HCT Group
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| Founded | 1982 |
|---|---|
| Ceased operation | 2022 |
| Headquarters | Old Street, London[1] |
| Service area | England and Channel Islands |
| Service type | Bus services |
| Chief executive | Lynn McClelland |
| Website | www |
HCT Group
By 2014, HCT Group had a fleet of 500 vehicles, turnover of £43.7 million,[4] and employed over 700.[5] The company expanded into several areas of England and the Channel Islands through a series of acquisitions in 2017 and 2018, but after financial difficulties following the COVID-19 pandemic, the HCT Group ceased trading and entered administration in September 2022 after disposing of all its commercial bus services.[6]
History
Hackney Community Transport was established in 1982 when 30 community groups in the
HCT Group received loans from London Rebuilding Society to finance its entry to the bus industry.[10]
In 2004, HCT was contracted by EduAction to deliver 500 local special needs children to school and back each day for London Borough of Waltham Forest from a new depot in Leyton.[11]
In March 2006, HCT expanded outside London to run eight yellow
In July 2006, HCT merged with Lambeth & Southwark Community Transport.[12] Later that year on 1 October 2006, HCT began to operate the AccessBus service in Leeds[12] and in 2008, merged with Leeds Alternative Travel.[14]
In March 2009, HCT Group published its first Impact Report.[15] By 2010,[when?] HCT had grown by over a hundredfold since 1993 – from a turnover of £202k to a turnover of £23.3 million in 2009/10.[16]
In February 2010, CT Plus Yorkshire took over the Hull 701 Priory Park & Ride route,[17] with the aim of investing any surplus from its park-and-ride operation to expand a local community transport service and to set up training for long-term unemployed people in Hull.[18] This was withdrawn in 2014, with Stagecoach taking over the service.[19] In the same month, the company raised £5 million via a social loan.[7]
In 2017 and 2018, the group completed a series of acquisitions, purchasing Social Access, Bristol;[20] Manchester Community Transport;[21] CT4TC,[22] a Derbyshire community transport operator since renamed Derbyshire Community Transport;[23] Powells, South Yorkshire;[24] and Impact Group, West London.[25]
Dai Powell, who had been chief executive since 1993, announced in April 2020 that he would retire from the post and be replaced by Lynn McClelland.[26]
Following the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as a rise in costs for bus operators, HCT Group began to suffer from financial difficulties. On 29 September 2022, after disposing of its commercial bus operations in Yorkshire, Bristol, London and the Channel Islands, HCT Group ceased trading and formally entered administration.[6]
Social enterprise and transport
 | This section contains content that is written like My bus school bus service operated by CT Plus in Bingley
 The British government has promoted the delivery of public services by not-for-profit organisations (the third sector).[27] British prime minister David Cameron has stated that he wants more social enterprises running public services as part of his "Big Society".[28]
Charitable legal website Get Legal described HCT's charitable status or through being CICs), which sends a clear message to the public that the organisation is a social enterprise.[29]
HCT Group says it aims to "demonstrate and promote the social enterprise community transport in 2007/08. Its mission was to increase this to 30 per cent in the subsequent five years.[31]
HCT Group only competes for contracts that have high levels of physical disabilities to use public transport independently.[33]
West Yorkshire Metro noted that a community transport provider "...spends its surpluses on transport services in the community which are not commissioned from public bodies" but that "commissioning from the sector can however carry risks...organisations can lack capability and professionalism and be over reliant on individuals leading to instability."[27] HCT Group was no more immune to labour relations problems than any other bus operator.[34] The Socialist Worker described HCT as "no friend of workers" and its workers as "some of the lowest paid drivers in London".[28]
HCT Group prefers social enterprises and co-ops as business partners and suppliers;[35] when they raised £500k impact investment from The Phone Co-Op in 2014, their CEO explained with investors as well as suppliers they want to "buy social".[36] In 2018, HCT Group secured £17.8 million in funding to tackle social isolation, with the help of the investment bank ClearlySo.[37] OperationsLondonEast Lancs Myllennium Lolyne bodied Dennis Trident 2 on route 388 in June 2009route W12 in March 2010CT Plus was founded as a wholly owned trading arm of HCT in 2001, and became a community interest company in 2007.[38][39] The company competed for contracts in the marketplace, and its profits were used by HCT to support community transport or other objectives such as training for the long-term unemployed.[40] At first they operated a Transport for London contracted service, route 153.[41] Routes 388 and 394 were added in 2003. In August 2019, the CT Plus brand in London was dropped with operations brought under the HCT Group banner; the brand continued to be used in Yorkshire until August 2022. In the same month, HCT ceased operating route W13 in June 2022
Public services in LondonAsh Grove (HK)Ash Grove bus garage in Cambridge Heath was HCT Groups' first London garage, and was shared with Arriva London. This garage operated 10 routes, including route 26 and route 394.[43] Walthamstow Avenue (AW)In November 2016, HCT Group opened a second garage in Walthamstow.[44] Before the company administration, Walthamstow Avenue operated routes 20, 385, 397, W11, W12, W16, W19 and 616. Other London services
FleetThe Transport for London fleet consisted of 85 buses in 2014,[48] and had grown to 159 buses before the collapse of the company in September 2022.[citation needed] Yorkshire_YJ09_LAE_(cropped).jpg) CT Plus (Yorkshire) operated from depots in My bus' yellow school bus contracts.[52] A few public routes were operated, around Wakefield, Huddersfield, Pontefract, and South Elmsall.[53][54] In addition, some private contracts were operated, including two shuttle services for the NHS.[55]
HCT Group acquired Rotherham-based independent operator Powells Bus and Coach in July 2018, integrating the company, which ran services across South Yorkshire, as a separate part of CT Plus (Yorkshire).[56] On 4 August 2022, the HCT Group announced that CT Plus (Yorkshire) and its Powells Bus operation would cease trading on 5 August, BristolHCT Group operated local bus services in the Bristol area under the name of Bristol Community Transport, as well as (from January 2019) the m1 metrobus service under contract to First West of England. BCT ceased operating their dial-a-ride and community transport operations on 26 August 2022 due to rising costs, with their local bus services following a week later on 2 September. When the business closed, operation of the m1 transferred to First, along with the 21 vehicles branded for the route.[61][62] Minor operationsHCT Group also operated a number of smaller community and mainstream bus services across the UK.
Community transport servicesWaltham Forest Before the company fell into administration, HCT Group operated:[67]
Education and trainingHCT Group provided social care, and management.[68]
Corporate strategy
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