Harrogate Bus Company

The Harrogate Bus Company operates both local and regional bus services in North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire, England. It is a subsidiary of Transdev Blazefield.

History
In November 1906, The Harrogate Road Car Company was formed. Initially operating steam-powered buses, the company adopted conventionally-fuelled petrol buses in 1911.

In 1924, the company was absorbed into Tilling & British Automobile Traction and renamed the Harrogate & District Road Car Company. Following the company's expansion, it was further renamed West Yorkshire Road Car Company in 1927, to reflect the wider service area provided.

In 1948, along with other companies that were then part of the Tilling Group, West Yorkshire Road Car Company was nationalised.

In 1968, West Yorkshire Road Car Company became a subsidiary of the National Bus Company.

In 1987, West Yorkshire Road Car Company was sold in a management buyout to the AJS Group, owned by former East Yorkshire Motor Services managing director, Alan Stephenson. The business was split into smaller companies in December 1988, one of which became Harrogate & District Travel.

Following the deregulation of bus services in 1986, Harrogate Independent Travel was set up by a number of West Yorkshire Road Car Company drivers, in a bid to challenge their former employer. The company was subsequently purchased by AJS Group in April 1989.

In August 1991, Harrogate & District Travel was included in the purchase of AJS Group by Blazefield Group, following the sale of seven of the company's eight remaining bus firms at the time – a deal valued at £2.2 million.

In October 1996, the company further expanded, following the transfer of Cowie Group's operations in the cathedral city of Ripon.

In April 2005, the company was awarded the contract to operate service 767, which ran between Harrogate and Leeds Bradford Airport. The contract was subsequently awarded to Dales & District in April 2010. The route is now served by the Flyer A2 service, operated by Transdev York & Country. It was introduced in September 2020, as part of a joint partnership between Leeds Bradford Airport, Transdev Blazefield and West Yorkshire Combined Authority.

In January 2006, French-based operator Transdev acquired the Blazefield Group, along with 305 vehicles. In 2010, the company was rebranded under the name Transdev in Harrogate. As part of this, a new butterscotch and burgundy livery was introduced across the fleet, with the exception of the double-decker Wright Eclipse Gemini bodied Volvo B7TL vehicles dedicatedly branded for the company's Leeds to Harrogate and Ripon route 36, which received a revision to its original black, red and grey livery in 2009.

In 2011, the company became involved in a bus war with local independent operator, Connexionsbuses. It concerned bus services operating in and around the market town of Wetherby. In the same year, a retendering exercise by North Yorkshire County Council saw all of the company's council contracted routes transferred to other operators. An exception was service X59, which operated between Harrogate and Skipton via Bolton Abbey. Initially, the service was operated commercially and at a reduced frequency, prior to its eventual withdrawal in March 2013. In 2012, the company introduced eight brand-new single-decker Optare Versa vehicles to serve local routes within Harrogate. These buses operated on routes 2 (to Bilton), 3 (to Jennyfield), and 6 (to Pannal Ash) under the new brand name Harrogate Connect, with the original butterscotch and burgundy livery being revised and replaced by a new red and black colour scheme. During 2013, the remainder of the fleet underwent a transformation. All services (except for the dedicatedly branded route 36) adopted the Harrogate Connect identity. The double-decker Wright Eclipse Gemini bodied Volvo B7TL buses branded for the route 36 however retained their own black and red colour scheme, with a new livery being introduced alongside the route’s new identity – ‘36 City Connect’ – in 2011.

In July 2016, the company underwent another rebranding, now operating as The Harrogate Bus Company. As part of this transformation, a significant fleet upgrade took place. The company introduced a new two-tone red livery, and its route 1 branded Wright Eclipse Urban bodied Volvo B7RLE single-deck buses were refurbished to meet new standards. The buses were upgraded to include modern amenities such as WiFi connectivity, USB charging capabilities, and audio/visual next stop information, along with being fitted with superchargers to reduce NOx emissions. Additionally, other Wright Eclipse Urban vehicles were transferred from Transdev’s other subsidiaries to replace the older Wright Renown bodied Volvo B10BLE single-decker buses on the same route. The new and upgraded fleet commenced service on the 17 July.

2016 also saw the launch of fourteen brand new high-specification Wright Gemini 3 bodied Volvo B5TL double-decker buses on route 36. These new buses replaced the older Wright Eclipse Gemini vehicles, and the route received a new identity – ‘Riding Redefined’ – along with a new two-tone red and black livery.

In July 2017, a new brand was introduced for the route 770/771, resulting in the services being renumbered and rebranded as the “Superior 70/71”. The fleet underwent significant upgrades, with Wright Eclipse Urban 2 bodied Volvo B7RLE single-deck vehicles transferred from Transdev’s Burnley operations and refurbished to include WiFi connectivity, USB charging capabilities, and audio/visual next stop information. On 23 July, the new fleet commenced service on the route, gradually replacing the entire existing fleet of Volvo B10BLE Wright Renown vehicles, which were phased out of service in Harrogate by 2018. However, in April 2018, due to the loss of council funding for the 70 to Connexionsbuses, the 71 was once again renumbered and rebranded, now operating as the “Simple 7".

