MerseyRider began life in the autumn of 1992 as a low-cost operation set up by Merseybus a few months prior to the sale to privatisation. MerseyRider operated on lower margins and what would prove controversial pay-rates than Merseybus and initially operated out of Liverline's former Blackstock Street depot near Liverpool City Centre after Liverline had moved to a new depot in Bootle. Many of Merseybus's Merseytravel contracts were transferred to MerseyRider as well as Liverline's commercial service 102 (Walton/Broadway - Broadgreen Hospital). At first the fleet included Merseybus's remaining Willowbrook bodied Leyland Atlanteans and a number of hired minibuses which were replaced at the beginning of 1993 by new K-registration Marshall bodied Mercedes-Benz 811Ds and a handful of similar G-registration vehicles bodied by Carlyle and bought secondhand from Cambus. These vehicles were painted in a cream and green livery not dissimilar to the former Liverpool Corporation/Merseyside Transport scheme.