Stagecoach in Warwickshire

Stagecoach in Warwickshire is the name given to Stagecoach Group bus operations in and around the county of Warwickshire, England. It was formed out of Midland Red South, purchased by Western Travel Group which then was then later purchased by Stagecoach Group, who named the company Stagecoach Midland Red.

History
The original company was Midland Red, formed on 26 November 1904. On 28 June 1935, BMMO, otherwise known as Midland Red purchased Stratford Blue for £15,000. Stratford Blue then became a subsidiary of Midland Red, but continued to operate under its own identity until 1970. In 1970, the National Bus Company (NBC) dissolved the Stratford Blue operation and it fully passed into the hands of Midland Red. All vehicles were immediately repainted, although the company name was retained to protect future use of the name.

On 5 September 1981, Midland Red ceased operating as a company and thus divided into sections, one being Midland Red South. The company began repainting its buses, mainly Leyland Nationals and Leyland Olympians into a mainly red livery, with white rooves and a white panel displaying the company name on the front. On 10 December 1987, after 6 years of private ownership, Midland Red South was purchased by Western Travel Group, which also held the Cheltenham and Gloucester Omnibus Company Limited.

Subsequently, Stagecoach Group purchased this operation in 1993, and renamed it Stagecoach Midland Red. It set about simplyfing the routes and improving the profitability of the operation, which included the closure of the depot in Stratford. Upon national re-branding in 2000, Stagecoach Midland Red became Stagecoach in Warwickshire for operations from Leamington, Nuneaton and Rugby and Stagecoach in Banbury for operations in Banbury. For a long time Midland Red shared a management team with Stagecoach Oxford (Thames Transit Ltd), but this was split on 1 July 2002, with the Banbury operations sensibly becoming part of Stagecoach in Oxfordshire. Guide Friday, an operator of sight-seeing tours in Stratford meanwhile established a small number of local and tendered bus services in the town following Stagecoach's departure. This company was eventually purchased by Ensign, who rebranded the Stratfoird services by reviving the long lost Stratford Blue fleetname. From 1 February 2007 Stagecoach purchased the Stratford operation from Ensign, once again giving them a depot in the town. On 12 November 2007, Stagecoach in Warwickshire introduced the second Stagecoach Goldline service in the UK, on route 66 (renumbered G1) between South Farm, Leamington Spa and Warwick, using Optare Solos. Stagecoach in Warwickshire are currently reviewing there services that operate from there Nuneaton depot, thats the Nuneaton and Bedworth area.

Depots

 * Leamington Spa, Station Approach
 * Nuneaton, Newtown Road
 * Rugby, Railway Terrace
 * Stratford-upon-Avon, Birmingham Road