East Yorkshire (bus company)


East Yorkshire is a bus and coach operator, serving the East Riding of Yorkshire, North Yorkshire and York. Prior to acquisition by the Go-Ahead Group in June 2018, the company was known as East Yorkshire Motor Services.
In and around Scarborough, services operate under the Scarborough Locals brand, having been formerly branded as Scarborough and District. Additionally, private hire coach services are operated under the name East Yorkshire Coaches.
In March 2019, the company unveiled a new corporate livery and logo.

History

East Yorkshire Motor Services was originally made up of two companies, Lee & Beaulah, set up by Ernest John Lee, and Hull & District Motor Services, set up by H.A. Harvey.
In 1926, British Electric Traction bought the two companies, forming East Yorkshire Motor Services.
In 1968, British Electric Traction was sold to the Transport Holding Company, which in turn, became the National Bus Company in 1969.
Until 1972, the livery of East Yorkshire was dark blue and primrose. The livery was then changed to blue and white, in the National Bus Company corporate layout. This proved to be short-lived, with the livery being replaced by National Bus Company poppy red.
In the lead up to privatisation in 1987, East Yorkshire's fleet started to grow again.
United Automobile Services' depots in Scarborough and Pickering were transferred to East Yorkshire, with operations rebranded as Scarborough & District.
In February 1987, East Yorkshire was sold in a management buyout, led by seven managers.
Following the buyout, East Yorkshire began to expand, acquiring many independent operators in the local area, including Connor & Graham, Cottingham Mini Coaches and Primrose Valley Coaches.
The liveries at privatisation were silver and blue, National Bus Company poppy red, and the National Bus Company minibus livery of silver, blue and red. The poppy red buses soon started receiving a red and grey livery.
The Hardwick's of Scarborough fleet was purchased from Wallace Arnold.
In Hull, some AEC Routemaster vehicles entered service in traditional pre-National Bus Company East Yorkshire blue, to compete with Kingston upon Hull City Transport.
East Yorkshire suffered competition in Bridlington, Hull and Scarborough from Applebys. In 1999, Applebys closed its Scarborough base, and was subsequently placed in to receivership shortly after.
In 2009, East Yorkshire won the coveted Large Bus Operator of the Year award, at a presentation dinner attended by over 600 people from the bus and coach industry.
The award event was held by RouteOne, one of the industry's main national trade magazines.
The company has also reached the final of the Large Bus Operator of the Year award in subsequent years.

Out-of-area acquisitions

Finglands Coachways

East Yorkshire's first out-of-area expansion was in 1992, with the purchase of Finglands Coachways of Rusholme, with the original Stagecoach Manchester operation following in 1995.
In August 2013, First announced that subject to regulatory approval by the Office of Fair Trading, it had agreed to purchase the bus operations of Finglands Coachways. The sale included the lease of Finglands's depot in Rusholme, as well as routes, and approximately 100 members of staff, but no vehicles.
The deal was approved in January 2014, with First Greater Manchester taking over on operations in February 2014.
In October 2013, East Yorkshire sold the Finglands coach charter business to Bullocks Coaches.

Whittles Bus & Coach

of Kidderminster was acquired by East Yorkshire in January 2004. This was the second major out-of-area acquisition for East Yorkshire, since the management buyout in February 1987.
The business operated 50 vehicles at the time of purchase, running bus services in predominantly rural areas in the counties of Shropshire and Worcestershire.
In December 2014, the Whittles coach business was sold to Johnsons Coach & Bus Travel, along with nine coaches.
Following the sale, the operation of National Express contracted services were transferred to other operators, with local bus services being withdrawn entirely in January 2015.

Acquisition by the Go-Ahead Group

In June 2018, East Yorkshire was acquired by Go-Ahead, bringing an end to 30 years of family ownership. East Yorkshire will continue to run as a standalone company within Go North East.
In late October 2018, £1 million was invested in new Ticketer smart ticketing machines, with the ability to accept contactless payments.
In March 2019, a new livery and corporate branding was announced. The new livery is an evolution of the well known burgundy and cream colour scheme.
Under the changes, the trading name for the business became East Yorkshire, with a new typeface, and the white rose of Yorkshire replacing the letter O, to form part of the logo.
The new East Yorkshire brand was launched at an event at Hull City Football Club's KCOM Stadium, with two buses displayed in the new livery.

East Yorkshire Coaches

Coaches are operated for hire, day trips and short holidays, with services running under the East Yorkshire Coaches name.
East Yorkshire Coaches also traded as Frodingham Coaches between November 2001 and October 2007, following the purchase of the company.
The previous coaching operation, East Yorkshire Travel, was once a nationwide operator, but was sold to the Godfrey Burley Group in 1996.
East Yorkshire is also a National Express contractor, operating a number of routes to destinations across the country.

Fleet and operations

A large part of the East Yorkshire fleet is made up of vehicles manufactured by Alexander Dennis and Volvo. As of December 2016, the fleet consists of 316 buses and coaches.
In May 2015, East Yorkshire was the first operator to take delivery of a MCV EvoSeti. Following further deliveries in January and September 2017, an additional 18 vehicles were added to the fleet.
A heritage fleet is maintained by East Yorkshire, consisting of a Leyland PD2 open-top, and a Willowbrook bodied AEC Regent.

Depots

As of March 2020, East Yorkshire operate from six bus depots:
East Yorkshire formerly operated Moorsbus services from the Hull depot, with the two duties usually operating with Wright Eclipse bodied Volvo B7RLE vehicles. In 2013, these services were withdrawn, following the withdrawal of funding for Moorsbus services.
In early 2014, East Yorkshire registered service ME1, Moors Explorer, which replaced the previous M13 and M14 services running from Hull.
The new Moors Explorer ME1 service runs from Hessle, Hull, Cottingham and Beverley to Pickering, Kirkbymoorside and Danby, closely following the old route. The service is being run on a commercial basis by East Yorkshire, and has proved very popular with both local residents, as well as visitors to the North York Moors.

Documentary

East Yorkshire was the subject of an eight-part documentary series, On The Yorkshire Buses. The documentary originally aired on Channel 5 in July 2014, and was narrated by Simon Farnaby.