40 years of Bus Business – September 1986

Saturday 2th September 2026 With D-Day (bus Deregulation Day) now just a month away, the 24th September 1986 edition of the fortnightly newspaper Bus Business contained more news of NBC’s privatisation process as well as the unstoppable march of minibuses. Thanks to the Bus Archive, let’s take a look at some of the main stories featured in that issue to gain a flavour of what life was like running buses exactly 40 years ago including the front page headline story… ‘Blacklist’ angers rejected NBC company suitors A controversy is brewing over the refusal of National Bus Company to accept expressions of interest from a number of would-be purchasers of its local subsidiary companies. The complaints are coming as an announcement of a second successful management buy-out at Badgerline, based at Weston-super-Mare, is expected. Potential outside suitors, including independent bus companies, have been refused copies of previously promised ‘information packs’ on individual companies, being made…