Glenvale Transport Limited
Encyclopedia
Glenvale Transport Ltd is a bus company formed in 2001 as a result of a management buy-in of Gillmoss bus depot from Arriva plc. The buy-in was in response to the Competition Commission
that Arriva's dominance in Merseyside
bus transport exceeded a reasonable share and therefore another bus company to compete with Arriva must enter the Merseyside market to retain competition among bus operators.
. The Drawlane Group, which had renamed itself British Bus and had sold to Cowie (which renamed itself Arriva) had acquired the North Western Road Car Company
Ltd in March 1988. In turn North Western had gained substantial parts of the former Crosville and Ribble operations and acquired or created other companies - most notably Amberline, City Plus and Liverline in Liverpool, Beeline Buzz Company and Star Line Travel in Greater Manchester
, Dee Line, Leigh Line, Little White Buses in West Lancashire
, Runcorn Busways, South Lancashire Transport in St Helens, Warrington Gold Line and Wigan Bus. By the year 2000 Arriva North West Ltd (North Western) had built up a substantial presence in many parts Merseyside, Cheshire
, Greater Manchester and West Lancashire
. The acquisition and subsequent merger of the former MTL companies now known as Arriva Merseyside Ltd into Arriva North West Ltd gave Arriva a dominant position on Merseyside and in Liverpool in particular.
As a result, the Competition Commission
ruled that as a condition of the sale of MTL to Arriva and to preserve competition within the Merseyside bus market - Aintree-based CMT Buses being the only major competitor in Liverpool at that time - Arriva had to divest one of the former MTL garages to a new buyer within one year and not compete with that buyer for a period of three years. The bus corridors of South/East Liverpool were lucrative and had experienced more competition than those to the North of Liverpool and it was Liverpool's Gillmoss depot on the East Lancashire Road that Arriva offered for sale. The sale of Gillmoss, however, would turn out to be a rather protracted process. Its most profitable routes - 12/13 (Stockbridge Village Circular - Liverpool), 14 (Croxteth - Liverpool) and 53/55 (Thornton/Old Roan - Liverpool) were allowed to remain with Arriva Merseyside/North West and were transferred to its Green Lane and Bootle depots. It is unknown whether this detterred prospective buyers but an early buyer did emerge in the form of Go-Ahead Group plc who considered Gillmoss as similar to its Go North East
operation and therefore almost came to an agreement to buy Gillmoss towards the beginning of 2001. However at the 11th hour Go-Ahead pulled out of the deal, opting instead to acquire Arriva Croydon & North Surrey Ltd as it had more strategic fit with its Metrobus subsidiary in Surrey
and West Sussex
.
Arriva was having difficulty selling Gillmoss and put a proposal to the Competition Commission to re-invest in Gillmoss if it were allowed to keep the depot. The Competition Commission refused and the search for a buyer continued. In the Spring/Summer of 2001 a number of bids began to emerge. The first of these came from Merseyside's largest independent operator, CMT Buses, who were looking to strengthen their position on Merseyside. The second bidder was Singapore
-based DelGro Corporation, which purchased stock-market listed Metroline
a siginifcant contractor to London Buses
and in turn had purchased MTL London in August 1998. The third was an unknown consortium which at the time was shrouded in mystery and was revealed to have come from Stagecoach Holdings plc. However a fourth bid emerged, fronted by ex-MTL managers Dominic Brady and Ian Campbell. This was Glenvale Transport Ltd/(GTL) and it successfully acquired Gillmoss and took over from Arriva in July 2001.
The protracted sale of Gillmoss did lead to poor staff morale, compounded by Arriva using Gillmoss as a dumping ground for the remaining ex-London Buses Leyland Titans
that Merseybus/MTL had been acquiring since the end of 1992. Gillmoss did have a modern fleet of 25 Volvo Olympian
/Northern Counties Palatine
II that Liverbus and Merseybus/MTL North had bought new between them in 1995 and 1998 respectively and had been dubbed The Millennium Fleet. However GTL decided to not take up the leasing arrangements for these vehicles and remained with Arriva Merseyside who transferred them mostly to the Speke and Green Lane depots in Liverpool along with a handful for the Laird Street depot in Birkenhead
. In return around 30 MCW Metrobuses
which were more than 20 years old and had previously operated for Arriva Croydon & North Surrey and had been refurbished in 1999. MTL's cream and crimson livery was retained.
