| Cleveland Transit | |
| Headquarters: | Stockton-on-Tees |
| Locale: | Cleveland, England |
| Service Area: | Middlesbrough Langbaurgh-on-Tees Stockton-on-Tees |
| Service Type: | Bus and coach |
| Alliance: | Hartlepool Borough Transport |
Cleveland Transit was a municipal bus operator based in the former county of Cleveland in northern England, operating from 1974 until its purchase by the Stagecoach Group in 1994.
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.[1] [2]
The municipally-owned company would operate 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,[3] 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.[4]
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.[5] After a protracted period of negotiation between Cleveland Transit staff and the councils involved in the joint committee,[6] during which the company became engaged in a bus war with rival Trimdon Motor Services in Stockton-on-Tees,[7] [8] 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'.[9]
In 1992, Cleveland Transit's coaching arm Cleveland Coaches was reorganised, becoming a National Express contractor as well as offering coach holidays to various destinations.[10] Cleveland Transit would purchase 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 would retain 49% ownership of the company and the livery of KHCT would be changed to one similar to Cleveland Transit.[11] [12]
In November 1994, Cleveland Transit and KHCT were both purchased by Stagecoach Holdings for £8.3 million.[13] 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,[14] [15] however full Stagecoach identity would be adopted for the Cleveland Transit fleet by 1995.[16] The operations of Cleveland Transit are today part of Stagecoach North East.