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Private company

Jolly Bus

British bus operating company

Jolly Bus was an English bus company operating in Sunderland from 1923 until 1995.2 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

Jul 1923Founded1

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Jolly Bus bus (BGR 684W), NELSAM, 27 June 2015 (1)
Photo: Ultra7, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons3

Jolly Bus was an English bus company operating in Sunderland from 1923 until 1995.2

How it started

History

In July 1923, WH Jolly commenced operating a service from South Hylton to Sunderland. Following the closure of the railway it was extended from the outskirts of Sunderland into the city centre.

The Jolly Bus ran from Claxheugh Road (map) in South Hylton to Evesham (map) and Sunderland city centre (map).

The Jolly Bus trademark features were both the colour, cream with a brown stripe, and the rear seat, made of varnished wooden slats. WH Jolly also ran a small number of coaches.

After deregulation, pressure from other services and the announcement of the Tyne & Wear Metro extension to Sunderland and South Hylton caused the company to cease operations on 1 July 1995.

After the company closed the buses were sold to other companies. It is believed Duple Dominant bodied Bedford YMT KTY 23X was sold to Emsworth & District before being donated to Asia Bus Response, as a response to the Tsunami Disaster of 26 December 2004.

From Wikipedia’s article on Jolly Bus, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.2

Timeline

  1. Jul 1923Founded Founded1

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

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