As a result of the Competition Commission's requirements Arriva couldn't compete with GTL's core route network in North Liverpool and Kirkby for three years and GTL decided to exploit this advantage: the next 18 months saw GTL rapidly expanding its route network throughout much of Merseyside. GTL promised investment in new vehicles for Gillmoss, however this never materialised. Instead further ex-London vehicles in the form of another large batch of Leyland Titans
, along with Reeve Burgess/Plaxton Pointer-bodied Dennis Dart
s and a smaller batch of Metrobuses
(some of which briefly operated in the liveries of their former owners) were acquired and at its peak GTL acquired a fleet of around 120 Titans and 60 Metrobuses. GTL's newest vehicles in 2000 were a batch of 11 Dennis Dart SLF/Marshall Capital
s - which were the last batch of vehicles to be purchased new by MTL in 1999, and eight 1997 Dennis Dart SLF/East Lancs Sprytes acquired secondhand from Speke-based Express Travel in 2002. Furthermore these vehicles only usually operated Merseytravel contracts. A significant amount of the GTL fleet was approaching 25 years of age and as GTL charged higher fares than Arriva Merseyside and CMT Buses it gave GTL a more unfavourable impression in the eyes of Merseyside's bus users. In order to remain operating, GTL had to consolidate its position within Merseyside's bus market. The only remaining opportunity for GTL to do this was Aintree-based CMT Buses and it was perhaps unsurprising that GTL acquired CMT Buses.
CMT Buses was formed from C&M Travel Ltd who were a long established coach hire operator in the Merseyside area. After deregulation CMT gained a foothold into bus operation by winning Merseytravel contracts and by the late-1980s had begun a commercial service network on the Wirral. Between 1991 and 1994 the company turned its focus to the Liverpool bus market which was already a hotbed of intense competition between Merseybus/MTL, City Fleet, Fareway, Liverline, Liverbus, Halton Transport
, Merseyline, North Western, Village Group and GM Buses (North/South). The coach hire and Wirral based services were discontinued and a significant number of new services on many of Liverpool's most lucrative bus corridors were started by CMT with a large fleet of Leyland National
s. These were very successful and sparked a 'bus war' in Liverpool which led to a period of consolidation in which MTL acquired Fareway, Liverbus and Village Group, North Western acquired Liverline, GM Buses North/South withdrew from Merseyside and MTL, North Western, CMT Buses, GM Buses North/South and Halton Transport entered into a controversial agreement which limited competition between these parties in the North West and fixed fares. A Competition Commission
investigation which ruled this was illegal and fined the parties involved.
Despite this, CMT Buses was successful within the Merseyside bus market and from the Summer of 1995 to the Summer of 2002, it gradually began adding substantial numbers of new vehicles to its fleet including Volvo B10B
/Wright Endurance
, Volvo B10L
/Wright Liberator
, Volvo B10BLE/Wright Renown
, Dennis Dart
/Northern Counties Paladin
, Dennis Dart SLF/Wright Crusader
and Dennis Super Dart/Plaxton Pointers, along with relatively modern secondhand acquisitions including Volvo B10B/Alexander Striders from Blazefield
-owned Harrogate & District
and Leyland Lynx
es from a variety of sources to replace the aging Leyland Nationals.
products including MetroRiders
, Deltas
, Excels
and Solos
. Merseytravel contractor L&M Transport/Greenbus, in which it was rumoured CMT Buses had an interest, was integrated into CMT around 2001 and the operations centred upon the CMT base in Aintree. On 15 June, 2003 GTL acquired the CMT operation, further consolidating GTL's position within the Merseyside bus market, expanding the fleet to approximately 290 vehicles and adding CMT's Aintree garage to that at Gillmoss.
logos along with CMT's route network, some of which duplicated those of GTL.
In October 2003, however, management of the Aintree depot was passed over to GTL's management team and service network rationalised to co-ordinate with those of GTL. New blue 'GTL' logos were applied to the CMT vehicles and GTL adopted a darker all-red livery to replace the ex-MTL cream/crimson livery. There was again talk of investment in new vehicles along with possible expansion on Merseyside (opening a depot in the Speke area to compete directly with Arriva's South Liverpool services) and beyond.
