 | |
| Founded | 1986 |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Heanor |
| Service area | Derbyshire Leicestershire Nottinghamshire Staffordshire South Yorkshire |
| Service type | Bus, coach & tram services |
| Fleet | circa. 500 buses 37 trams |
| Operator | Derby Community Transport High Peak Buses 50% Kinchbus Littles Travel Midland General Nottingham Express Transit Notts & Derby TM Travel Trentbarton |
The Wellglade Group [1] (WG), is a transport group operating bus and tram services in the English Midlands.
Wellglade was formed in 1986 when Brian King and Ian Morgan purchased Trent Buses from the National Bus Company in a management buyout. In 1989 the business of Barton Transport was purchased. [2] [3]
In 1998 Wellglade purchased the Kinchbus business in Loughborough. In January 2010 TM Travel of Sheffield was purchased. In January 2012 Wellglade took over the bus operations of Felix Bus Services.
In December 2011 Tramlink Nottingham took over the running of the Nottingham Express Transit tram network, as a 12.5% shareholder in the operating consortium. In April 2012 Centrebus Bowers Coaches operation and services operated from the Dove Holes depot of Wellglade's Trentbarton were combined to form High Peak Buses.
During September 2022, it was announced that current managing director Jeff Counsell will retire in February 2023 and will be succeeded by Tom Morgan who is the current commercial director for Wellglade Group. [4]
Trentbarton operates services from Bakewell in the north to Coalville in the south as well as Ashbourne, Burton upon Trent, Chesterfield, Derby, Ilkeston, Mansfield, and Nottingham. It was formed when the Trent Buses and Barton Transport operations were merged. [2]
Kinchbus is a bus operator based in Loughborough. It was originally an independent company established by Gilbert and Janet Kinch.
Kinchbus operate some local services around Loughborough along with their Kinchbus2 route between Barrow-upon-Soar and Loughborough, Skylink from Leicester to Derby via Loughborough and East Midlands Airport.
Kinchbus use the slogan 'Loughborough's Finest' which is advertised across their fleet of buses. Following the collapse of Nottingham based Premiere Travel on 24 January 2013, Kinchbus reinstated their service 9 between Loughborough and Nottingham which was the first route to have the new refreshed version of the current livery and logo which have been in place since 2007.
Notts + Derby operates a small number of local bus services, school buses and contract and private hire work in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire. They operate a fleet of vehicles, most of which previously operated with Trentbarton and Nottingham City Transport. They now use a substantial amount of Ex Lothian buses in more recent years.
TM Travel is a bus operator based in Halfway, Sheffield, operating bus services in South Yorkshire and Derbyshire. It was founded in 1995 as a family-owned operation with one bus. School bus services and National Express services were later introduced. [5] The company moved into scheduled bus service operation in 1999, winning a contract from Derbyshire County Council. A local route in Bolsover was launched a year later. In 2004 TM Travel took over a route between Sheffield and Chesterfield previously run by Thompson Travel. A number of South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive contracts were won over the following few years and the fleet increased in size to over 100 vehicles, prompting a move from Chesterfield to Halfway. [6] As of March 2008, TM Travel was the largest independent coach and bus operator in Derbyshire, employing 120 staff, with all operations (including maintaining the fleet of vehicles) handled in-house. [7] As of January 2024, the TM fleet consists of 44 buses. The company was acquired by WG in January 2010. [6]
In March 2011 the Tramlink Nottingham consortium which Wellglade holds a 12.5% shareholding in, was awarded the Nottingham Express Transit 2 contract by Nottingham City Council. [8] [9] In December 2011 Tramlink Nottingham took over the running of the tram network.
In April 2012, Centrebus and Trentbarton entered a 50/50 joint venture. This saw Centrebus owned Bowers Coaches and Trentbarton's Buxton area services combined to form High Peak Buses based at the latter's Dove Holes depot. [10] [11]
Wellglade also owns cleaning service provider Kleanline. [3] [12]
During November 2024, Wellglade Group acquired the business of Littles Travel based in Ilkeston, which will continue to operate as a separate entity to other Wellglade Group companies.
