Fareway Passenger Services was Merseyside's first major newcomer to bus operation in the post-deregulation period. It was established by four former Merseyside Transport bus drivers who re-mortgaged their homes and used the redundancy payments they received prior to the formation of Merseybus in 1986. Fareway commenced operations in January 1987 with a fleet of 15-20 ex-Merseyside Transport East Lancs bodied Bristol VRs on the "F1" service between their depot at Hornhouse Lane on the Kirkby Industrial Estate to Liverpool's Pier Head. Prior to the arrival of Fareway, Merseybus had significantly increased the fare scales previously used by Merseyside Transport and reduced/withdrawn service levels on a number of routes across Merseyside. Fareway tapped into this by having fares significantly lower than Merseybus and plugging a gap with the F1 route along the popular Black Bull/County Road/Scotland Road corridor.