Diamond West Midlands

In 1984 Geoff Howle commenced a coach operation trading as the Birmingham Coach Company. Following deregulation of the bus industry in 1986, Howle applied to operate route 16 between Hamstead and Birmingham in competition with West Midlands Travel.[2]

In 2000 Birmingham Coach Company was re-branded as Diamond Bus, replacing many of their existing Leyland Nationals, expanding their network in Birmingham and the Black Country. By 2003 Diamond Bus had become a National Express contractor and opened a depot in Bradford.[2]

In December 2005 the Go-Ahead Group purchased Diamond Bus[3] and in February 2006 Probus Management[4] with over 100 vehicles and merged the two companies to form Go West Midlands.[5]

In March 2008 Go West Midlands was sold to Rotala who also owned Central Connect and North Birmingham Busways.[6][7] Rotala originally kept the Diamond business separate from Central Connect[8] and Ludlows (purchased later[9]), instead switching a number of routes between the three operators. From November 2011 Central Connect was re-branded as Blue Diamond.[10]

In July 2008 new buses were put into service in Redditch on routes 57 and 58, branded as Red Diamond.[11] Since then a number of routes in North Worcestershire have been re-branded as Red Diamond along with new routes in competition with First Midland Red's in Redditch. At the same time new buses were allocated to a number of Black Country routes, branded as Black Diamond. First Midland Red subsequently sold both it's Redditch and Kidderminster depots to Diamond Bus.

Plaxton Centro bodied Volvo B7RLE in Black Diamond livery in September 2010

Marshall Capital bodied Dennis Dart SLF in Blue Diamond livery in September 2010

In 2008, upon takeover by Rotala, Diamond started to "localise" their operations. In the Black Country, this meant that the brand became Black Diamond with 20 new Plaxton Centros (eight of which have since moved to Wessex Bus due to service cuts). These were new for routes 401, 402, 404, 404E and 404H.

In 2009, Diamond launched eight more Plaxton Centro buses on route 9, these using Royale Black Diamond branding. Route 202 Halesowen - Bromsgrove and 4H Hayley Green - West Bromwich uses Royale Black Diamond buses.

Most of the routes these buses were new for have since either had new buses (404E), withdrawn (404/H) or had older stock transferred to them (401/2) .

In October 2010, Diamond bus branded 10 MCV Evolution bodied MAN 14.240s for the 404 Walsall – West Bromwich service under the branding Black Country Connection, the service operates every 6 to 8 minutes. These buses displaced the Black Diamond branded buses of which 2 were transferred to Wessex Bus and the rest have been cascaded to other routes, e.g. the 56 (which is now operated by National Express West Midlands as service 937).[12]

On 23 April 2017 the Wednesfield operations of Arriva Midlands were purchased with nine vehicles.[13][14]

On 28 July 2017, the business of Hanson's Local Buses that operated services in Stourbridge, Dudley and surrounding areas was purchased.[15][16] Hanson's Local Buses was formed in the 1980s by Margaret Hanson as a coach operator. Following deregulation of the bus industry in 1986, Hansons diversified into operating bus services.[17][18]

Blue Diamond was formed from the merger of Zak's Buses, North Birmingham Busways and Birmingham Motor Traction. In January 2008 Ludlows, Halesowen was purchased. Originally branded Central Connect, in November 2011 it was rebranded as Blue Diamond.[10]

Blue Diamond, Red Diamond and Black Diamond branding have since been replaced by the simpler Diamond fleetname.

Mercedes-Benz Citaro in Signature livery in September 2010

On 7 June 2010, Central Connect launched the Signature brand with two Solihull routes that were taken over from National Express West Midlands, the S2 (S2/S2A/S2C) and S3 are operated with Optare Solo SRs with leather seating and on-board WiFi.

On 26 July 2010, the Signature brand took over route 82 from National Express Coventry but following a more direct route between Solihull and Coventry using Mercedes-Benz Citaros and service S4 (taken over from Grosvenor) using MCV Evolutions, again both feature leather seating and free on-board WiFi. In 2019, service 82 was lost to Johnson's of Henley-in-Arden who subsequently linked the service to their existing service X20 providing a direct service between Coventry, Solihull and Stratford-upon-Avon.

On 27 March 2011, the Signature brand expanded again with the addition of route 30 Solihull-Acocks Green which was withdrawn by National Express West Midlands.

When Central Connect was rebranded as 'Blue Diamond' in late 2011, the Solihull Signature brand was retained. Following loss of many contracts and reorganisation of bus routes in the Solihull area, the Signature brand was dropped in 2019.

Birmingham Motor Traction[28] operated a number of services in Birmingham with a varied fleet of buses, mostly Dennis Darts in a dark blue and white livery, although many buses ran in dealer all-white. They operated a number of services under contract to the West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive. It was purchased by Rotala in 2007.

Central Buses[29] was a bus company based in Birmingham, England. In February 2018, Central Buses was purchased by Rotala with its 23 services and 31 buses merged into Diamond.[30][31][32] Operations ceased at the conclusion of services on 24 February 2018.[33][34]

Hanson's[35] was a family-owned bus company operating services in the West Midlands and Worcestershire. Hanson's Local Buses was formed in the 1980s by Margaret Hanson as a coach operator. Following deregulation of the bus industry in 1986, Hanson's diversified into operating bus services.[17][18] In July 2017 it was purchased by Rotala.[36]

Diamond Buses Alexander Dennis Pointer 2 in Hansons livery in August 2020

Ludlows operated a number of services in Halesowen. It operated a varied fleet of around 20 white buses, all of which were low-floor. It was purchased by Rotala in 2007

In January 2009, Diamond announced that the Ludlows operation was to be integrated with the Diamond operations, with all routes and vehicles moving to the Tividale depot and running under the Diamond brand.[37]

North Birmingham Busways[38] was a small bus operator established in the mid 1990s, and based near Erdington. Its services operated throughout North Birmingham, using, in the main, a distinctive livery of green and cream. In addition to bus services, the company also offered PCV training.[39]

On 18 June 2007 it was purchased by Rotala.[40] On 20 August 2007 the bus service operations and vehicles transferred to Rotala's Central Connect subsidiary.

Zak's Bus and Coach Services[41] was founded in Great Barr by Kevin Fazakarley in 1978. In October 2006 the business was purchased by Rotala subsidiary Flights Hallmark, and although the original plan was to transfer the assets and operations to Flights Hallmark, contract issues necessitated the continuation of the Zak's legal entity, the company being renamed Central Connect Limited in April 2007.[8]

Rotala relocated the operation to Flights Hallmark's Aston depot, merging with an existing West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive contracted service previously awarded to Flights. The Aston depot has since closed with all operations being moved to other Diamond Bus depots across the West Midlands.