Yorkshire Rider West Midlands as West Midlands Travel Strathclyde Transport as Strathclyde Buses Greater Manchester as GM Buses (split into North and South divisions in 1993) Merseyside Transport as Merseybus Tyne and Wear as Busways The rebranding served to underline the new separation of responsibilities between the PTEs and the bus companies. In order to promote competition, the GM Buses operation was split in two in 1993. Privatisation All the arms length bus companies were privatised by 1994: SYT sold in 1993 to employees Yorkshire Rider sold in 1988 in a management buyout West Midlands Travel sold in 1991 as an esop (employee shared ownership plan) Strathclyde Buses sold in 1993 to employees GM Buses North sold in 1994 in a management buyout GM Buses South sold in 1994 in a management buyout Merseybus sold in 1993 to employees as MTL (Merseyside Transport Limited) Busways sold in 1989 as an esop Competitive strategies Competition with new companies As a result of deregulation, all the new bus companies faced competition from both regional operators and small independents. Some of the biggest competition occurred in Liverpool, with competition with Merseybus from North Western and generally professional medium to large-sized independents like CMT Buses, Fareway, Liverbus and Liverline. When Merseybus was sold to its management and employees and transformed into MTL it acquired most of these competitors, most notably Fareway and Liverbus with Liverline acquired by British Bus and integrated into its North Western operation. Several PTEs faced competition from operators set up by former PTE employees made redundant during deregulation and/or privatisation. Several new competitors appealed to local customers by resurrecting former municipal company liveries which had disappeared with creation of the PTEs. Competition by the new companies As PTEs had historically held operating areas limited by authority boundaries, expansion into neighbouring areas was a viable strategy. Busways had looked to expand into other areas, notably Darlington. This was put on hold as the company was sold to Stagecoach Group, although the Busways company proceeded to immediately renew interest in Darlington, resulting in the events of the Darlington Bus War. Strathclyde Buses merged with the neighbouring ex Scottish Bus Group operator Kelvin Central Buses. Some companies competed by setting up low cost units to compete for tendered services, such as Blue Bus and TWOC of Busways, and Merseyrider of Merseybus. West Midlands Travel set up an express coach service with London Regional