A possible network of services on the Wirral along with rumours of GTL acquiring First Cheshire & Wirral's depot at Rock Ferry and a move into London Buses tendered contracts - Dominic Brady and Ian Campbell had been part of MTL London's management team - along with an Alternative Investment Market listing on the London Stock Exchange as a means for GTL to raise funds for investment. However GTL achieved none of this and by the end of 2003 it was still perceived by many within the bus industry as a small Merseyside-based operator with a rapidly aging fleet of ex-London double deckers - even after the CMT Buses acquisition.
ban on Arriva competing against GTL in Kirkby and North Liverpool was over. In response to significant expansion by GTL throughout Merseyside, Arriva registered high frequency copycat services over much of the GTL network in Kirkby and North Liverpool including 2 (Kirkby Northwood-Liverpool), 14A/B (Kirkby Tower Hill-Liverpool), 17 (Fazakerley Hospital-Liverpool), 19 (Fazakerley Lower Lane-Liverpool), 20 (Skelmersdale-Kirkby-Liverpool). These services mostly used modern low-floor vehicles and gave Arriva a competitive advantage over GTL's ageing fleet
.
By March 2005 GTL had run up debts of approximately £7m and was rumoured to be struggling to meet its financial commitments. GTL was therefore put on the market and after months of speculation Stagecoach Group plc was announced as buyer.
A final event of note for GTL was ex-Stagecoach East Midlands Volvo B6/Alexander Dash (7282/L448LWE) had a starring role in the successful Liverpool FC UEFA Champion's League homecoming on 26 May 2005. After becoming stranded in the vast crowd of people on Lime Street some Liverpool fans used 7282's roof as a vantage point to see Liverpool's open top bus parade in the city centre. Apart from a few small dents to the roof no damage was caused to the vehicle.
had made bids for some or all of the companies making up the former MTL Trust Holdings Group. GTL had put itself on the open market, with bids for the company submitted by open tender. After several bids by other potential buyers, GTL accepted a reported £3.4M cash on 13 July 2005 by Stagecoach, an offer which also agreed to absorb GTL's debt of approximately £7m.
Competition Commission
The Competition Commission is a non-departmental public body responsible for investigating mergers, markets and other enquiries related to regulated industries under competition law in the United Kingdom...
that Arriva's dominance in Merseyside
Merseyside
Merseyside is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 1,365,900. It encompasses the metropolitan area centred on both banks of the lower reaches of the Mersey Estuary, and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wirral, and the city of Liverpool...
bus transport exceeded a reasonable share and therefore another bus company to compete with Arriva must enter the Merseyside market to retain competition among bus operators.
History
In February 2000 Merseyside's largest bus operator MTL Trust Holdings Ltd was acquired by Arriva Passenger Services plcArriva
Arriva plc is a multinational public transport company owned by Deutsche Bahn and headquartered in Sunderland, United Kingdom. It has bus, coach, train, tram and waterbus operations in 12 countries across Europe, employs more than 47,500 people and services over 1.5 billion passenger journeys each...
. The Drawlane Group, which had renamed itself British Bus and had sold to Cowie (which renamed itself Arriva) had acquired the North Western Road Car Company
North Western Road Car Company (1986)
The North Western Road Car Company Ltd was a former bus operator based in Liverpool, England. The company operated between 1986 and 1998.- History :...
Ltd in March 1988. In turn North Western had gained substantial parts of the former Crosville and Ribble operations and acquired or created other companies - most notably Amberline, City Plus and Liverline in Liverpool, Beeline Buzz Company and Star Line Travel 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...
, Dee Line, Leigh Line, Little White Buses in West Lancashire
West Lancashire
West Lancashire is a non-metropolitan district with the status of a borough in Lancashire, England. Its council is based in Ormskirk. The other town in the borough is Skelmersdale....
, Runcorn Busways, South Lancashire Transport in St Helens, Warrington Gold Line and Wigan Bus. By the year 2000 Arriva North West Ltd (North Western) had built up a substantial presence in many parts Merseyside, Cheshire
Cheshire
Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...
, Greater Manchester and West Lancashire
West Lancashire
West Lancashire is a non-metropolitan district with the status of a borough in Lancashire, England. Its council is based in Ormskirk. The other town in the borough is Skelmersdale....
