Yorkshire Traction The
Traction Group was a large independent bus operator that had grown out of
bus deregulation and the break-up of the
National Bus Company in the UK. The company was formed in 1987 when the
Barnsley-based
Yorkshire Traction subsidiary was sold to its management and employees, led by Frank Carter. Within South Yorkshire, operations consisted of the main Yorkshire Traction operation and subsidiary companies Yorkshire Terrier and Barnsley & District. Yorkshire Terrier was an independent post-deregulation bus company operating in Sheffield that had been formed in 1988 following the closure of a
South Yorkshire Transport depot, and had also expanded itself with acquisition of some smaller operators within Sheffield; in 2000, Yorkshire Traction purchased Yorkshire Terrier along with the operations of Andrews, South Riding, Sheffield Omnibus, and Kingsman. These operators were all based in Sheffield, mainly competing with former municipal
Mainline Buses on service in and around the city. Barnsley & District was formed in July 1990 when Traction bought Tom Jowitt Travel of
Tankersley. It was enlarged in 1992 when Pride of The Road, Royston was purchased, and in 1995, when the bus operations of Globe of Barnsley were taken over.
Stagecoach ownership In December 2005, the
Stagecoach Group acquired the Traction Group, and with it, the operations of Yorkshire Traction, which subsequently was rebranded to Stagecoach Yorkshire. Following the takeover by Stagecoach, Barnsley & District was closed and absorbed into Yorkshire Traction in July 2006, and three months later, the Stagecoach in Chesterfield operation was transferred into Stagecoach Yorkshire from
Stagecoach East Midlands. The Chesterfield operation had been founded in 1987 as part of
East Midland Motor Services and, at the time of the takeover by Stagecoach Yorkshire, employed 320 people and carried around eight million passengers every year, an increase of 10% over the previous year. In May 2008, following rumours that
Arriva were to purchase Stagecoach's Huddersfield operations, it was announced that Centrebus Holdings, a joint venture between
Centrebus and Arriva, who held a 40% stake in Centrebus, would instead buy the division, forming the Huddersfield Bus Company. Arriva sold their stake in Centrebus and rebrand their wholly owned Huddersfield operations to
Yorkshire Tiger in September 2013. ==Operations==