Deregulation In August 1986, prior to the
deregulation of bus services, West Midlands Travel (WMT) was formed out the bus operations of the
West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive. The PTE ceased to be a bus operator as a result of the
Transport Act 1985, but both the West Midlands Passenger Transport Authority and successor organisation
Transport for West Midlands retain a co-ordinating role, tendering bus services and funding concessionary fares and infrastructure such as bus stations. West Midlands Travel faced its first major deregulation challenge in March 1987 when
London Regional Transport (LRT) pulled out of its 'London Liner' London to Birmingham express coach service. Operated jointly by both LRT's
London Coaches subsidiary and WMT's Central Coachways subsidiary using a fleet of
MCW Metroliner coaches, following London Coaches' withdrawal, Central Coachways continued to run the service as its sole operator from the end of March. The company invested in a heavy rebranding campaign in 1988 that saw the introduction of a new silver, blue and red livery to the bus fleet, new uniforms, and the purchase of 150 new
MCW Metrobus double-decker buses. After18 months of deregulation, WMT announced in October 1988 that it had made a profit of over £17.6million (), retained 97% of its pre-deregulation bus network and had recorded a 5% drop in passengers compared to before deregulation; the latter, however, increased to a drop of 10% by 1989, resulting in fare rises and cutbacks in its bus network.
Employee ownership in Birmingham in April 1993 Despite pressure from the central government, including both a threat to be split under Section 61 of the Transport Act 1985 to force its sale and government funding for the
Midland Metro tram project being lost if the company was not sold, West Midlands Travel remained in public ownership under the West Midlands Passenger Transport Authority. Plans for a
management buyout through an
Employee Share Ownership Plan (ESOP) were first submitted to the WMPTA in June 1989 by WMT's management and employees in response to the splitting threat, which were approved by the PTA and submitted to
Minister of State for
Transport Michael Portillo in early 1990; after a competing bid by
Stagecoach Group owner
Brian Souter to buy WMT for £85million () was rejected by the PTA, In November 1992, West Midlands Travel was ordered to have its entire fleet of over 1,800 buses given
MOT tests by July 1993 after 108 fleet vehicles were found by the Vehicle Inspectorate to be poorly maintained, with faults including faulty brakes, broken lights and bell pushes, oil leaks, and damaged passenger seating. In an examination of 343 WMT fleet vehicles, inspectors immediately prohibited 66 from running services and marked 42 as being in need of repair; twelve WMT buses found to have faults so serious that they were classified as "neglected" by the examiners. West Midlands Travel also made a number of acquisitions during its employee ownership. In 1990, WMT partly owned
minibus operator Merry Hill Motors, and that same year, WMT purchased a fleet of new
Alexander bodied
Scania N113 double-decker buses to compete with Your Bus of
Alcester; Your Bus was later acquired by WMT in 1993. Retained as subsidiary companies of WMT, these operators were later rebranded to
Travel Merry Hill and
Travel Your Bus respectively before being absorbed into the main Travel West Midlands operation by 2001. A further competitor purchased by WMT in August 1993 was Metrowest Omnibus of Dudley, which was also retained as a separate subsidiary of WMT after founding director Keith Danks left the company a month prior. In April 1994, West Midlands Travel made its first out-of-area acquisition by purchasing former
London Buses subsidiary Westlink from its employee owners, followed in October by the purchase two Essex-based companies from the Lynton Group:
County Bus & Coach, a bus operator formed from the split of
London Country North East that consisted of over 240 vehicles, as well as Sampson Coaches. Westlink was sold by WMT to fellow former London Buses subsidiary
London United a year later, while County Bus & Coach was later sold to the
Cowie Group. West Midlands Travel underwent another rebrand during 1994. Buses had their West Midlands Travel fleetnames replaced with "WM Buses" and the corresponding name of the depot the bus was based from, forming combinations such as WM Buses Acocks Green, amid moves by senior management to use the West Midlands Travel name as a
holding company ahead of a possible
floatation of WMT on the
London Stock Exchange.
National Express/Mobico ownership s at
Wolverhampton bus station in 2008 In March 1995, the
National Express Group purchased West Midlands Travel from employee ownership for £85million (), with over 5,000 employee shareholders of WMT receiving
windfall gains averaging £30,000 (). Operations were subsequently merged into the National Express Group in April. In September 1996, WMT was rebranded to
Travel West Midlands. This was followed in November 1997 with the sale of TWM's Central Coachways arm to the Flights Travel Group. In November 2002, Travel West Midlands'
Coventry services were separated from the main TWM operation and rebranded to
Travel Coventry. In February 2008, as part of a rebranding of all National Express subsidiaries, Travel West Midlands was renamed National Express West Midlands, with the adopted red and white livery being the sixth livery to be used by the company. The Travel Coventry operation was also rebranded as
National Express Coventry. National Express West Midlands aimed for their whole fleet to be low floor by March 2010, a goal that was achieved in July of that year with the withdrawal of the final MCW Metrobuses in public service at
Acocks Green garage. ==Services==