. The acquisition and subsequent merger of the former MTL companies now known as Arriva Merseyside Ltd into Arriva North West Ltd gave Arriva a dominant position on Merseyside and in Liverpool in particular.
As a result, the Competition Commission
Competition Commission
The Competition Commission is a non-departmental public body responsible for investigating mergers, markets and other enquiries related to regulated industries under competition law in the United Kingdom...
ruled that as a condition of the sale of MTL to Arriva and to preserve competition within the Merseyside bus market - Aintree-based CMT Buses being the only major competitor in Liverpool at that time - Arriva had to divest one of the former MTL garages to a new buyer within one year and not compete with that buyer for a period of three years. The bus corridors of South/East Liverpool were lucrative and had experienced more competition than those to the North of Liverpool and it was Liverpool's Gillmoss depot on the East Lancashire Road that Arriva offered for sale. The sale of Gillmoss, however, would turn out to be a rather protracted process. Its most profitable routes - 12/13 (Stockbridge Village Circular - Liverpool), 14 (Croxteth - Liverpool) and 53/55 (Thornton/Old Roan - Liverpool) were allowed to remain with Arriva Merseyside/North West and were transferred to its Green Lane and Bootle depots. It is unknown whether this detterred prospective buyers but an early buyer did emerge in the form of Go-Ahead Group plc who considered Gillmoss as similar to its Go North East
Go North East
Go North East is the largest operator of bus services in North East England, United Kingdom. Go North East operates services in the counties of Tyne and Wear, County Durham and Northumberland...
operation and therefore almost came to an agreement to buy Gillmoss towards the beginning of 2001. However at the 11th hour Go-Ahead pulled out of the deal, opting instead to acquire Arriva Croydon & North Surrey Ltd as it had more strategic fit with its Metrobus subsidiary in Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
and West Sussex
West Sussex
West Sussex is a county in the south of England, bordering onto East Sussex , Hampshire and Surrey. The county of Sussex has been divided into East and West since the 12th century, and obtained separate county councils in 1888, but it remained a single ceremonial county until 1974 and the coming...
.
Arriva was having difficulty selling Gillmoss and put a proposal to the Competition Commission to re-invest in Gillmoss if it were allowed to keep the depot. The Competition Commission refused and the search for a buyer continued. In the Spring/Summer of 2001 a number of bids began to emerge. The first of these came from Merseyside's largest independent operator, CMT Buses, who were looking to strengthen their position on Merseyside. The second bidder was Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
-based DelGro Corporation, which purchased stock-market listed Metroline
Metroline
Metroline, owned by ComfortDelGro Corporation of Singapore, is one of many companies operating bus services in London under the management of London Buses.-Company history:...
a siginifcant contractor to London Buses
London Buses
London Buses is the subsidiary of Transport for London that manages bus services within Greater London, UK. Buses are required to carry similar red colour schemes and conform to the same fare scheme...
and in turn had purchased MTL London in August 1998. The third was an unknown consortium which at the time was shrouded in mystery and was revealed to have come from Stagecoach Holdings plc. However a fourth bid emerged, fronted by ex-MTL managers Dominic Brady and Ian Campbell. This was Glenvale Transport Ltd/(GTL) and it successfully acquired Gillmoss and took over from Arriva in July 2001.
Formation
Leyland Titan (B15)
The Leyland Titan was a model of double-decker bus produced by the Leyland Truck & Bus division of British Leyland from 1977 until 1984, almost exclusively for London Transport.-Development:...
that Merseybus/MTL had been acquiring since the end of 1992. Gillmoss did have a modern fleet of 25 Volvo Olympian
Volvo Olympian
The Volvo Olympian was a rear-engine double decker bus built by Volvo at Irvine, North Ayrshire, Scotland. It was first built in 1992 and entered production in March 1993, replacing the Leyland Olympian....
/Northern Counties Palatine
Northern Counties Palatine
The Northern Counties Palatine is a step-entrance double-decker bus body built by Northern Counties of Wigan, UK. It was built mainly on Leyland Olympian and Volvo Olympian chassis, although some were also built on DAF, Volvo B10M Citybus and Scania chassis...
II that Liverbus and Merseybus/MTL North had bought new between them in 1995 and 1998 respectively and had been dubbed The Millennium Fleet. However GTL decided to not take up the leasing arrangements for these vehicles and remained with Arriva Merseyside who transferred them mostly to the Speke and Green Lane depots in Liverpool along with a handful for the Laird Street depot in Birkenhead
Birkenhead
Birkenhead is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in Merseyside, England. It is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite the city of Liverpool...
