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Stagecoach did, for a short time, have control of services in Portsmouth, when it acquired Portsmouth City Transport in 1989 from its previous owners, a consortium formed by Southampton Citybus and employees of PCT. The alarm bells sounded at the offices of the Monopolies & Mergers Commission, and ultimately Stagecoach was forced to sell its Portsmouth business to Transit Holdings. This happened in 1991 and Transit quickly converted services in the town and its environs to minibus operation, claiming remarkable increases in ridership. Services in the city were run by Blue Admiral, while those running further out traded as Red Admiral. Blue Admiral ran Mellor-bodied Transits, but these were increasingly replaced by Transit Holdings' unusual two-door minibuses, Iveco Fords bodied by Mellor. Red Admiral services were run mainly by Carlyle-bodied Mercedes 811Ds. These were the biggest buses in regular service with Transit Holdings in Portsmouth. In 1995 First Provincial took over from Transit and re-introduced larger buses back into Portsmouth. A livery of red and cream was adopted replacing the traditional Provincial green and cream. |
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