In partnership with DalesBus, the service between Harrogate and Skipton was reintroduced in May 2021 – the first direct service between the two towns for eight years. As of April 2022, four buses per day operate on summer Saturdays.

In 2024, the company's entire fleet will be converted to operation with battery-electric buses. Partially funded by the UK government's Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas (ZEBRA) scheme, 20 Mercedes-Benz eCitaro single-deck vehicles and 19 Alexander Dennis Enviro400EV double-deck vehicles – worth £21 million collectively – have been ordered, with the first Enviro400EV revealed at an unveiling event in June. They were announced to be expected to start entering service from early September.

2024 also saw the introduction of route 4, a service linking King Edwin Park housing estate with Harrogate.

The Harrogate Bus Company
Following the rebrand of the company in 2016, a two-tone red livery was introduced for local bus services in and around the spa town of Harrogate. As well as serving as a corporate livery, it is also used as a base for dedicated route brands such as the 1, the 7, and the Harrogate Electrics network.

In addition to these routes, the Harrogate Bus Company operates several other services under its corporate brand, including the 21 (Knaresborough to Boroughbridge and Roecliffe), the 24 (Harrogate to Pateley Bridge), the 59 (Harrogate to Skipton), and the X98/X99 (Wetherby to Leeds).

Harrogate Electrics
Local services operating in and around Harrogate are operated by a fleet of eight high-specification, battery-electric Volvo 7900 single-deck vehicles in dedicated branding. The vehicles, which were announced in February 2017, were introduced into service in July 2018. The project was funded partly by Transdev (£1.7 million), with a further £2.25 million of funding granted from the Government's Low Emission Bus Scheme. Features include free WiFi, USB charging and audio-visual next-stop announcements.

The Harrogate Electrics network encompasses the company's local routes within Harrogate – the 2 to Bilton, the 3 to Jennyfield, the 4 to King Edwin Park, and the 6 to Pannal Ash and Beckwith Knowle Business Park. The 2 and 3 operate at a frequency of every 20 minutes, the 4 operates every hour, and the 6 operates every 30 minutes.

In October 2018, the 24 to Pateley Bridge became mainly electric-bus operated, with 2 battery-electric Optare Solo SR EV s branded in the Harrogate Electrics livery allocated for the route, however these buses have since been withdrawn from use.

The 1
The 1 brand encompasses a group of routes (1, 1A, 1B, 1C and 1D), which operate between Harrogate and Knaresborough via Starbeck. Routes operate at a combined ten minute frequency between Harrogate and Knaresborough, with services extending at a reduced frequency to housing estates within Knaresborough – Aspin (1A), Eastfield (1B), Carmires (1C) and The Pastures (1D). The non-suffixed route 1 serves Harrogate, Starbeck, and Knaresborough only.

Services are operated by a fleet of Wright Eclipse Urban bodied Volvo B7RLE single-deck vehicles, dedicatedly branded for the route in a two-tone red livery. Features include free WiFi, USB charging and audio-visual next-stop information.

The 7
The 7 runs between Harrogate and Leeds via Wetherby, Boston Spa and Seacroft at an hourly frequency.

Services are operated by a fleet of Wright Eclipse Urban 2 bodied Volvo B7RLE single-deck vehicles, dedicatedly branded for the route in a two-tone red livery. Features include free WiFi, USB charging and audio-visual next stop information.

The 36
The 36 is one of the group's flagship services, running between Leeds and Harrogate via Harewood up to every ten minutes, and extending to Ripon via Ripley every 30 minutes.

Services are operated by a fleet of high-specification Wright Gemini 3 bodied Volvo B5TL double-deck vehicles, dedicatedly branded for the route in a two-tone black and red livery. Features include free WiFi, USB charging, coach-style seating with a 2+1 arrangement upstairs, an on-board library and audio-visual next stop information.

Depots
The former West Yorkshire Road Car Company depot at Grove Park in Harrogate was sold for redevelopment in the early 1990s. Following which Harrogate & District Travel operated from two depots; minibuses being based at Camwal Road in Starbeck and conventional buses at Manse Lane in Knaresborough.

Both depots soon became too small to accommodate an increasing fleet and the former Vibroplant depot on Prospect Road in Starbeck was purchased. The whole fleet was then operated from a single site, with the exception of one vehicle that remained out-stationed at Upper Nidderdale High School in Pateley Bridge.

, the company continues to operate from the single depot on Prospect Road in Starbeck.

Vehicles
, the fleet consists of 57 diesel-powered and battery-electric single and double-deck buses, manufactured by Optare, Volvo, Wrightbus, and East Lancs/Scania.