Crosville Motor Services
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Crosville Motor Services was a bus operator running within the north west of England and north and mid Wales. The company was formed as Crosville Motor Company Limited on 27 October 1906 in Chester, by George Crosland Taylor and his French business associate Georges de Ville, with the intention of building motor cars. The company name was an amalgam of 'Crosland' and 'de Ville'.
By 1909 Crosville had commenced its first bus service, between Chester and Ellesmere Port, and was to grow to incorporate bus services in Cheshire, Lancashire and north-east Wales, becoming one of the major names in the British bus industry.
The company was split into two upon bus deregulation and the privatisation of the National Bus Company in the 1980s. Crosville Cymru was to remain generally in one piece, but the remainder of Crosville based in England was to be split between then-sister companies Midland Red North and the new North Western company based in Liverpool. The latter move was quite a reversal of fortunes, as much of Crosville's territory in the eastern half of Cheshire had been gained from the original North Western company at its dismemberment in 1972.
The Wirral operations were sold on to PMT and were to retain the Crosville name, however the name has since passed into history with the corporate First Group branding. North Western, Crosville Cymru and the Cheshire depots of Midland Red North are today under common management as Arriva North-West & Wales.
[edit] Reference books on Crosville Motor Services
- Anderson, R C; HISTORY OF CROSVILLE MOTOR SERVICES; David & Charles PLC; 2001; ISBN 0-7153-8088-5
- Banks, John; THE PRESTIGE SERIES - CROSVILLE; Venture Publications; 2001; ISBN 1-898432-39-2
- Carroll, John & Duncan Roberts; CROSVILLE MOTOR SERVICES : PART 1 - THE FIRST 40 YEARS; Venture Publications; 1995; ISBN 1-898432-12-0
- Crosland-Taylor, W J; CROSVILLE: THE SOWING AND THE HARVEST; Transport Publishing Company; 1987; ISBN 0-86317-136-2
- Crosland-Taylor, W J; CROSVILLE: STATE OWNED WITHOUT TEARS; Transport Publishing Company; 1987; ISBN 0-86317-139-7
- Maund, T B; CROSVILLE ON MERSEYSIDE; Transport Publishing; 1992; ISBN 0-86317-168-0
