - Go Ahead

Here's a better question - how many cities/towns are there without First, Stagecoach, Arriva, Go Ahead or NatEx?

That's going to be a lot less.

 

[pemma]

Here's a better question - how many cities/towns are there without First, Stagecoach, Arriva, Go Ahead or NatEx?

Knutsford still counts - GHA and D&G operate all services between them except the evening town circular which is operated by Tomlinson Travel. The latter aren't going to be running that service from May but I doubt any of the big names you mention will take it instead. I'm surprised anyone actually used the service yesterday as the driver kept taking it round displaying "319 Sandbach"! I think even if you add the school/works contracts in you only add Holmeswood Coaches and Elite Coaches to that list.

I don't think any of the bis operators serve Buxton. High Peak are the largest operator there but I'm not sure who all the other operators are.

 

[Silver Cobra]

Luton - Arriva and Centrebus
Hitchin - Arriva and Centrebus

Stagecoach only have two routes in each town (71 and 72 in Hitchin, 81 and 99 in Luton). Even local bus company Grant Palmer have more routes (four) in Luton than Stagecoach do.

 

[Robertj21a]

Isle of Wight - Go Ahead

Here's a better question - how many cities/towns are there without First, Stagecoach, Arriva, Go Ahead or NatEx?

That's going to be a lot less.

Assuming you mean NatEx as per the bus company rather than the coach operation, there's Ripley, Heanor, Belper, Ilkeston, Beeston etc. Even in Nottingham there's only a token presence, by Stagecoach.

Also Oban.

Not sure if Harrogate counts ?

 

[MCR247]

Assuming you mean NatEx as per the bus company rather than the coach operation, there's Ripley, Heanor, Belper, Ilkeston, Beeston etc. Even in Nottingham there's only a token presence, by Stagecoach.

Also Oban.

Not sure if Harrogate counts ?

Personally I think Nottingham should count as Stagecoach's Pronto isn't really a local bus within Nottingham (and I'd say most of its passengers are visiting Notts and not the other way around! )

 

[johntea]

Wakefield - Arriva

 

[GrimsbyPacer]

Pronto is a jointly operated service isn't it?

Some towns to add:
EYMS operates in non Stagecoach/First in Hedon, Hornsea, Goole, Withernsea, Bridington, Filey, Scarborough, Beverley, Hessle (Stagecoach only run a nightbus), Market Weighton, etc.
EYMS are huge and run services from a range from Pickering to Scunthorpe.

 

[GaryMcEwan]

I would definitely take a punt on Xplore Dundee which was formerly Nat Ex Dundee...

 

[MedwayValiant]

Bury St Edmunds. Stagecoach do reach Bury with an hourly bus from Cambridge, and so do Go Ahead (H C Chambers and Son) with an hourly bus from Colchester via Sudbury.

But otherwise it's all independent, and there are town services operated by Coach Services (running out of Thetford), Mulleys Motorways (based in Bury), and Stephenson's of Essex (running out of Haverhill).

Traditionally this was Eastern Counties territory, but First no longer operate a single service in Bury.

 

[221129]

Plymouth- Plymouth city bus (go ahead)

But the Second Largest is Stagecoach.

 

[Robertj21a]

Wakefield - Arriva

I thought the question was towns/cities *without* these bigger operators ?

 

[317 forever]

Isle of Wight - Go Ahead

Here's a better question - how many cities/towns are there without First, Stagecoach, Arriva, Go Ahead or NatEx?

That's going to be a lot less.

Anothers may be Skipton and Kirkby Stephen.

Wakefield - Arriva

I am not sure whether Ross Travel or Stagecoach are bigger in Wakefield.

Also, as regards top 2, Rawtenstall has Rossendale and Transdev.

Thank you for all your replies so far.

 

[KendalKing]

Here's a better question - how many cities/towns are there without First, Stagecoach, Arriva, Go Ahead or NatEx?

That's going to be a lot less.

The first one to spring to mind is Fleetwood in Lancashire, where services are operated by Blackpool Transport and Catch22Bus.

Anothers may be Skipton and Kirkby Stephen.

First have an hour service X84 from Leeds to Skipton.

 

[MedwayValiant]

Stamford. The two largest operators in Stamford are Centrebus and Delaine. The only others now reaching Stamford at all are Brylaine Travel and Mark Bland Travel.

Road Car (now Stagecoach Lincs) have not reached Stamford since the Grantham route moved over to Centrebus, and it's twenty or more years since Cambus/Viscount (now Stagecoach Peterborough) stopped going there from Peterborough.

Stamford isn't quite in Rutland although it probably should have been. But do Centrebus and Delaine between them operate every bus service which enters Rutland?