. In return around 30 MCW Metrobuses
MCW Metrobus
The MCW Metrobus is a double decker bus model manufactured by MCW from 1977 until 1989, with over 4,000 examples built. The original MkI model was superseded by the MkII model in 1981/1982, although production of the original MkI continued for London Transport until 1985...
which were more than 20 years old and had previously operated for Arriva Croydon & North Surrey and had been refurbished in 1999. MTL's cream and crimson livery was retained.
As a result of the Competition Commission's requirements Arriva couldn't compete with GTL's core route network in North Liverpool and Kirkby for three years and GTL decided to exploit this advantage: the next 18 months saw GTL rapidly expanding its route network throughout much of Merseyside. GTL promised investment in new vehicles for Gillmoss, however this never materialised. Instead further ex-London vehicles in the form of another large batch of Leyland Titans
Leyland Titan (B15)
The Leyland Titan was a model of double-decker bus produced by the Leyland Truck & Bus division of British Leyland from 1977 until 1984, almost exclusively for London Transport.-Development:...
, along with Reeve Burgess/Plaxton Pointer-bodied Dennis Dart
Dennis Dart
The Dennis Dart is a rear-engined midibus built by Dennis in the United Kingdom. More than 11,000 were built during 18 years of production....
s and a smaller batch of Metrobuses
MCW Metrobus
The MCW Metrobus is a double decker bus model manufactured by MCW from 1977 until 1989, with over 4,000 examples built. The original MkI model was superseded by the MkII model in 1981/1982, although production of the original MkI continued for London Transport until 1985...
(some of which briefly operated in the liveries of their former owners) were acquired and at its peak GTL acquired a fleet of around 120 Titans and 60 Metrobuses. GTL's newest vehicles in 2000 were a batch of 11 Dennis Dart SLF/Marshall Capital
Marshall Capital
The Marshall Capital was a single-decker bus body built by Marshall between 1997 and 2003. It was typically placed on the Dennis Dart SLF chassis, but it was also built on other chassis and used to rebody older chassis....
s - which were the last batch of vehicles to be purchased new by MTL in 1999, and eight 1997 Dennis Dart SLF/East Lancs Sprytes acquired secondhand from Speke-based Express Travel in 2002. Furthermore these vehicles only usually operated Merseytravel contracts. A significant amount of the GTL fleet was approaching 25 years of age and as GTL charged higher fares than Arriva Merseyside and CMT Buses it gave GTL a more unfavourable impression in the eyes of Merseyside's bus users. In order to remain operating, GTL had to consolidate its position within Merseyside's bus market. The only remaining opportunity for GTL to do this was Aintree-based CMT Buses and it was perhaps unsurprising that GTL acquired CMT Buses.
History
Halton Transport
Halton Transport is a bus operator running within the Borough of Halton and into the surrounding area, including Warrington, St Helens, Prescot, Liverpool and Chester...
, Merseyline, North Western, Village Group and GM Buses (North/South). The coach hire and Wirral based services were discontinued and a significant number of new services on many of Liverpool's most lucrative bus corridors were started by CMT with a large fleet of Leyland National
Leyland National
The Leyland National is a British single-deck bus built in large quantities between 1972 and 1985. It was developed as a joint project between two UK nationalised industries - the National Bus Company and British Leyland. Buses were constructed at a specially built factory at the Lillyhall...
s. These were very successful and sparked a 'bus war' in Liverpool which led to a period of consolidation in which MTL acquired Fareway, Liverbus and Village Group, North Western acquired Liverline, GM Buses North/South withdrew from Merseyside and MTL, North Western, CMT Buses, GM Buses North/South and Halton Transport entered into a controversial agreement which limited competition between these parties in the North West and fixed fares. A Competition Commission
Competition Commission
The Competition Commission is a non-departmental public body responsible for investigating mergers, markets and other enquiries related to regulated industries under competition law in the United Kingdom...
investigation which ruled this was illegal and fined the parties involved.
