History
Following bus deregulation in 1986, MetroBus's (the West Yorkshire PTE) fleet was renamed Yorkshire Rider Ltd. The livery changed from verona green and buttermilk to a bright green and cream livery and a new logo with was a stylised "YR" logo, plus the name "Yorkshire Rider", with an area on the logo that incorporated the town in which the garage for that bus was located. In October 1988 Yorkshire Rider was bought by its management for £23 million.
Yorkshire Rider was then bought by Badgerline, a Bristol-based bus company, in 1994. Following the merger of Badgerline with GRT Ltd to form First Bus in 1995, its services were rebranded
- Leeds City Link -covering the Leeds area with depots in Hunslet, Bramley and Cherry Row Depot
- Calderline -covering Halifax and Calderdale with garages in Halifax and Todmorden
- Kingfisher Huddersfield -covering Kirklees with a depot at Old Fieldhouse Lane
- Bradford Traveller -covering Bradford with a depot at Bowling Back Lane
These names were changed again in 1997 to adopt the First Group name, with the companies renamed First Bradford, First Calderline, First Huddersfield and First Leeds and the companies would adopt the First Group standard livery at the turn of the 21st Century.
During the first few years of the 2000s, several First companies were merged. First Quickstep were based at the same Kirkstall Road depot as First Leeds but was a separate organization running several services around the Leeds area until it was merged into First Leeds' operation, while First Calderdale and First Huddersfield merged in 2003 to form First Calderdale and Huddersfield.
In July 2005, First Leeds took over Morley-based Black Prince Buses, a large independent company that was once a rival to Yorkshire Rider and First in the Leeds area. The Morley depot was closed down, the majority of the fleet was sold and services were either incorporated into First Leeds' operation or withdrawn.
On 18 May 2008 First Leeds' Kirkstall Road depot was closed after 111 years of public use and operations moved to a new complex in Hunslet. The site will be redeveloped as part of Leeds City Council's Kirkstall Road Renaissance Area project.
During 2009, the operations of the three First companies in West Yorkshire plus First York came under the control of one body, with Dave Alexander appointed as Mangaing Director of First Yorkshire West and North
Read more about this topic: First West Yorkshire
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