Yorkshire Rider

This article is missing information about the company's notable operations, including 'Gold Rider' express services. Please expand the article to include this information. Further details may exist on the talk page. (August 2024)

Yorkshire Rider

A Yorkshire Rider MCW Metrobus in Leeds in August 1993
Founded	September 1986; 38 years ago (1986-09)
Ceased operation	September 1995; 29 years ago (1995-09)
Headquarters	Leeds
Service area	West Yorkshire

Yorkshire Rider was a bus company operating in West Yorkshire, England. The company was formed in 1986 out of the bus operations of the West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive. It was later bought by the Badgerline Group, who later became the FirstGroup, and the company trades today as First West Yorkshire.

To comply with the Transport Act 1985, the West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive formed an arms length company named Yorkshire Rider in September 1986.^[1][2] West Yorkshire PTE's 'Metrobus' services were transferred to Yorkshire Rider upon the deregulation of West Yorkshire bus services on 26 October 1986.^[3]

On 21 October 1988, Yorkshire Rider was privatised for £20 million (equivalent to £74,021,000 in 2023). 51% of shares in the company were sold by West Yorkshire PTE to a team of eight managers in a management buyout, while the remaining 49% were sold to Yorkshire Rider's 3,500 employees in an Employee Share Ownership Plan, the largest such arrangement in the United Kingdom at the time.^[4][5]

After having previously been denied permission to purchase the former National Bus Company subsidiary upon its privatisation in 1987,^[6] Yorkshire Rider purchased the operations of the West Yorkshire Road Car Company from the AJS Group in July 1989,^[7][8][9] briefly maintaining West Yorkshire as a separate brand of Yorkshire Rider's operations before largely dissolving West Yorkshire amid cost-cutting measures in April 1990, resulting in 89 job losses and 26 buses being withdrawn from the fleet.^[10] Yorkshire Rider was also awarded a contract to operate the proposed Bradford trolleybus system in 1989,^[11] although ultimately, the project was cancelled.^{[citation needed]} Yorkshire Rider later completed its purchase of the remaining AJS Group bus companies in August 1990, purchasing York bus operators Target Travel and York City & District as well as independent operator Reynard Buses,^[12] merging the operations of these companies to form the subsidiary company Rider York.

On 15 April 1994, Yorkshire Rider was purchased by the Badgerline Group for £38 million (equivalent to £95,467,000 in 2023),^[13][14] Initially, Badgerline's bid for Yorkshire Rider in late March was strongly opposed by the company's employee shareholding workforce, who had been promised full control of their company under a refinancing agreement with Yorkshire Rider's three executive directors.^[15][16] A rival buyout bid was planned by Yorkshire Rider's employees with support from the Transport and General Workers Union,^[17] however 93% of Rider's employee shareholders eventually voted in favour of the sale to Badgerline.^[14]

Yorkshire Rider was included in the merger of Badgerline with the GRT Group on 16 June 1995 to form FirstBus, later renamed to FirstGroup.^[18][19] Three months later in September 1995, however, Yorkshire Rider was made defunct by FirstBus and split into separate divisions:^{[20][better source needed]}

• Bradford Traveller: covering Bradford with a depot at Bowling Back Lane
• Calderline: covering Halifax and Calderdale with depots in Halifax and Todmorden
• Kingfisher Huddersfield: covering Kirklees with a depot at Old Fieldhouse Lane
• Leeds City Link: covering the Leeds area with depots in Bramley, Hunslet and Torre Road^[21]

In February 1998, these were all renamed to First Bradford, First Calderdale, First Huddersfield and First Leeds respectively as part of a rollout of the FirstBus brand to the company's subsidiaries across the United Kingdom.^[22] Today, these operate under First West Yorkshire, with Rider York also rebranded to First York.

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The company's central engineering works in Kirkstall, as well as a bus depot in Headingley, were both closed for redevelopment in July 1992.^[23] An arson attack at the company's Torre Road depot in Burmantofts caused £2 million (equivalent to £4,856,000 in 2023) in fire damage, which included the destruction of thirteen double-decker buses stored at the depot overnight.^[24][25] Torre Road depot was closed by Leeds City Link a year later, replaced by a £1.5 million (equivalent to £3,556,000 in 2023) new depot a short distance away on Cherry Row.^[26]

The Yorkshire Rider Social Club still exists in Leeds but no longer has a formal connection with any bus operator and does not receive any financial subsidy. It is one of the few remaining buildings where the Yorkshire Rider logo is still on display.^[27]

Media related to Yorkshire Rider (bus company) at Wikimedia Commons