Cleveland Transit

File:Cleveland Transit H106 - RDC 106R (cropped).jpg at the South Yorkshire Transport Museum, 2019]]

The non-metropolitan county of Cleveland was formed by the Local Government Act 1972, incorporating the County Borough of Teesside districts of Hartlepool, Stockton-on-Tees, Middlesbrough and Langbaurgh-on-Tees as its non-metropolitan districts, with Middlesbrough becoming Cleveland's county town. Upon Cleveland's inauguration as a county in April 1974, the six-year-old Teesside Municipal Transport's operations were brought together with bus operators in the other three boroughs, with the exception of Hartlepool Borough Transport, and a joint council committee named Cleveland Transit was formed.{{cite magazine |title=Transit tees up |url=https://www.keybuses.com/article/transit-tees |magazine=Buses |location=Stamford |publisher=Key Publishing |date=20 April 2017 |access-date=12 April 2023}}{{cite magazine |last=Millier |first=Noel |date=25 May 1979 |title=Municipal buses with a difference |url=https://archive.commercialmotor.com/article/25th-may-1979/37/municipal-buses-with-a-difference |magazine=Commercial Motor |volume=149 |issue=3809 |pages=35–37 |location=London |publisher=IPC Transport Press |access-date=12 April 2023}}

The municipally-owned company operated bus and coach services across the new county for the next twelve years, adopting a green and primrose livery for its fleet. Cleveland Transit standardised on a fleet of Northern Counties-bodied Leyland Fleetlines, which were rebodied in the 1980s,{{cite magazine |date=31 May 1986 |title=Newsbrief |url=https://archive.commercialmotor.com/article/31st-may-1986/37/newsbrief |magazine=Commercial Motor |volume=163 |issue=4172 |page=37 |location=Sutton |publisher=Transport Press |access-date=12 April 2023}} Bristol VRs and Dennis Dominator double-decker buses and Leyland Leopard single-decks in this period, also experimentally operating a Rolls Royce-engined Leyland Fleetline converted to run on liquid petroleum gas, the first LPG-powered double-decker in the United Kingdom, in the mid-1970s.{{cite magazine |last=Hayes |first=Martin |date=14 March 1975 |title=Cleveland's Rolls-powered Fleetline is a gas |url=https://archive.commercialmotor.com/article/14th-march-1975/39/clevelands-rolls-powered-fleetline-is-a-gas |magazine=Commercial Motor |volume=141 |issue=3690 |pages=37–40 |location=London |publisher=IPC Transport Press |access-date=12 April 2023}}

Deregulation in 1986 saw Cleveland Transit take on a new green, white and yellow corporate identity and be reincorporated as an 'arm's length' company by Cleveland County Council.{{cite magazine |date=10 August 1985 |title=Cleveland invests £60,000 for deregulation |url=https://archive.commercialmotor.com/article/10th-august-1985/15/cleveland-invests-60000-for-deregulation |magazine=Commercial Motor |volume=162 |issue=4133 |page=15 |location=Sutton |publisher=Transport Press |access-date=12 April 2023}} After a protracted period of negotiation between Cleveland Transit staff and the councils involved in the joint committee,{{cite magazine |date=19 January 1989 |title=Cleveland staff bid for buyout |url=https://archive.commercialmotor.com/article/19th-january-1989/15/cleveland-staff-bid-for-buyout |magazine=Commercial Motor |volume=170 |issue=4302 |page=15 |location=Sutton |publisher=Reed Business Publishing |access-date=12 April 2023}} during which the company became engaged in a bus war with rival Trimdon Motor Services in Stockton-on-Tees,{{cite magazine |date=17 March 1988 |title=Dereg 'causing driver fights' |url=https://archive.commercialmotor.com/article/17th-march-1988/19/dereg-causing-driver-fights |magazine=Commercial Motor |volume=163 |issue=4263 |page=19 |location=Sutton |publisher=Reed Business Publishing |access-date=12 April 2023}}{{cite magazine |date=17 March 1988 |title=No halt in Stockton bus war |url=https://archive.commercialmotor.com/article/17th-march-1988/24/no-halt-in-stockton-bus-war |magazine=Commercial Motor |volume=163 |issue=4263 |page=24 |location=Sutton |publisher=Reed Business Publishing |access-date=12 April 2023}} the company was purchased by its employees in 1991 in an employee share ownership plan, with the company adopting the slogan 'Employee Owners Working for You'.{{cite magazine |date=9 May 1991 |title=ESOP's able at Cleveland |url=https://archive.commercialmotor.com/article/9th-may-1991/24/esops-able-at-cleveland |magazine=Commercial Motor |volume=173 |issue=4418 |page=24 |location=Sutton |publisher=Reed Business Publishing |access-date=12 April 2023}}

