WestYorkshireBusesWebsite

Year by Year Guide to new Bus deliveries

The following table details all new buses that were delivered to WYPTE, Yorkshire Rider and First West Yorkshire.

1970s l 1980s l 1990s l 2000s l Graphs and Analysis

Buses in Metro Connect or Metro Mybus livery were purchased by and are owned by Metro

Graphs and Analysis

Overall number of new buses per year

This orange line on this graph shows the overall number of new buses delivered each year. The purple line shows a five year moving average, this shows that following a low point in the early 90s, the overall trend during the mid to late 90s was an increase in the number of buses being delivered. From 1999 the trend started to reduce again but is currenly climbing again due to FirstGroup stepping up deliveries, and Metro funding large numbers of school buses. It shows that 1992 was the year the least number of buses were delivered, only 8 DAF Ikarus Citibuses for York that year, and the highest number of new buses, 187 arrived in 1995. 1975 was a close second with 180 PTE standard buses arriving that year to try and reduce the number of older types inherited from the corporations. This graph also shows that 2003 had the 4th lowest number of new buses, just behind 1992, 1985 and 1989. Recent years have seen large numbers of new buses delivered with 2009 being largest since 1995.

Distribution of new buses between operating units

This graph shows which depots received new buses in which years. For simplicity, Todmorden is included within the Halifax figures, Quickstep Travel is included in the Leeds figures and 'Others' means the early PTE coaching operations and Yorkshire Rider Wakefield. This graph shows that as would be expected Leeds generally has the highest number of buses delivered each year, the large number of buses delivered to Huddersfield in 1995, Bradford in 2000 and York's dominance of new buses in 2001/2 can clearly be seen. The lack of significant deliveries at all for Huddersfield between 1995 and 2004 can be seen, as can the First policy of individual companies receiving large deliveries at once with Halifax in 1999, Bradford in 2000, York in 2001/2 and Halifax/Huddersfield in 2005. The only area this doesn't apply to is Leeds which continues to receive a small number of buses every year, the only two years no new buses arrived was 1992 and 2002. Following the restructuring of First West Yorkshire, deliveries are again focused on Leeds and Bradford with the 53 delivered to Bradford in 2008 being the highest since 2000 and the 103 for Leeds in 2009 being the largest since the formation of the PTE in 1974

Types of new buses delivered per year

This shows the type of vehicles delivered each year displayed as a % of the overall quantity delivered that year. Midibuses are included in the Single Decker figure. The actual number of buses delivered is shown on each bar. t can clearly be seen that for the first ten years of the PTE, Double Deckers dominated orders with large numbers of Leyland Atlanteans, Fleetlines, Olympians, MCW Metropolitans and Metrobuses entering service. Other deliveries during this period included smaller numbers of dual purpose single deckers. Coaches, mainly Leyland Leopards and then Tigers were also bought most years as the PTE developed it's MetroCoach operation. As Deregulation approached, the new company Yorkshire Rider then focussed on minibuses with large numbers of Freight Rover Sherpas and later Mercedes minibuses and MCW Metroriders entered service. Besides a few coaches and double deckers all the 1987 orders were for minibuses. From 1988, minibus orders slowed down and attention turned to double deckers again although in much smaller numbers than before deregulation. A large number of Leyland Tiger and Volvo B10M coaches were also bought to upgrade the coaching operation which was now known as Gold Rider. The only new coaches bought after 1988 were a few in 1993/4, these were mainly for National Express contracts and soon after this date the Gold Rider coaching operation was sold and later Yorkshire Rider lost the National Express contracts and therefore now has no coaching interests.

From 1992 Yorkshire Rider turned its attention to single deckers and from 1993 received a large number of Alexander Strider single deckers. New Volvo Olympian double deckers were also bought in 1994 which were the first double deckers since 1991, although the new Olympians went to Bradford and Halifax and the 1991 order was all to Leeds. The purchase of 6 Volvo B6 midibuses in 1994 suggests that Rider Group may have turned to this type of vehicle even if they hadn't have been taken over by Badgerline later in 1994, although on the Volvo chassis rather than what actually took place. The take over of Badgerline signalled a new policy and a large number of minibuses, midibuses and single deckers were bought in 1995 and 1996, mainly on the Dennis chassis. The Mercedes minibuses were also the first bought since 1991. Most of the 1995 deliveries also wore the new 'Rider' livery. The Badgerline policy continued in 1996 although by now Rider Group had been split into seperate operating units. Since late 1997 under FirstGroup, double deckers began to be bought again, and deliveries continue to be mixed with all sizes of vehicle being purchased throughout the years. The large number of double deckers bought in 2000 is notable as it is the highest number of double deckers bought since 1984. All deliveries of single deckers since late 1996 and double deckers since early 2000 have been low floor. More recently double deckers have been in favour yet again with large numbers delivered in 2004 and 2006 to 2009.

Articulated vehicles featured in orders in 1999/2000 and were again popular in 2006/7/9. Large numbers of dedicated School buses were ordered in the mid 00s. Minibuses are currently out of favour with only small numbers being delivered since 2000.