Bluebird Bus and Coach


Alexander Dennis Enviro 300 on route 112 in Manchester in July 2008
Parent	Michael Dunstan
Founded	July 1988
Ceased operation	3 March 2013
Headquarters	Greengate
Service area	Greater Manchester
Service type	Bus operator
Hubs	Middleton bus station
Depots	1
Fleet	49 (May 2012)
Website	www.bluebirdbus.co.uk

Bluebird Bus & Coach was a bus operator based in Greengate in Chadderton, Greater Manchester between July 1988 and March 2013.

History[edit]

Bluebird Bus & Coach was formed in July 1988^[1] when Tom Dunstan, a former Greater Manchester PTE area manager, bought a small coach company called Bluebird of Middleton. Tom Dunstan died in 2004 and the company was taken over by his son Michael. The first route operated was commercial service 112, which was followed by a number of contracted routes. In 2006 and 2007, Bluebird expanded its operating area to Oldham introducing buses on routes 181, 182, 402, 410 and 411.^[2]

In November 2008, Bluebird was the first operator to run the Bolton Metroshuttle service^[3] before being replaced by Maytree Travel in January 2010, although the company would resume running a Metroshuttle service later that year, when they took the operation of the Stockport Metroshuttle service from Swan's Travel,^[4] although their Metroshuttle operation ended in March 2011, when the Stockport Metroshuttle service was taken over by Stagecoach Manchester.^[5]

On 7 November 2012, it was announced that Stagecoach Manchester had purchased the business, although the deal was subject to clearance from the Office of Fair Trading^[1]^[6]^[7]^[8] and was approved on 22 February 2013.^[9] The purchase included Bluebird's 40 vehicles, 80 staff members and its lease on the depot at Greengate and was completed on 3 March 2013.^[10]

Fleet[edit]

As at May 2012, the fleet consisted of 49 buses.^[11]

References[edit]

^ ^a ^b "Stagecoach Group to make swoop for Bluebird". Manchester Evening News. 7 November 2012. Retrieved 7 November 2012.
^ Lidstone, John G (April 2009). "Fleet in Focus: Bluebird Bus & Coach". Buses (649): 55.
^ "Bolton Metroshuttle takes off, Stockport's due by Christmas". Manchester Buses. Retrieved 29 January 2011.
^ "GMITA - Metroshuttle Patronage and Performance". GMITA. Retrieved 29 January 2011.
^ "GMPTE - Buses - Latest Changes". GMPTE. Archived from the original on 13 January 2010. Retrieved 14 February 2011.
^ "Acquisition of bus operations in North Manchester". Stagecoach Group. 7 November 2012. Retrieved 7 November 2012.
^ Stagecoach agrees £2m Bluebird deal Herald Scotland 8 November 2012
^ Stagecoach buys Bluebird - if OfT agrees Archived 12 August 2014 at the Wayback Machine Bus & Coach Professional 9 November 2012
^ "Anticipated acquisition by Greater Manchester Buses (South) Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Stagecoach plc, of Bluebird Bus & Coach" (PDF). Office of Fair Trading. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 October 2013. Retrieved 27 February 2013.
^ "ManchesterBluebird". Stagecoach Bus. Retrieved 27 February 2013.
^ Fleet Bluebird

External links[edit]

Media related to Bluebird at Wikimedia Commons
Company website

Former bus companies of the United Kingdom

National

England

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Midlands	Barton Transport Birmingham City Transport Birmingham Motor Traction Central Buses Chase Coaches First Northampton Glossopdale Bus Company Go West Midlands Ludlows North Birmingham Busways People's Express Premiere Travel Probus Management South Notts Bus Company Stevensons of Uttoxeter Travel de Courcey Travel Merry Hill Travel Your Bus Yourbus Zak's Buses
East of England	Eastern National Omnibus Company MK Metro
South West England	Abus Alexcars Badgerline Bristol Omnibus Company Crosville Motor Services Devon General Greyhound Motors Great Western Railway Hants & Dorset Nippy Bus Shamrock Buses Silver Star Motor Services South Gloucestershire Bus & Coach Southern National Sureline Trathens Travel Services WebberBus Wessex Bus Western Greyhound Western National Yellow Buses
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Greater London	Abellio Surrey Bexleybus Birch Brothers Boro'line London Capital Citybus Capital Logistics Connex East Thames Buses First London Grey-Green Harris Bus Limebourne London Buslines London Country Bus Services London Country North East London Country North West London Country South East London Country South West London Easylink London Electrobus Company London Forest London Pride Sightseeing London Traveller MTL NSL Buses Quality Line Thorpes Tower Transit Travel London Travel Surrey Westlink

Scotland

v t e Former bus companies operating in Scotland
Scottish Bus Group	Central Scottish Clydeside Scottish Eastern Scottish Fife Scottish Highland Scottish Kelvin Central Buses Kelvin Scottish Lowland Scottish Midland Scottish Northern Scottish Strathtay Scottish Western Scottish
Other operators	Arriva Scotland West A1 Service Dart Buses First Scotland East First Stop Travel Gibson's of Moffat McKindless Munro's of Jedburgh Oban and District Rapsons Scottish Motor Traction Strathclyde Buses Western SMT

Wales

v t e Former bus companies operating in Wales
Companies	Crosville Motor Services Express Motors GHA Coaches Islwyn Borough Transport National Welsh Omnibus Services Padarn Bus Red & White Services Rhondda Transport Company South Wales Transport Western Welsh
Buses Wales

Transport in Greater Manchester

Air

Map of England showing Greater Manchester

Bus

Operators	Arriva North West Bluebird Bullocks Diamond North West Finglands Coachways First Greater Manchester GM Buses Go North West Jim Stones Coaches JPT Magic Bus Manchester Community Transport Mayne Coaches Maytree Travel Rosso Stagecoach Manchester UK North Warrington's Own Buses
Routes	17 42 43 58 184 192 free bus route 1 free bus route 2 free bus route 3 V1 V2 V4

Stations	List of open railway stations List of closed railway stations
Lines	Buxton Calder Valley Crewe–Manchester Glossop Hope Valley Liverpool–Manchester Manchester–Preston Manchester–Southport Stafford–Manchester Stockport–Stalybridge Styal
Operators	British Rail (1948–1997) Regional Railways (1982–1996) Network NorthWest (1989–c.1992) First North Western (1997–2004) Northern Rail (2004–2016) Arriva Rail North (2016–2020) Northern Trains (2020-)

TIF bid