History
The company was originally started as LIYELL limited established by ex-London Forest manager Tom Young and business partner Barrie Marsden in 1992 with two Leyland Leopard coaches and three Leyland Nationals in a lime green and yellow livery, from which the company got its name. The first bus services operated were route 171 (Walsall - Leamore - Bloxwich - Mossley) and route 700 (Perton - Codsall High School). "Midland Choice Travel", as the company was originally known, recruited ex-London Forest manager Steve Deveraux and Trent Buses manager Keith Shayshutt. Over the next few years the business thrived; during the 1993 West Midlands Travel bus strike a fleet of 30 buses were hired from across the country to cover services.
During the late 1990s, Choice Travel acquired the business of Metropolitan Omnibus (formed by a group of former Stevensons managers) and its network of routes throughout the Black Country on former Stevensons routes. The Metropolitan fleet of Mercedes and Dodge mini and midibuses soon sported the smart yellow of Choice, with the lime green and dark green exchanged for contrasting shades of blue. Former Stevensons MD and Metropolitan manager Julian Peddle bought a share in the company and it joined his "Status Bus & Coach Group" in 1999.
As part of Choice Travel's commitment to public transport development, it embarked on a new partnership with Centro and Travel West Midlands to launch the new Showcase route branded "Superline". Superline ran along the main arterial route between Walsall-Leamore-Bloxwich and Mossley, using their own respective service numbers (Choice 171 and TWM 301). To demonstrate their commitment to the venture, Choice purchased four new low-floor Optare Excel buses for the route, displacing existing buses to other routes.
Choice became the target of another buy-out when it was acquired by Stoke-on-Trent based D&G Bus and Coach. This enabled Choice to further update its fleet with newer low floor Dennis Darts (sporting Plaxton, East Lancs and Marshall bodies) and some mid life Mercedes-Benz midibuses. A new livery of D&G cream and blue was initially used.
In March 2009, fellow Walsall and Wolverhampton bus operator A2Z Travel had its licence revoked. At the time, they operated numerous routes with over thirty buses in the area, many of behalf of Centro. An agreement was struck at the last minute, which saw several of A2Z's routes and buses transfer to Choice Travel in Wednesfield, in addition to the Operations Manager of A2Z. Any trace of A2Z Travel was removed and replaced with the new fleetname of Midland. Initially, this was used just on former A2Z route, but in Mid-2009 it was decided to adopt this as the new fleetname.
This coincided with a new look for the whole D&G Brand, of a smart two-tone red livery. A concentrated effort was then launched to repaint the whole fleet and install digital destination equipment in all buses, something which was completed by 2010. As part of this scheme, buses have also started being refurbished into a special Midland moquette.
In March 2010, Midland obtained the operations and most buses of Oldbury based bus company Midland Rider. Operations were transferred to the Wednesfield depot, where for a short period the companies' operations were kept apart. Most of the Midland Rider buses however were not low floor and were soon withdrawn, with all Midland Rider services becoming Midland operated by the summer.
Read more about this topic: Midland (bus Operator)
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