Despite this, CMT Buses was successful within the Merseyside bus market and from the Summer of 1995 to the Summer of 2002, it gradually began adding substantial numbers of new vehicles to its fleet including Volvo B10B
Volvo B10B
The Volvo B10B was a rear-engined high-floor bus chassis manufactured by Volvo Buses from 1990 to 2002. It superseded the Volvo B10R and its successor was the Volvo B12B....
/Wright Endurance
Wright Endurance
The Wright Endurance is a step-entrance, single-deck bus body built by Wrightbus between 1993 and 1997.-History:The large majority of Endurances were built on Volvo B10B chassis, including quite large fleets for the privatised former PTE companies - in particular Merseyside based MTL North who took...
, Volvo B10L
Volvo B10L
The Volvo B10L is a rear-engined, low-floor single-deck city bus chassis built by Volvo between c. 1993 and c. 2005. An articulated version of the B10L, known as the B10LA, was also produced.-United Kingdom:...
/Wright Liberator
Wright Liberator
The Wright Liberator is a low-floor single-deck bus body built on Volvo B10L chassis by Wright.Around 146 were built between 1996 and 1999. It was discontinued in favour of the Renown on Volvo B10BLE chassis, which in turn was superseded by the Eclipse series, on Volvo B7L and later B7RLE chassis,...
, Volvo B10BLE/Wright Renown
Wright Renown
The Wright Renown is a low floor single-deck bus body built on Volvo B10BLE chassis by Wright.Over 800 Renowns were built between 1997 and 2002, making it somewhat more successful than the B10L-based Liberator....
, Dennis Dart
Dennis Dart
The Dennis Dart is a rear-engined midibus built by Dennis in the United Kingdom. More than 11,000 were built during 18 years of production....
/Northern Counties Paladin
Northern Counties Paladin
The Northern Counties Paladin, also badged as the Plaxton Paladin towards the end of production, is a step-entrance single-deck bus body built by Northern Counties of Wigan, UK, between 1991 and 1998....
, Dennis Dart SLF/Wright Crusader
Wright Crusader
The Wright Crusader is a single-decker bus body built by Wright on Dennis Dart SLF and Volvo B6LE chassis. The Wright Crusader 2 was built on the B6LE's successor, the Volvo B6BLE....
and Dennis Super Dart/Plaxton Pointers, along with relatively modern secondhand acquisitions including Volvo B10B/Alexander Striders from Blazefield
Blazefield Group
Transdev Blazefield is one of the main bus groups in England. Owner of several bus companies around the Yorkshire and Lancashire regions, since 2006 it has been part of the international transport company Transdev.-History:...
-owned Harrogate & District
Harrogate & District
Transdev Harrogate & District is a local bus operator based in Harrogate in North Yorkshire, England. It is part of the Blazefield Group which is itself owned by the international transport company Transdev....
and Leyland Lynx
Leyland Lynx
The Leyland Lynx is a single-decker bus built by Leyland between 1984 and 1992. It was designed to replace the ageing Leyland National.Production vehicles began to enter service in 1986. From 1990 to 1992 the updated Lynx II version was produced...
es from a variety of sources to replace the aging Leyland Nationals.
Expansion
Towards the end of 1998, CMT acquired Formby-based independent ABC Travel which operated a substantial number of contracts for Merseytravel services and a modern fleet of mainly OptareOptare
Optare plc is a bus manufacturer and importer based in Leeds and Blackburn, UK. The company operates from three main business units, Bus Manufacturing, Coach Sales and Unitec....
products including MetroRiders
Optare MetroRider
The Optare MetroRider was a midibus built by Optare between 1989 and 2000. Optare based the original design on the MCW Metrorider after Optare bought the rights following a decision by MCW to end bus production. This model also replaced the less successful StarRider.The MetroRider was an integral...
, Deltas
Optare Delta
The Optare Delta is a single-decker bus body produced for the DAF SB220 chassis. They were built in a factory in Leeds. They are known for their distinctive sloping front window.-Production:...
, Excels
Optare Excel
The Optare Excel is a low-floor full-size single-decker bus manufactured by Optare.Manufactured as an integral bus, the Excel was launched in 1995 as one of the first low-floor single-deck vehicles. The styling of the body was in keeping with existing Optare products, especially at the rear...
and Solos
Optare Solo
The Optare Solo is a low-floor midibus manufactured by Optare in Leeds, UK since 1997. The name "Solo" is a play on the low-floor status of the bus, the manufacturer believing its vehicle having an entrance that is "so low" from the floor, namely 200 mm with kneeling suspension.The innovative...
