South Gloucestershire Bus & Coach
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South Gloucestershire Bus & Coach is a bus company that operated a number of services in Bristol, England.
It operated a varied fleet of mainly blue buses, on a variety of services. Most services were run under contract to Bristol City Council and South Gloucestershire Council, with a variety of school services.
In 2007, part of South Gloucestershire Bus & Coach was purchased by Rotala and rebranded under its subsidiary Wessex Connect, which itself was operating many bus services around Bristol, including two of the Park and Ride services. Some buses have been re-branded as Wessex Connect, however a few have left the fleet and been transferred to Central Connect. Other non low floor vehicles have been sold on. The coaches remain in the South Gloucestershire fleet, along with a few older buses for school contracts
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[edit] History
Arthur Durbin formed Western Roadways in 1951. The first service was started later that year, to Patchway High School.
The next service followed in 1952, Western Roadways gained its first local authority "home to school" contract. A number of other contracts were one quickly.
By 1960 the company had a fleet of around 45 vehicles. At that time fleet coaches were replaced every three years. The continental tours also started in 1960.
In 1982 Durbin's son Roger took over the company, and the name was changed to Durbin's Coaches.
Durbin's Coaches attracted the attention of FirstGroup in 1993, who had acquired the company in 1994. Roger Durbin pursued other business interests, but the marketing manager Tony Lavoie transferred to First Bristol's Lawrence Hill depot as General Manager.
Soon after, Lavoie started his own coaching company named Leisure Travel, buying his own coach in 1994. He ran from the ex Durbin's depot. The fleet had reached 24 vehicles by the time of 1997. Roger Durbin returned as a partner of Leisure Travel and the company was then renamed South Gloucestershire Bus & Coach.
In 1998 a local taxi firm was acquired, which consisted of 7 licensed vehicles. This was renamed South Gloucestershire Taxi Company. From that point Roger Durbin took over running the bus business, with Lavoie running the taxis.
From 1999 onwards the company grew considerably, acquisition of the original Durbin's Coaches business, followed by the acquisition of Eastville Coaches in 2003. 2003 was also marked the sale of the taxi side of the business - now with about 20 vehicles - with Lavoie going with that.
When sold to Rotala, the company had a fleet of around 100 vehicles, producing a turnover in excess of £4million. [1]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ South Gloucestershire Bus & Coach - History Accessed 4th March 2008
[edit] External links
- South Gloucestershire Bus official website
- Wessex Connect official website
- Photos of some of the fleet
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