Midland Red

In 1899 the British Electric Traction (BET) company acquired the assets of the Birmingham General Omnibus Company, which had been formed three years earlier to acquire a number of horse bus operations in Birmingham. When BET ordered new buses for Birmingham the next year, they were painted red to make them stand out. In 1902 BET acquired the City of Birmingham Tramways Company, which operated horse buses as well as trams.[2]

The Birmingham & Midland Motor Omnibus Company was formed by local businessmen in November 1904 to operate motor bus services in Birmingham.[1] When the directors failed to attract sufficient investors, BET acquired control of the new company, and in 1905 transferred its local horse bus operations to it. The company also acquired a motor bus company which had started in 1903. BMMO started operations under its own name in July 1905. However, the company experienced problems with its motor buses, and in 1907 reverted all its motor bus services to horse bus operation.[2][3]

In 1912 the company purchased some Tilling-Stevens petrol-electric buses. Further motor buses followed, and by June 1913 only 17 horse buses remained. The company adopted for its motor buses the red livery used by Birmingham General, and the buses carried the fleetname "Midland".[2] They soon acquired the nickname Midland Red.

By 1912 the Birmingham Corporation Tramways had used its statutory powers to acquire the city's tramways which it did not already own, and wanted to consolidate the operation of bus and tram operations in the city. Since it was going to be difficult for BMMO to expand in the city, it reached agreement with the corporation to operate services from outside Birmingham into the city and transfer its services within the city to the corporation. The company then expanded outside Birmingham, and moved its headquarters to Bearwood in Smethwick.[2]

During World War I, the company took over BET operations in Worcester and elsewhere, and after the war opened depots in Walsall, Coventry, Wolverhampton, Hereford, Stafford, Banbury, Bromsgrove, Shrewsbury, Nuneaton, Leamington Spa and Leicester. During the 1920s the tramways owned by BET in the Black Country were gradually replaced by Midland Red buses.[2]

In 1930, the Great Western Railway and the London Midland & Scottish Railway together acquired 50% of the company. The few GWR bus services in the area were transferred to Midland Red.[2]

Midland Red started express coach services in 1921 with routes to Weston-super-Mare and Llandudno.[2] Coach services expanded, and in 1934 Midland Red became a founder member of the Associated Motorways consortium.

Coach services were heavily reduced during World War II, but expanded again after the war. When the M1 motorway opened in 1959, Midland Red started non-stop express services between Birmingham and London, and later between Coventry and London.[4][5] For the service, the company developed Britain's first high-speed motor-coach. A fleet of ten, capable of speeds of up to 85 miles per hour (140 km/h), were built at the company's workshops at Edgbaston.[6] The opening of the M5 motorway enabled the operation of express services between Birmingham and Worcester.[2]

When the railways were nationalised forming in 1947 under the Transport Act 1947, Midland Red became 50% state-owned. In 1968, BET sold its UK bus interests to the government, and on 1 January 1969 the company became the largest subsidiary of the National Bus Company (NBC). The livery was later changed from a deep red to the NBC corporate poppy red.

In 1973 the garages (with the exception of Digbeth Coach Station, Bearwood and Cradley Heath) and routes within the West Midlands county were transferred to the control of the West Midlands Passenger Transport Authority, leaving Midland Red with country and local routes mainly in Derbyshire, Herefordshire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire and express services.[7]

From 1977 onwards, after extensive passenger research the company was rebranded into local area names under the Viable Network Project, something that was soon renamed as the Market Analysis Project and widely adopted throughout NBC and elsewhere in the bus industry. Each new network spawned a localised brand, as follows:

Midland Red West Leyland National in February 1990

On 6 September 1981, Midland Red was split into six new companies:[8]

• Midland Red East, renamed Midland Fox in January 1984:[9][10] Leicestershire, south Derbyshire and east Staffordshire (the Lancer and Leicester operations)
• Midland Red North:[11] Shropshire, south Staffordshire, and northern West Midlands (the Chaserider, Hotspur, Mercian and Tellus operations)
• Midland Red South:[12] Warwickshire and north Oxfordshire (the Avonbus, Hunter, Leamington & Warwick, Ridercross and Rugby operations)
• Midland Red West[13] Herefordshire, Worcestershire, south and east quadrants of West Midlands (the Reddibus, Severnlink, Wanderward, Wayfarer and Wendaway operations)
• Midland Red Express, later renamed Midland Red Coaches:[14] central coach and express services division, became part of Midland Red West in 1984[15]
• Midland Red Engineering, later renamed Carlyle Works:[16] central engineering workshops at Carlyle Road, Edgbaston

As part of the privatisation of the National Bus Company, the companies were sold:

• Midland Fox, formerly Midland Red East, was sold on 18 August 1987 in a management buyout. The operations of the Swadlincote depot were purchased by Stevensons of Uttoxeter. Today all have been reunited as part of Arriva Fox County.[17] It is a division of Arriva Midlands.
• Midland Red North was sold on 27 January 1988 to the Drawlane Transport Group.[18] It was included in the sale of Drawlane to British Bus[19] which in turn became part of the Cowie Group.[20] Today it is part of Arriva Midlands.[17]
• Midland Red South was sold on 10 December 1987 to Western Travel Limited[21] who also owned the Cheltenham & Gloucester Omnibus Company. Today it is part of Stagecoach in Oxfordshire and Stagecoach in Warwickshire. Midland Red (South) Ltd. is the legal name for Stagecoach in Warwickshire.
• Midland Red West was sold on 22 December 1986 in a management buyout led by managing director Ken Mills to Midland West Holdings[22] It who also took over Midland Red Coaches on the same date.[23] Today it is part of First Midland Red but only has one surviving depot in Worcester. The Kidderminster and Redditch operations were sold to Diamond Bus while the company withdrew from operating in Hereford.
• Carlyle Works, formerly Midland Red Engineering, was sold to Frontsource Limited, who also purchased the engineering divisions of an initial eight and later nine National Bus Companies.[24] It closed in October 1991.[25]