Originally founded in September 1991 and responsible for contracted school services and bookable day trips,{{cite magazine |url=https://archive.org/details/coachmart-issue656/page/n6/mode/1up |date=12 September 1991 |title=Cleveland's new venture |magazine=Coachmart |issue=656 |page=7 |location=Peterborough |publisher=Emap |access-date=20 November 2024}} Cleveland Transit reorganised its coaching arm Cleveland Coaches in 1992, turning it into a National Express contractor which also offered coach holidays to various destinations.{{cite magazine |date=28 March 1992 |issue=6 |page=13 |title=Cleveland in coaches re-jig |magazine=Coach & Bus Week |location=Peterborough |publisher=Emap}} Cleveland Transit purchased Kingston upon Hull City Transport (KHCT), a former municipal bus operator located in the non-metropolitan county of Humberside that was losing £100,000 a month, from the city council for over £2 million in December 1993. Employees at KHCT retained 49% ownership of the company and the livery of KHCT was changed to one similar to Cleveland Transit.{{cite magazine |date=11 December 1993 |issue=95 |page=5 |title=Hull completion due |magazine=Coach & Bus Week |location=Peterborough |publisher=Emap}}{{cite magazine |last=Jarosz |first=Andrew |date=18 December 1993 |issue=96 |page=3 |title=Transit sews up the sale of KHCT and wields axe |magazine=Coach & Bus Week |location=Peterborough |publisher=Emap}}

In November 1994, Cleveland Transit and KHCT were both purchased by Stagecoach Holdings for £8.3 million.{{cite news |last=Smithers |first=Rebecca |title=Stagecoach profits gallop ahead |date=7 December 1994|newspaper=The Guardian |location=London|id={{ProQuest|294858806}}}} The Cleveland Transit identity was originally retained by Stagecoach for a short period, with new Northern Counties Palatine bodied Volvo Olympians being delivered with 'Part of the Stagecoach Group' slogans on the Cleveland Transit logos,{{cite magazine |date=15 July 1995 |title=Important role for CT's deckers |magazine=Coach & Bus Week |issue=176 |page=6 |location=Peterborough |publisher=Emap}}{{cite news |date=31 March 2022|title=Olympian goes back to original |url=https://cbwmagazine.com/olympian-goes-back-to-original/ |work=Coach & Bus Week |location=Peterborough |access-date=10 June 2023 |url-access=subscription}} however full Stagecoach identity began to be adopted for the Cleveland Transit fleet from 1995 onwards.{{cite news |title=History of Teesside's buses |date=11 May 2012 |newspaper=Evening Gazette |location=Middlesbrough|id={{ProQuest|1012466301}}}} The operations of Cleveland Transit are today part of Stagecoach North East.

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{{Defunct British Bus Companies}}

Category:Cleveland, England

Category:Former bus operators in North Yorkshire

Category:Transport companies established in 1974

Category:Transport companies disestablished in 1994

Category:1974 establishments in England

Category:1994 disestablishments in England