Through the Trentbarton operations, Wellglade Group acquired a 6% shareholding of First Leicester in 1993, First Bus UK are the majority shareholder in the operations. [13] [14] During 2024, First Group purchased the Wellglade Group shareholding in Leicester CityBus ending the long standing shareholding.
The Midland General Omnibus Company was incorporated in 1920 as a company in the Balfour Beatty group with a depot at Langley Mill. In 1972 the company's operations were merged with those of Trent and the Midland General fleetname ceased to be used.
The name was resurrected when Bargain Bus routes BB2 to Cotgrave and BB4 to Long Eaton were started in Nottingham in competition with Premiere Travel's services. These were withdrawn after Premiere Travel decided to withdraw their services.
The Black Cat and Ilkeston Flyer services acquired from Felix in January 2012 were to be operated by Midland General. [15] In practice buses of the Notts + Derby fleet operated both services and the Midland General name has disappeared from the timetables.
In January 2012 Wellglade purchased some assets from Felix Bus Services. [16] Felix already shared two routes with Trentbarton, these being Black Cat and Ilkeston Flyer. Despite the appearance of the Midland General name in timetables, [17] the former Felix journeys were operated by Notts + Derby.
Trentbarton is a bus operator providing both local and regional services in Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and Staffordshire, England. It is a subsidiary of the Wellglade Group.
East Midlands Parkway railway station is located north of Ratcliffe-on-Soar on the Midland Main Line in the East Midlands of England. It provides park and ride facilities for rail passengers on the routes from Leicester to Derby and Nottingham. It is also the closest station to East Midlands Airport, some 4 miles (6.4 km) away, but without public transport link.
Arriva Midlands East is a bus company operating services in Leicestershire, England. It is a trading division of Arriva Midlands which is a subsidiary of Arriva plc which is itself owned by the government of Germany through Deutsche Bahn.
Arriva Midlands is a bus operator providing services in the East Midlands and West Midlands areas of England. It is a subsidiary of Arriva UK Bus.
Nottingham City Transport (NCT) is the major bus operator of the city of Nottingham, England. NCT operates extensively within Nottingham as well beyond the city boundaries into Nottinghamshire county. Publicly-owned, it is today the second largest municipal bus company in the United Kingdom after Lothian Buses in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Barton Transport was a bus company that operated in Nottinghamshire from 1908 until 1989.
Felix Bus Services was a company formerly based in Stanley, Derbyshire. The company operated bus and coach services in Derbyshire between 1921 and 2012.
Centrebus Limited, trading as Centrebus, is a bus company based in Leicester operating services in Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and Rutland.
Bowers Coaches was a bus company based in Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire, England. The company operated bus and coach services in Cheshire East, Derbyshire and Greater Manchester from 1952 until 2012. In its later years, it was a subsidiary of Centrebus and in 2012 it was merged with the Dove Holes depot of Trent Barton to form High Peak Buses.
Kinchbus, formerly G.K. Kinch, is a bus operator in Loughborough, England. Since 1998 it has been a subsidiary of the Wellglade Group.
Premiere Travel was a bus company in Nottinghamshire.
Notts+Derby is a bus operator providing services in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire. It is a subsidiary of the Wellglade Group.
High Peak Buses Limited is a bus company based in Dove Holes, Derbyshire, formed in 2012. It operates a mixture of local and long-distance commercial and subsidised public bus services in and around the Borough of High Peak, after which it is named.
D&G Bus is a bus operator based in Stoke-on-Trent. They operate local & interurban bus services in Cheshire, Derbyshire, Greater Manchester, Shropshire, Staffordshire & Stoke-on-Trent. D&G Bus is the largest bus operator in Cheshire East & the largest in North Staffordshire.
Skylink is the brand name for bus services that serve East Midlands Airport in Leicestershire. Services are operated by Kinchbus and Trentbarton, both a part of the Derbyshire-based Wellglade Group.
Diamond East Midlands, formerly Midland Classic, is a bus company from Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England. Since August 2022, the company is a subsidiary of Rotala.
Centrebus Group, is a public transport company based in Leicester with bus services in the Midlands, North West and South East of England.
The Ilkeston Flyer is a bus route that operates between Cotmanhay and Derby via Ilkeston and Spondon. Launched in 1999, it is solely operated by Trentbarton and was formerly in partnership with Felix Bus Services prior to 2012.