Glenvale Transport - CMT Buses - History

History

CMT Buses was formed from C&M Travel Ltd who were a long established coach hire operator in the Merseyside area. After deregulation CMT gained a foothold into bus operation by winning Merseytravel contracts and by the late-1980s had begun a commercial service network on the Wirral. Between 1991 and 1994 the company turned its focus to the Liverpool bus market which was already a hotbed of intense competition between Merseybus/MTL, City Fleet, Fareway, Liverline, Liverbus, Halton Transport, Merseyline, North Western, Village Group and GM Buses (North/South). The coach hire and Wirral based services were discontinued and a significant number of new services on many of Liverpool's most lucrative bus corridors were started by CMT with a large fleet of Leyland Nationals. These were very successful and sparked a 'bus war' in Liverpool which led to a period of consolidation in which MTL acquired Fareway, Liverbus and Village Group, North Western acquired Liverline, GM Buses North/South withdrew from Merseyside and MTL, North Western, CMT Buses, GM Buses North/South and Halton Transport entered into a controversial agreement which limited competition between these parties in the North West and fixed fares. A Competition Commission investigation which ruled this was illegal and fined the parties involved.

Despite this, CMT Buses was successful within the Merseyside bus market and from the Summer of 1995 to the Summer of 2002, it gradually began adding substantial numbers of new vehicles to its fleet including Volvo B10B/Wright Endurance, Volvo B10L/Wright Liberator, Volvo B10BLE/Wright Renown, Dennis Dart/Northern Counties Paladin, Dennis Dart SLF/Wright Crusader and Dennis Super Dart/Plaxton Pointers, along with relatively modern secondhand acquisitions including Volvo B10B/Alexander Striders from Blazefield-owned Harrogate & District and Leyland Lynxes from a variety of sources to replace the aging Leyland Nationals.