In November 1906, The Harrogate Road Car Company was formed. Initially operating steam-powered buses, the company adopted conventionally-fuelled petrol buses in 1911. In 1924, the company was absorbed into
Tilling & British Automobile Traction and renamed the Harrogate & District Road Car Company. Following the company's expansion, it was further renamed
West Yorkshire Road Car Company in 1927, to reflect the wider service area provided. In 1948, along with other companies that were then part of the Tilling Group, West Yorkshire Road Car Company was nationalised. In 1968, West Yorkshire Road Car Company became a subsidiary of the
National Bus Company. In 1987, West Yorkshire Road Car Company was sold in a
management buyout to the AJS Group, owned by former
East Yorkshire Motor Services managing director, Alan Stephenson. The business was split into smaller companies in December 1988, one of which became Harrogate & District Travel. Following the
deregulation of bus services in 1986, Harrogate Independent Travel was set up by a number of West Yorkshire Road Car Company drivers, in a bid to challenge their former employer. The company was subsequently purchased by AJS Group in April 1989. In August 1991, Harrogate & District Travel was included in the purchase of AJS Group by
Blazefield Group, following the sale of seven of the company's eight remaining bus firms at the time – a deal valued at £2.2 million. In October 1996, the company further expanded, following the transfer of
Cowie Group's operations in the cathedral city of
Ripon. In April 2005, the company was awarded the contract to operate service 767, which ran between Harrogate and
Leeds Bradford Airport. The contract was subsequently awarded to
Dales & District in April 2010. The route is now served by the Flyer A2 service, operated by
Transdev York & Country. It was introduced in September 2020, as part of a joint partnership between Leeds Bradford Airport,
Transdev Blazefield and
West Yorkshire Combined Authority. In January 2006, French-based operator
Transdev acquired the Blazefield Group, along with 305 vehicles. In 2010, the company was rebranded under the name
Transdev in Harrogate. As part of this, a new butterscotch and burgundy livery was introduced across the fleet, with the exception of the double-decker
Wright Eclipse Gemini bodied
Volvo B7TL vehicles dedicatedly branded for the company's Leeds to Harrogate and Ripon
route 36, which received a revision to its original black, red and grey livery in 2009. In 2011, the
Wright Eclipse Gemini route 36 fleet underwent a refurbishment program. The route received a new identity – named ‘36 City Connect’ – and a new red and black livery was introduced, alongside the addition of new leather coach-style seats, and the introduction of a 2+1 seating arrangement behind the staircase upstairs. The buses were also fitted with new front fascias, as seen on their facelifted
second generation model, and new powertrains. The company also became involved in a
bus war with local independent operator
Connexionsbuses in 2011. It concerned bus services operating in and around the
market town of
Wetherby. In the same year, a retendering exercise by
North Yorkshire County Council saw all of the company's council contracted routes transferred to other operators. An exception was service X59, which operated between
Harrogate and
Skipton via
Bolton Abbey. Initially, the service was operated commercially and at a reduced frequency, prior to its eventual withdrawal in March 2013. In 2012, the company introduced eight brand-new single-decker
Optare Versa vehicles to serve local routes within Harrogate. These buses operated on routes 2 (to
Bilton), 3 (to Jennyfield), and 6 (to Pannal Ash) under the new brand name
Harrogate Connect, with the original butterscotch and burgundy livery being revised and replaced by a new red and black colour scheme. During 2013, the remainder of the fleet underwent a transformation. All services (except for the dedicatedly branded
route 36) adopted the Harrogate Connect identity. In 2016, the company underwent a significant transformation. As part of this, the company rebranded as
The Harrogate Bus Company, and initiated a fleet modernisation program. The first phase involved the delivery of fourteen brand new high-specification
Wright Gemini 3 bodied
Volvo B5TL double-decker buses for operation on
route 36. These new buses replaced older
Wright Eclipse Gemini vehicles, and the route received a new identity – named ‘Riding Redefined’ – along with a new two-tone red and black livery. The new fleet entered service in late January. Later that year, a new two-tone red livery was also introduced for the standard fleet, and ten
Wright Eclipse Urban bodied
Volvo B7RLE single-deckers were refurbished for operation on
route 1, including six existing buses and four new transfers from other Transdev subsidiaries. These, along with two
Wright Eclipse Gemini bodied
Volvo B7TL and
B9TLs recently replaced from the 36 fleet, were upgraded with modern passenger amenities such as WiFi connectivity, USB charging capabilities and audio/visual next stop information, and were also fitted with superchargers to reduce
NOx emissions. Additionally, the Eclipse Urbans were equipped with new front fascias, as seen on their facelifted
second generation model. The refurbished Wright Eclipse Geminis entered service in June 2016, while the Eclipse Urbans entered service on route 1 on 17 July, replacing older
Wright Renown bodied
Volvo B10BLE single-deckers that were branded for the route. In July 2017, a new brand was introduced for the
route 770/771, resulting in the services being renumbered and rebranded as the “Superior 70/71”. The fleet underwent significant upgrades, with
Wright Eclipse Urban 2 bodied
Volvo B7RLE single-deck vehicles transferred from Transdev’s
Burnley operations and refurbished to match the WiFi connectivity, USB charging capabilities, and audio/visual next stop information features as seen on the refurbished route 1 buses. On 23 July, the new fleet commenced service on the route, gradually replacing the entire existing fleet of Volvo B10BLE Wright Renown vehicles, which were phased out of service in Harrogate by 2018. However, in April 2018, due to the loss of council funding for the 70 to
Connexionsbuses, the 71 was once again renumbered and rebranded, now operating as the “Simple 7". In partnership with
DalesBus, the service between Harrogate and Skipton was reintroduced in May 2021 – the first direct service between the two towns for eight years.. Four return journeys operate every Saturday. From 2 October 2022 services X98/X99 between Leeds and Wetherby were operated, following the withdrawal of
First Leeds from these routes. However from 31 August 2025 these services were taken over by Procters, branded as
Go-Ahead West Yorkshire. In 2024/25, much of the fleet was converted to operation with battery-electric buses. Partially funded by the UK government's Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas (ZEBRA) scheme, 20
Mercedes-Benz eCitaro single-deck vehicles and 19
Alexander Dennis Enviro400EV double-deck vehicles – worth £21 million collectively – were ordered, with the first Enviro400EV revealed at an unveiling event in June. They entered service between late 2024 and early 2025 for the 36 and for other routes. The first five eCitaros entered service on 18 November 2024. As a result of the new vehicles arriving, the branding has changed from "The Harrogate Bus Company" to just "Harrogate Bus Company", dropping the "The" prefix. 2024 also saw the introduction of route 4, a service linking King Edwin Park housing estate with Harrogate. In October 2024, route 1D to The Pastures estate of Knaresborough was merged with the Carmires route 1C. ==Services and branding==