40 years of Bus Business – August 1986

Saturday 15th October 2026 Continuing this monthly nostalgic look back to the build up to bus deregulation forty years ago, thanks to those fledgling early editions of Bus Business from the Bus Archive, we now reach August 1986, just two months away from the big change. It’s interesting to see news stories include ….. updates on the roll out of more minibus developments in Manchester; Devon General being the first NBC bus subsidiary to be privatised; results of tenders to commence from October in East Sussex, West Sussex and Surrey all noting substantial financial savings compared to the revenue support budget under the regulated regime; with people moves including appointments of Robert Brook and Bob Montgomery to United Passenger Services. Here are the main stories as they appeared in the issue of Bus Business dated 27th August 1986. UTI seeking Manchester minibus deal Greater Manchester is to be the first target of United Transport International’s high frequency minibus project and…