1974 to 1999 25 Years- MetroBus to FirstBus
27 January 1986 7001-7003 were transfered
from Halifax to the Bingleys operation, these buses were not
repainted blue but received "Bingleys" names as shown
below. At the same time 7004/5 were transfered from Halifax to
Middleton Garage,Leeds 
July 1986 Leeds 6232 and 6276 were
used during July & August in various experimental liveries to
decide on the final livery for Yorkshire Rider. These buses never
left the depot and never were photographed until the final livery
was decided. From August 1985, buses which were due for repaint
were painted into overall primrose pending the new livery, 498,
506, 521, 6079, 7119 & 8532 were amongst the buses which were
painted
Leyland
Atlantean 521 is shown below in overall primrose
.
August 1986 In preparation for
Deregulation Day, The first Freight Rover Sherpa minis arrived
August 1986, the minis were in "Micro Rider" livery
with "Magic" viynals, the deliveries of minis continued
until November 1988
1706 is an early coach
seated example which received the soon to be defunt MetroCoach
livery. 1701 (C701KBT) is one of the first Freight Rover Shepa
minibuses, it is seen in the new Micro Rider livery with
"Magic" logos.
26 October 1986 As a requirement of the
1985 Transport Act, the PTE transferred its bus operations and
those of United Services to a new company "Yorkshire Rider
Limited", It was registred at 1 Swinegate, Leeds. At the
same time introducing a new livery of Bright Green & Jonquil.
The new Yorkshire Rider fleet name was applied to the company's
buses suffixed by its area of operation; Leeds, Bradford,
Halifax, Huddersfield, Todmorden and Wakefield. And with
deregulation being effective from the same date, the minibus
started operating for the first time. The minibuses had
"Micro Rider" fleet names.
The coaching fleet, MetroCoach also was transformed with a new
Oatmeal livery with red and gold stripes to which a new fleetname
"Gold Rider" was added.
Today, also minibuses started operating and Sovereign Street
depot in Leeds City Centre is now solely a minibus depot. Leeds
Middleton & Huddersfield Longroyd Bridge depots were closed
at de-regulation too. Open topped Leyland Olympian 5146 was the
first vehicle to receive a Yorkshire Rider fleetname over the
Metrobus transfer.
Ilustrating the
new liveries are two Leyland Olympians, On the left 5123 shows
the new bus livery with "Yorkshire Rider Halifax"
fleetnames, on the right 5512 shows the new coach livery
Halifax based
Daimler Fleetline 2352 shows the many stickers that were added to
the old MetroBus livery, Fleetnames, Welcome Aboard and
"Serving the People of West Yorkshire" stickers were
all added to try and help passengers recognise their bus and not
to use a bus operated by one of many competitors that were
introduced in 1986. Also to note is the numeral aperture, all
services in Halifax had 500 added to their number in the late 70s
and therefore three numbers had to be displayed, this was very
unsatisfactory on these buses. 300 was added to Huddersfield
services and 600 added to Bradford services. A much newer
vehicle, Leyland Fleetline 7052 below, shows the new name on the
old livery
End of Oct 1986 The leased MCW Metrobuses bodied by Alexander 7512-7519 were sold, 7511/7520 remained in stock, Also Olympians 5001-5017 & 5049/50, 5054-64, 5066-5076, 5078-5082 were sold, as these were only leased. And the new company didn't want to be saddled with expensive leasing payments, older Atlanteans were retained.
During 1986 The Coaching operations were
improved upon the purchase of various Volvo Coaches, 1400 was a
unique vehicle in the fleet with a high profile body and was
branded "Jet Rider"
The photo below
shows the Gold Rider livery on coach 1402, This coach was
actually purchased by Bingleys early in 1986
14 June 1987 Today Halifax held a depot open day celebrating 75 of motor buses in Halifax and 80 years in Todmorden, Olympian 5096 A96KUM was painted into the old Halifax green and brown livery and Fleetline 7006 SUA6R was painted into the Todmorden green colours, In later years the Halifax bus became a "Building on a Great Tradition" bus and the Todmorden livery was transferred onto a new Olympian when 7006 was withdrawn
October 1987 An urgent need for double
deckers saw Yorkshire Rider turn to the secondhand market &
purchase 53 Fleetlines & 23 Atlanteans from GM Buses, The
fleetlines were allocated to Halifax (and the remaining examples
still are), whilst the Atlanteans (now all disposed of) were
allocated to Leeds.
One of the former GM Fleetlines that were aquired can be seen
here
October 1987 The first MCW Metroriders
started arriving this month with 2020-2034, the deliveries
continued to 2059 in May 1988
October 1988 For the ex Bingley's fleet,
now known as Yorkshire Rider Wakefield, 5 new Northern Counties
bodied Leyland Olympians were purchased for use on the 497/8
Wakefield-Doncaster service, this replaced NCME bodied
Fleetlines. Extra buses of this type continued to be purchased
until April 1990 for the other parts of Yorkshire Rider until
deliveries turned to Alexander for the Olympian body. Also, in
1988 MCW Metoriders were purchased
1331 shows the old United Services livery
when celebrating 75 years of Cooper Brothers Buses. United
services were now Yorkshire Rider Wakefield and were painted in
the standard livery.
