| Stagecoach Yorkshire | |
| Parent: | Stagecoach Group |
| Founded: | 14 December 2005 |
| Headquarters: | Barnsley, South Yorkshire |
| Service Area: | South Yorkshire Derbyshire |
| Service Type: | Bus |
| Hubs: | Barnsley Interchange Chesterfield coach station Frenchgate Interchange Meadowhall Interchange Rotherham Interchange Sheffield Interchange |
| Depots: | 5 |
| Fleet: | 384 (April 2020)[1] |
| Operator: | Stagecoach Group |
| Website: | Official Website |
Stagecoach Yorkshire is a bus operator providing local and regional services across South Yorkshire and Derbyshire in England. It is a subsidiary of the Stagecoach Group and is headquartered in Barnsley. The subsidiary was formed in 2005 following the takeover of the Traction Group to run the operations of Yorkshire Traction, Yorkshire Terrier and Barnsley & District in South Yorkshire. Since then, the geographical coverage of the Stagecoach Yorkshire division has changed, with the divestment of services in the Huddersfield area and the transfer of Derbyshire operations from Stagecoach East Midlands.
The Yorkshire Traction Group was a large independent bus operator that had grown out of bus deregulation and the break-up of the National Bus Company in the UK. The company was formed in 1987 when the Barnsley-based Yorkshire Traction subsidiary was sold to its management and employees, led by Frank Carter.[2] Yorkshire Terrier was an independent post-deregulation bus company operating in Sheffield that had been formed in 1988 following the closure of a South Yorkshire Transport depot, and had also expanded itself with acquisition of some smaller operators within Sheffield;[3] in 2000, Yorkshire Traction purchased Yorkshire Terrier along with the operations of Andrews, South Riding, Sheffield Omnibus, and Kingsman. These operators were all based in Sheffield, mainly competing with former municipal Mainline Buses on service in and around the city.
Barnsley & District was formed in July 1990 when Traction bought Tom Jowitt Travel of Tankersley.[4] It was enlarged in 1992 when Pride of The Road, Royston was purchased, and in 1995, when the bus operations of Globe of Barnsley were taken over.
In December 2005, the Stagecoach Group acquired the Traction Group, and with it, the operations of Yorkshire Traction, which would subsequently become Stagecoach Yorkshire.[5] [6] Following the takeover by Stagecoach, Barnsley & District was closed and absorbed into Yorkshire Traction in July 2006, and three months later the Stagecoach in Chesterfield operation was transferred into Stagecoach Yorkshire from Stagecoach East Midlands.[7] The Chesterfield operation had been founded in 1987 as East Midland Motor Services and, at the time of the takeover by Stagecoach Yorkshire, employed 320 people and carried around eight million passengers every year, an increase of 10% over the previous year.[8]
In May 2008, following rumours that Arriva would purchase Stagecoach's Huddersfield operations, it was announced that Centrebus Holdings, a joint venture between Centrebus and Arriva, who held a 40% stake in Centrebus, would buy the division.[9] Arriva would sell their stake in Centrebus and rebrand its wholly owned Huddersfield operations to Yorkshire Tiger in September 2013.[10]
Stagecoach Yorkshire's first Stagecoach Gold service commenced on Monday 10 November 2014. The X17 service running between Sheffield, Chesterfield and Matlock, recently extended from Sheffield to Meadowhall and Barnsley, was upgraded with a fleet of Scania N230UD Alexander Dennis Enviro400s with high-specification interiors.[11]
Stagecoach Yorkshire should not be confused with Sheffield Supertram.
Stagecoach in Sheffield operated a SupertramLink bus that extended the Stagecoach Supertram yellow route. SupertramLink 1 (SL1/SL1A) ran from the Middlewood park and ride site at the northern Yellow route terminus, to Stocksbridge approximately 5 miles away, via Oughtibridge and the A6102. The service linked with the yellow tram terminus at Middlewood, and buses ran at the same frequencies as the tram during the daytime. [12] The SL1 service was withdrawn on 1 June 2020, with local bus service 57 being enhanced to provide better links with the tram from Hillsborough instead of Middlewood. [13]
The services were reinstated, but have since been permanently discontinued and replaced with the 57/57A "Stocksbridge Flyer" services. These routes link Stocksbridge to Sheffield City Centre via Deepcar, Wharncliffe Side, Oughtibridge, Worrall (57A), Middlewood (57), and Hillsborough.
Additionally, two former SupertramLink bus services have previously operated; Supertram Link 2 (SL2) ran from the Malin Bridge tramstop to Stannington, whilst the SupertramLink3 (SL3) operated between Crystal Peaks and Killamarsh in south Sheffield. Both of these routes have since been discontinued.
Stagecoach Yorkshire operate services from five bus depots across South Yorkshire and North East Derbyshire, listed below.
The former depot in Holmfirth was transferred to Centrebus Holdings as part of the sale of the division's West Yorkshire network of services in May 2008.
As of April 2020, Stagecoach Yorkshire's fleet consisted of 384 buses.
Stagecoach Yorkshire was among a handful of Stagecoach operators to receive Alexander Dennis Enviro400 Hybrids, which were deployed to its services in the Sheffield area. The first 21 Enviro400 Hybrids were delivered in 2011 and a further 19 were delivered in 2012.[14] [15] [16] Also unique to Stagecoach Yorkshire are eighteen Wright StreetLite HEVs purchased with funding from South Yorkshire PTE for services in Sheffield in 2018.[17]