North Western Road Car Company (1986) - Bee Line, Amberline and Liverline

Bee Line, Amberline and Liverline

In the early 1990s Drawlane purchased Greater Manchester-based Bee Line Buzz Company Ltd from the BET Group. Bee Line used high frequency minibuses and was a major competitor for former PTE operator GM Buses. After the Drawlane takeover Bee Line became a subsidiary of North Western who retained Bee Line branding but began to refocus the service network more towards the south of Greater Manchester with conventional sized vehicles replacing most of the minibuses. In the Spring of 1993 British Bus Ltd - what Drawlane had become, acquired Crosville Cymru from the National Express Group who in 1989 had purchased a Liverpool based operator Amberline. This proved a good move for North Western as Amberline's South Liverpool operations were consolidated further when British Bus acquired of one of Liverpool's three medium-sized independents Liverline Travel Services Ltd in the Spring/Summer of 1993. Liverline were one of the newcomers to the bus industry and like with Bee Line in Manchester North Western retained the Liverline branding for this mostly South Liverpool operation.