Municipal bus company

A municipal bus company is an operator of bus services owned by the local government authority. This article lists all current municipal bus companies in the United Kingdom.

Most municipal bus companies disappeared between 1968 and 1974 before (or with) the formation of PTE bus operations.

Of the remaining municipal operators, post-1986 many were sold off or collapsed in the process of bus deregulation, which required their separation into stand-alone arms-length companies. A few remaining companies have accepted minority-stake holdings in their companies by private bus operating companies, as a method of securing investment.

Local authorities Company Routes Number of vehicles Private shareholdings
Bath & North East Somerset Council Bath & North East Somerset Council Buses Operates route 752 (Bath to Hinton Blewett) and route 754 (North Radstock to Hinton Blewett) None
Beaminster Town Council Beaminster Town Council Buses Operates route CB3 (Bridport to Yeovil) None
Blackpool Borough Council Blackpool Transport Operates local bus services throughout Blackpool and surrounding areas 158 buses and 75 trams (September 2013)[1] None
Caerphilly County Borough Council Caerphilly County Borough Council Buses Operates routes 15 (Cefn Glas to Blackwood), C1 (Nelson Town Service), J (Caerphilly to Rudry), and L (Caerphilly to Nantddu) None
Cardiff City Council Cardiff Bus Operates local bus services throughout Cardiff and surrounding areas 240 None
City of Edinburgh Council (91%), East Lothian Council (3%), Midlothian Council (3%), West Lothian Council (3%) Lothian Buses Operates local bus services throughout Edinburgh as well as longer distance bus routes to the surrounding areas (branded as East Coast Buses for services to the east of Edinburgh and Lothian Country Buses for services to the west of Edinburgh) 721 buses and 27 trams (December 2012)[2] None
Cogenhoe & Whiston Parish Council Cogenhoe & Whiston Parish Council Buses Operates route VH1 (Northampton to Wollaston) None
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar Bus Na Comhairle W5 - Stornoway to Tolsta

W5 - Stornoway to Bayble/Portnaguran

W7 - Stornoway Town Services

7 None
Denbighshire County Council Denbighshire Council Buses Operates local bus services throughout Denbighshire and surrounding areas None
Dumfries and Galloway Council DGC Buses Operates local bus services throughout Dumfries and surrounding areas 40 (February 2010)[3] None
Ipswich Borough Council Ipswich Buses Operates local bus services throughout Ipswich and surrounding areas 76 (September 2013)[4] None
Monmouthshire County Council Monmouthshire County Council Buses Operates route 65 (Monmouth to Chepstow) and routes W3/W4/W5 (Monmouth Town Services) None
Moray Council Moray Council Buses Operates various local bus routes around the Elgin and Keith areas None
Newport City Council Newport Bus Operates local bus services throughout Newport and surrounding areas 90 None
North Yorkshire County Council North Yorkshire County Council Buses Operates many local rural bus routes around the Skipton area None
Northern Ireland Translink Operates entire Northern Ireland bus network None
Nottingham City Council Nottingham City Transport Operates local bus services throughout Nottingham and surrounding areas 315 (November 2019)[5] 18% owned by Transdev[6]
Nottinghamshire County Council Notts Bus Operates many local bus routes in towns and rural areas throughout Nottinghamshire None
Pembrokeshire County Council Pembrokeshire County Council Buses Operates routes 360/361 (Pembroke Dock to Tenby) and 387/388 (Pembroke Dock to Stackpole) None
Reading Borough Council Reading Buses Operates local bus services throughout Reading and surrounding areas, as well as local buses around Slough, Bracknell and Maidenhead (branded as Thames Valley Buses), local buses around Newbury (branded as Newbury & District), express services to London (branded as Greenline), contracts for Green Park Business Park (branded as Greenwave) and private contracts for Vodafone 165 (May 2013)[7] None
Runnymede Borough Council Runnymede Community Transport Operates routes 457 (Addlestone to St Peters Hospital) and route 556 (Addlestone to Woking) None
Scottish Borders Council Scottish Borders Council Buses Operates the Hawick town services and other local bus routes around the Galashiels and Hawick areas None
Somerset County Council Somerset County Council Buses Operates local bus service throughout Somerset and surrounding areas None
Swansea Council Swansea Council Buses Operates the Tuesday and Thursday journeys on route 142 (Morriston to Garnswllt) None
Warrington Borough Council Warrington's Own Buses Operates local bus services throughout Warrington and surrounding areas 102 (March 2017)[8] None
West Berkshire Council West Berkshire Council Buses Operates local bus services throughout West Berkshire and surrounding areas None
Wolverhampton City Council Wolverhampton City Council Buses Operates route 500 (Wolverhampton City Free Bus) None
  1. ^ Blackpool North West Buses
  2. ^ Annual Report 2012 Lothian Buses
  3. ^ Three new Solos for DGC Buses Archived 2013-11-04 at the Wayback Machine busandcoach.com 15 February 2010
  4. ^ Ipswich Buses Fleetlist Ipswich Bus Page
  5. ^ Our Fleet Nottingham City Transport Fleet Page
  6. ^ Final Statement of Accounts 2012/13 Nottingham City Council 2 October 2013
  7. ^ Fleet List Archived 2013-10-29 at the Wayback Machine Reading Transport May 2013
  8. ^ Network Warrington Fleet List Network Warrington 10 March 2017