Ribble Motor Services[1] was a large regional bus operator in North West England based in Preston.

[2][3] Multiple companies were acquired throughout the 1920s and 1930s, including W. C. Standerwick of Blackpool in 1934, which was eventually rationalised as the name used for Ribble's coach excursion operations,[4] and Ribble Motor Services soon grew to be the largest operator in the region, with a territory eventually stretching from Carlisle in Cumberland to southern Lancashire at the company's peak.

[10] As part of the privatisation of the National Bus Company, Ribble was sold on 2 March 1988 in a management buyout.

[18] In April 2001, Stagecoach sold the Ribble operations in Blackburn, Hyndburn, Clitheroe and Bolton to the Blazefield Group for £13 million, which rebranded them as Lancashire United and Burnley & Pendle.

In the early 1930s, after reaching inter-working agreements with various regional bus operators in both England and Scotland, Ribble began serving destinations such as Barnsley, Carlisle, Doncaster, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Halifax, Huddersfield, Leeds, Newcastle upon Tyne, Middlesbrough, Scarborough and Wakefield.

as the world's most frequent express service in the 1960s, maintaining a scheduled departure every fifteen minutes in the summer.

[5][24] Throughout the 1950s the 'White Ladies' ran on all the major express and limited stop services out of Lower Mosley Street, Manchester.

In particular they served the routes due north including X3 & X13 to Great Harwood, X23 Clitheroe, X43 Skipton and Colne, X53 Burnley, and X66 Blackburn.

In November 1959, Ribble Motor Services were granted authorisation by the Northern Traffic Commissioner to operate a service from Keswick to London's Victoria Coach Station via the new M1 motorway;[26] in order to accommodate long-distance motorway travel, Ribble Motor Services had developed the 'Gay Hostess' double-deck express coach, based on the Leyland Atlantean chassis, featuring 50 reclining seats, a toilet and spaces for luggage.

[27][28] To replace the 'Gay Hostess' Atlanteans, a 60-seater double-deck coach built on a Bristol VRL/LH chassis was developed around 1968 for motorway running by the Standerwick subsidiary.

[citation needed] Ribble's head office was located on Frenchwood Avenue, Preston, and was opened in 1937.

[39] At its peak in 1949, Ribble Motor Services had over 40 depots across Lancashire, Merseyside and Cumbria of varying size and use.