Citibus was a bus operator in Greater Manchester

Greater Manchester

Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 2.6 million. It encompasses one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom and comprises ten metropolitan boroughs: Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan, and the...

, England. They mainly operated on the north side of Manchester

Manchester

Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...

, radiating outwards from their headquarters at Chadderton

Chadderton

Chadderton is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, in Greater Manchester, England, historically a part of Lancashire...

 in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham

Metropolitan Borough of Oldham

The Metropolitan Borough of Oldham is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It has a population of 219,600, and spans . The borough is named after its largest town, Oldham, but also includes the outlying towns of Chadderton, Failsworth, Royton and Shaw and Crompton, the village of...

.

History

Citibus was formed as a coach operator in 1979. In 1983 it obtained a road service license, and began to compete with GM Buses

GM Buses

GM Buses was the main bus company serving Greater Manchester, a metropolitan county in North West England. The company was public owned by Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive, which is a public body responsible for helping to co-ordinate public transport services in the Greater...

 on their Centreline

Metroshuttle

Metroshuttle is a free bus system that operates in Manchester city centre and Bolton and Stockport town centres, all in Greater Manchester, England. Manchester's Metroshuttle consists of three routes that traverse the city centre, linking the city's major thoroughfares and stations with its main...

 route in Manchester, and on the route between Manchester and Blackley

Blackley

Blackley is an area of the city of Manchester, in Greater Manchester, England. It is north of Manchester city centre, by a meander of the River Irk. Further north is Middleton...

, in early 1986. The Centreline route was abandoned following accusations of aggressive tactics by GM Buses drivers. Further routes started following bus deregulation

Bus deregulation

Bus deregulation in Great Britain came into force on 26 October 1986, as part of the Transport Act 1985.The 'Buses' White Paper was the basis of the Transport Act 1985, which provided for the deregulation of local bus services in the whole of the United Kingdom except for Northern Ireland and...

 in October 1986 linked Manchester to Middleton

Middleton, Greater Manchester

Middleton is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale, in Greater Manchester, England. It stands on the River Irk, south-southwest of Rochdale, and north-northeast of the city of Manchester...

, Oldham

Oldham

Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amid the Pennines on elevated ground between the rivers Irk and Medlock, south-southeast of Rochdale, and northeast of the city of Manchester...

 and Ashton-under-Lyne

Ashton-under-Lyne

Ashton-under-Lyne is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Tameside, Greater Manchester, England. Historically a part of Lancashire, it lies on the north bank of the River Tame, on undulating land at the foothills of the Pennines...

.

In July 1993 the 41-vehicle operation was purchased by Lynton Travel, owners of County Bus & Coach in South-East England. Citibus was then sold on to GM Buses North in 1995.

It may have been GM Buses's intention to run this as a low cost operator but it did not last long as GM Buses North was taken over by FirstBus in February 1996 and the operations were merged into the 'Greater Manchester' brand, later First Manchester

First Manchester

First Manchester is one of the bus companies serving Greater Manchester, a metropolitan county in North West England. It forms part of FirstGroup, a company operating transport services across the British Isles and in North America...

.

Vehicles and liveries

Citibus' original bus fleet consisted of Leyland Panther

Leyland Panther

The Leyland Panther was a rear-engined single-deck bus chassis built by Leyland between 1964 and 1972. It gained a reputation for unreliability, which to some extent was common to many of the first generation of rear-engined single-deckers....

s new to Isle of Man Transport

Bus Vannin

Bus Vannin is the title of the government owned and operated bus service on the Isle of Man. The name was adopted in June 2009 having previously been branded as Isle of Man Transport...

 in a light blue and black livery. From 1988 onwards these were replaced by Leyland Atlantean

Leyland Atlantean

The Leyland Atlantean is a model of double-decker bus built by Leyland in the United Kingdom from 1958 to 1986....

s, most of which were new to South Yorkshire Transport

South Yorkshire Transport

South Yorkshire Transport was formed in 1986, as a result of deregulation of bus services in the UK. The South Yorkshire PTE was no longer allowed to operate buses itself, so an arms length operating company was created....

, and the livery was changed to two-tone blue. Under Lynton Travel ownership a few vehicles were transferred from County Bus & Coach, including a number of Mercedes-Benz 0709D

Mercedes-Benz T2

The Mercedes-Benz T2 is a transporter built by Daimler-Benz. The T2 is also known as the "Düsseldorf transporter", since it was built until 1996 in Düsseldorf. The third series, built from 1996 at Ludwigsfelde, is branded the Vario. Some units of the T2 are assembled by Daimler-Benz Espana S.A. in...

minibuses, but few Citibus vehicles survived long after sale to GM Buses.