21 October 1988 To comply with the 1985
Transport Act, the PTE offered its arms-length Yorkshire Rider
company to the private sector and it was purchased by its
management and employee. It became the first PTE companies to
move out of the local authority sector
24 April 1989 Today the new Halifax Bus Station opened, it replaced the old station based at Crossfields.
13 August 1989 Seeking expansion, Yorkshire Rider purchased the former NBC subsidiary, West Yorkshire Road Car Co Ltd. From the AJS Holdings subsidiary WY Travel Group Ltd, the deal bringing with it numerous services in the Leeds, Bradford and Otley areas, together with numerous vehicles including some year old Robin Hood bodied Ivecos, & various ECW bodied Olympians, as well as older Leyland Nationals, Bristol VRTs & Leyland Leopards, the West Yorkshire operation were continued until 31 March 1990 by this date the name was dropped.
September 1989 Wholesale withdrawls of
minibuses started this month, when deregulation competition was
starting to die down, services were reduced and that bigger buses
or newer MCW Metroriders had started on the new services. Most of
the older first-generation minibuses had gone by the end of 1992.
November 1989 The first of 5 Optare Delta
bodied Dafs, started being delivered this month, they were
initally for Yorkshire Rider Leeds, but have since been
transferred to York.
December 1989 At this point various
former London & Country Leyland Atlanteans were purchased,
6427 was allocated to Bramley, 6424/30/32/33/34 entered service
from West Yorkshire's Roseville Road depot. All the five buses
were repainted into Yorkshire Rider livery but the latter four
vehicles carried large "West Yorkshire" fleetnames.
6425/26/28/29/31/35 entered service later in February 1990 from
Roseville Road with normal YR fleetnames.
6430 shows the
West Yorkshire names on standard Yorkshire Rider livery
January 1990 This month 10 Plaxton
Derwent bodied Volvo B10M buses were delivered, they are numbered
1451-1460 and were for Halifax & Huddersfield. Since then
they were all transferred to be based at Huddersfield
March 1990 A New type & a new
fleet numbering series started this month, when Alexander RH
bodied Scania N113 Double Deckers 8001-8005 started to be
delivered, deliveries were half & half with Alexander and
Northern counties for 10 buses. Later examples 8011-8042
delivered until April 1991 were Alexander bodied. They were all
delivered for & remain at Leeds
13 March 1990 The last of the former
Halifax Corporation Northern Couties bodied Daimlers, was
withdrawn today. It was 3084 (RCP274K), Of the pre 1974 buses,
only ex LCT Atlanteans remained
Sister vehicle
3082 shows the MetroBus livery with Yorkshire Rider fleetnames
added.
31 March 1990 The former West Yorkshire
depots at Bradford Hammerton Street, Otley Bondgate and Leeds
Roseville Road were closed today, buses were transferred to Hall
Ings & Leeds Headingley. Those depots were only on short term
lease to Rider Holdings. From today West Yorkshire Road Car was
fully integrated into Yorkshire Rider operations. Also today the
former WYRCC Bus station at Vicar Lane Leeds was closed, with
services transferring to Leeds Central Bus Station. All the
London & Country Atlanteans that were aquired at the turn of
the decade were transferred to Bramley and the "West
Yorkshire" names were removed, A couple of buses in this
batch were still around in late 1999
5186 FUM486Y is
a former West Yorkshire Road Car vehicle that had been
transferred to Bramley Depot, It received Yorkshire Rider
fleetnames on its former red livery before being later repainted.
June 1990 Further to the Alexander RH
bodied Scanias that started being purchased in March, the
Olympian order was switched to Alexander also, and 5200-5222 were
delivered with Alexander RL bodies. They were delivered to
various depots, but now all operate from Bradford. These were the
last Leyland products built for Yorkshire Rider, a manufacturer
they have used since the first Atlanteans were delivered to the
WYPTE in 1974. Leyland had now been taken over by Volvo, and the
next Double Deckers not delivered until 1994 were Volvo
Olympians. Yorkshire Rider now turned its attension on Single
Deckers.
29 July 1990 Rider Holdings further
extended its area of operation by purchasing another part of the
former West Yorkshire empire, this time York City & District
Travel Limited, together with Reynard Buses Ltd, Who had
previosly purchased Target Travel Services Ltd in February 1990,
these two operators were placed under control of Reynard Buses.
York City & District was formed on the July 1988 when West
Yorkshire Road Car split the York operations off as a separate
company.
29 October 1990 The Gate Helmsley base of
Target Travel closed today
During 1990 The buses that have been painted into former corporation liveries received "Building On a Great Tradition" branding
Copyright West Yorkshire Buses Website 1999/2000, Some info is aquired from other sources, and is not my own info. Bus Fayre magazine and Badgerline and FirstBus handbooks have been used for exact dates and details. Thanks to Ivan Noble for copius information in relation to the History of Yorkshire Rider. Thanks to Michael Forster for all the photographs bar two and also information relating to Liveries carried. Please do not copy any information contained in the History of Yorkshire Rider without specific permission. Full completion: April 08, 2000, Last revised: August 25, 2002.