. Merseytravel contractor L&M Transport/Greenbus, in which it was rumoured CMT Buses had an interest, was integrated into CMT around 2001 and the operations centred upon the CMT base in Aintree. On 15 June, 2003 GTL acquired the CMT operation, further consolidating GTL's position within the Merseyside bus market, expanding the fleet to approximately 290 vehicles and adding CMT's Aintree garage to that at Gillmoss.
Glenvale's expansion
The acquisition of CMT Buses enabled GTL to become Merseyside's second largest bus operator. Initially GTL kept CMT Buses as a separate entity, maintaining their all over bright red livery and yellow CMT Buses/liver birdLiver bird
The Liver bird is the symbol of the city of Liverpool, England.-History:The earliest known use of a bird to represent the then-town of Liverpool was on its corporate seal, dating from the 1350s. The seal is now held by the British Museum. In 1668 the Earl of Derby gave the town council a mace...
logos along with CMT's route network, some of which duplicated those of GTL.
Fleet Investment
Despite this, GTL patronised Essex-based dealer Ensign Bus to modernise the fleet and from late 2003 to the Spring of 2005 approximately 94 Volvo B6/Dennis Darts with Alexander Dash bodywork - ironically coming from various companies within the Stagecoach Group, along with smaller batches of Dennis Dart/Wright Handybuses from Go North East and ex-Metroline Dennis Dart/Northern Counties Paladins - ironically once part of the fleet at MTL London - were purchased. However these vehicles were 9-12 years old and not the new vehicles GTL had promised.Arriva Competition
By autumn 2004, the Competition CommissionCompetition Commission
The Competition Commission is a non-departmental public body responsible for investigating mergers, markets and other enquiries related to regulated industries under competition law in the United Kingdom...
ban on Arriva competing against GTL in Kirkby and North Liverpool was over. In response to significant expansion by GTL throughout Merseyside, Arriva registered high frequency copycat services over much of the GTL network in Kirkby and North Liverpool including 2 (Kirkby Northwood-Liverpool), 14A/B (Kirkby Tower Hill-Liverpool), 17 (Fazakerley Hospital-Liverpool), 19 (Fazakerley Lower Lane-Liverpool), 20 (Skelmersdale-Kirkby-Liverpool). These services mostly used modern low-floor vehicles and gave Arriva a competitive advantage over GTL's ageing fleet
.
Decline
GTL never bought any new vehicles, despite promises on numerous occasions of significant reinvestment. Despite GTL's core routes in Kirkby and North Liverpool being considered as lucrative, profitable bus territory, GTL had an annual turnover of approximately £25m. Furthermore, levels of car ownership were relatively low, with significant declines in patronage.By March 2005 GTL had run up debts of approximately £7m and was rumoured to be struggling to meet its financial commitments. GTL was therefore put on the market and after months of speculation Stagecoach Group plc was announced as buyer.
A final event of note for GTL was ex-Stagecoach East Midlands Volvo B6/Alexander Dash (7282/L448LWE) had a starring role in the successful Liverpool FC UEFA Champion's League homecoming on 26 May 2005. After becoming stranded in the vast crowd of people on Lime Street some Liverpool fans used 7282's roof as a vantage point to see Liverpool's open top bus parade in the city centre. Apart from a few small dents to the roof no damage was caused to the vehicle.
Fate
On numerous occasions, rival transport operator StagecoachStagecoach Group
Stagecoach Group plc is an international transport group operating buses, trains, trams, express coaches and ferries. The group was founded in 1980 by the current chairman, Sir Brian Souter, his sister, Ann Gloag, and her former husband Robin...
had made bids for some or all of the companies making up the former MTL Trust Holdings Group. GTL had put itself on the open market, with bids for the company submitted by open tender. After several bids by other potential buyers, GTL accepted a reported £3.4M cash on 13 July 2005 by Stagecoach, an offer which also agreed to absorb GTL's debt of approximately £7m.
See also
- MTL (transport company)
- Stagecoach MerseysideStagecoach MerseysideStagecoach Merseyside is a major operator of bus services in the English city of Liverpool and in the surrounding area of Merseyside. It is a subsidiary of the Stagecoach Group...
- List of bus operators of the United Kingdom