Maybe a couple of mixed memories creeping in guys ;-)
Liverline did have some Fleetlines after North Western takeover, they came from Amberline and operated initially in Crosville Wales green, with Liverline fleetnames. A couple received the two tone blue livery worn at the time. (In north western diagonal style)
The operator that did have fleetlines in WMT livery was rest and ride - first incarnation of today’s PeoplesBus?
Have a quick search on Flickr to see what’s maybe on there - May jog some more memories??
I was thinking initially, those WMPTE Fleetlines didn't last long after NW tookover amberline, forgotten they went to Liverline. But certainly when Liverline started there was no Fleetlines
Always an interesting operator Liverline along with Fareway and Liverbus too.
I may be wrong with some of this and I’m no expert as I wasn’t from South Liverpool where they mostly ran but they began operations in Spring 1988 from a depot at Naylor Street off Scotland Road. Their first route was 32’s which was a variation of the 82 which went via Hunts Cross Asda rather than Speke Road between Garston and Speke. I did use this a fair bit to Riversdale college too. Later in the early summer they added they 35 to Halewood which is today’s 75 and in 1989 they added the 36 which was a mix of the 86 and other Allerton Road services and the 38/39 to Halewood which was like the 79’s to Belle Vale then continued to Halewood. The initial fleet was ex-Strathclyde Alexander Atlantean’s both from Strathclyde and refurbished ones via London Country South East along with ex-Greater Manchester, Plymouth, Ribble and Hyndburn Atlantean’s which gradually replaced some of these in 1989 and their first new vehicles 10 Scania 113 Northern Counties Palatines. Also around this time was a City Centre circular service via the Albert Dock which used a Routemaster too.
Merseybus responded to these threats by upping services and lowering fares on competing routes in South and North Liverpool (Fareway) but generally Liverline seemed to do fairly well with them and some Merseytravel contracts they’d won. In 1990 they added the 102 Broadgreen – Walton to their service network after Merseybus didn’t renew things with Merseytravel and a few months of Halton Transport etc. Eventually extended and commercialised by Liverline It was kept on until Autumn 1992 when MTL’s MerseyRider took over the route and the Naylor Street base. The student service was the 37 essentially a copy of the Merseybus 699.
By then Liverline had moved to Bootle and had began some operations in that area like the 55’s too. They also won the contract for the 224 Broadgreen – Aigburth via Wavertree Technology park and Albert Dock as well although this passed to Merseybus in 1993 and eventually became part of the SMART network in 1994.
Drawlane/British Bus took over Liverline in 1993 and merged it into the North Western parent company. Amberline was also taken over/merged with North Western/Liverline hence the ex-West Midlands Fleetline’s on the 79 which initially North Western inherited at Speke and then passed over to Liverline at Bootle.
In 1995 North Western agreed a deal with MTL to share Liverpool’s bus market so Liverline routes were refocused. Some were passed over to the North Western parent who began CityPlus with the East Lancs Dart’s on the 82/86’s which went from Crosby/Thornton/Netherton to Speke/Garston via the city centre.
Liverline did remain fairly intact albeit a North Western subsidiary/branding until 1998 when Arriva’s identity started to be used and became the original Arriva Merseyside. By then the Atlantean’s were long gone and the Scania’s transferred to Fox County for similarly aged Alexander and Northern Counties Leyland Olympian’s. Things changed again when MTL was acquired by Arriva and became a new Arriva Merseyside and Liverline became Arriva Liverpool although by then most services were either merged or withdrawn into the Arriva network they put in place in April 2000.
Always had a soft spot for them but some of those Strathclyde Atlantean’s were literally falling apart due to the panoramic windows/design. The Scania's were IMO brilliant and essentially they were North Western by around 1992-ish. We'll never see the new breed of deregulation operators like these again.
You did see an operator potentially like that again later, what about CMT it might not have operated deckers like the other three but developed from Leyland Nationals eventually on to brand new saloons from Volvo and Dennis and seemed to carve out quite an area of operation and bought out ABC in Southport and added a much smaller firm to the portfolio owned by the owners separately.
Although I accept your point no further new medium sized independents building up from scratch are likely. Large Groups have taken up much territory in large towns and cities in the UK were such an operation could be viable, also getting finance for new vehicles is also much harder, let alone the insurance. I can image a Bank Manager telling some one to get lost who asked for a loan now to start a bus company like these, using significant financial resources.
Any new operator is likely to be small and concentrate on small local authority tenders, school contracts and rail replacement work, not commercial operations as the risk is just too great to take.
Liverbus, Fareway, Liverline and CMT though all had interesting fleets, although many vehicles in them were elderly. The fact that Fareway couldn't afford fleet replacement in the 1990's was the reason they gave up as the operation was financially break even as I understand it. Much of their fleet by then heading towards 20 years old needed replacement and the bill was just too great, plus the market had begun to move onto newer vehicles.
(20/02/2019 07:36)childwallblues Wrote: [ -> ]Having just read this thread for the first time my memoties of Liverline were that it had a livery similar to West Midlands Transport and used Fleetlines from WMT. Also did they not operate on the 699?
I think you’re thinking about Merseyline (bought by Arriva 2005)
(20/02/2019 08:00)MPTE1955 Wrote: [ -> ]No, they didn't have Fleetlines from WMT and livery nothing like WMT. Various Atlanteans was what they had to start with. Think most came from Scotland, with some from Manchester, and a few from other areas. No Fleetlines as far as I can remember. Merseyline had Fleetlines from WMT and Amberline
Apologies I am getting mixed up with Liverline.
(20/02/2019 18:24)childwallblues Wrote: [ -> ]Apologies I am getting mixed up with Liverline.
Long time ago, we can't remember everything can we and back then there was all sorts going on.