TM Travel

TM Travel is a bus operator based in Halfway, Sheffield, operating bus services in South Yorkshire and Derbyshire. Founded in 1995 as a family-owned operation with one bus, by March 2008 it had expanded to become the largest independent operator in Derbyshire. The company was taken over by the Wellglade Group in January 2010.

TM Travel
Optare Solo at Sheffield Interchange in May 2017
ParentWellglade Group
FoundedNovember 1995
HeadquartersHalfway
Service areaDerbyshire
South Yorkshire
Service typeBus services
Routes14 (July 2022)
Fleet38 (July 2022)
Websitewww.tmtravel.co.uk

History

TM Travel was founded in November 1995 by former Hulleys of Baslow employee Tim Watts. Their first vehicle was a Leyland Tiger coach used on coach hire operations from a depot near Chesterfield. Two similar vehicles were added to the fleet in early 1996. Two school bus services were taken on in the same year and the fleet expanded to ten vehicles. In 1997 vehicles maintenance work was taken in-house by the company, and work on National Express services was introduced.[1]

The company moved into scheduled bus service operation in 1999, winning a contract from Derbyshire County Council. A local route in Bolsover was launched a year later. In 2004 TM Travel took over a route between Sheffield and Chesterfield previously run by Thompson Travel. A number of South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive contracts were won over the following few years and the fleet increased in size to over 100 vehicles, prompting a move from Chesterfield to Halfway.[2]

As of March 2008, TM Travel was the largest independent coach and bus operator in Derbyshire, employing 120 staff, with all operations (including maintaining the fleet of vehicles) handled in-house.[3] On 5 January 2010 TM Travel was sold to the Wellglade Group.[2]

In October 2015, the company was given a formal warning by the Deputy Travel Commissioner over the performance of its services. The firm stated the single biggest problem with timetabling was with buses leaving Sheffield Interchange.[4]

Services

As of July 2022, TM Travel operates 14 services around Sheffield, Chesterfield and the surrounding areas.[5]

Peak Line 218

Peak Line 218 operates between Sheffield, Baslow, Bakewell, and Chatsworth.[6] In 2018, the frequency of the service was increased from hourly to every 30 minutes.[7] Most services are operated commercially with some council supported.[8]

Spira

Spira was a service between Sutton-in-Ashfield and Chesterfield. It was withdrawn after 2 March 2019.[9]

Fleet

As of July 2022, the fleet consisted of 38 buses.[10]

References
  1. TM Travel: Starting at the ground floor Buses issue 523 October 1998 pages 20–23
  2. Wellglade acquires TM Travel Buses issue 659 February 2010 page 8
  3. "Sheffield: Public transport networks". European Metropolitan Transport Authorities. March 2008. Retrieved 25 August 2009.
  4. "Formal warning for TM Travel over bus services". Route One. 2015-10-27. Retrieved 2022-07-29.
  5. Timetables TM Travel
  6. Harrison, Matt (2019-08-06). "#AYearOfBuses 218: Peak Line Sheffield – Bakewell". Transport Designed. Retrieved 2022-07-29.
  7. "TM Travel improves Peak Line 218". Bus & Coach Buyer. 2015-02-06. Retrieved 2022-07-29.
  8. Hind, Bob (2018-07-19). "The Peak District". www.keybuses.com. Retrieved 2022-07-29.
  9. Dallison, Jessica (2019-01-23). "Rising costs put end to a Sutton bus service". Chad. Retrieved 2022-07-29.
  10. Fleet list TM Travel

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