| Founded | 1997 |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Patchway, Bristol |
| Service area | Bristol South Gloucestershire |
| Service type | Bus, Coach |
| Routes | 3 Local, 5 National Express, 40 School Services |
| Fuel type | Diesel |
| Web site | http://southgloucestershirebus.co.uk/ |
SGBC Ltd t/a South Gloucestershire Bus & Coach operate a number of bus services in the Bristol area. The majority of their bus services are school routes operated on behalf of South Gloucestershire Council, Bristol City Council and the Cabot Learning Federation, as well as a number of National Express services from the Bristol area. Peak time commuter services are also operated from the north Bristol fringes into the city centre.
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South Gloucestershire can trace its history back to 1982 when Roger Durbin set up operations as Durbin’s Coaches. After steadily expanding over the years the operations began to attract the attention of Badgerline Holdings and during 1994 Durbin’s Coaches were taken over by the Bristol Omnibus Company. Roger Durbin was imposed with a restriction to start operating again in the Bristol area for 3 years as part of the agreement for the sale. Whilst Roger Durbin left the company, Tony Lavoie, the marketing manager stayed with the company, moving to City Lines Lawrence Hill depot as the general manager.
After a few months Lavoie left to start up his own bus company, Leisure Travel. By 1997, with a fleet of 24 vehicles, Roger Durbin returned to the industry as a partner in the business, and in 1998 the company began trading as South Gloucestershire Bus Company with a blue and white livery. Also during 1998 the pair purchased a local taxi firm which they renamed South Gloucestershire Taxi Company with a similar fleet name as the bus business. Durbin took on the bus side of the business while Lavoie looked after the running of the taxi company. During 1999 the original Durbin’s Coaches business was re acquired from First Bristol, who had continued to trade as Durbin’s Coaches and then First Durbins as a ‘low cost’ unit within First.
The company rapidly expanded over the next few years winning various tenders for supported services from South Gloucestershire Council and Bristol City Council, at one point even operating service 620 from Bath to Stroud. During 2003 the goodwill and custom as well as the majority of the fleet of Eastville Coaches was bought from the proprietor Mr Phillips. With the Eastville goodwill came a lucrative entrance to National Express contracts. A number of vehicles were brought into to update the Eastville fleet but after 18 months the original Eastville Coaches began trading again and the SGBC Eastville Coaches fleet were painted plain white with ‘A Durbin Group Company’ tagline.
Also during 2003 the taxi operation was separated from the bus operation, which saw Lavoie leave the fold, he now works for Bristol coach operator Eurocoaches.
The company continued to expand, picking up contracts with the University of the West of England for student transport, Orange & Axa for staff shuttles, National Express for Rail Replacement and coach service contracts and further tenders from Bristol City & South Gloucestershire Councils. The fleet was made up of mainly second hand vehicles such as Leyland Lynx and Leyland Titans, and Volvo B10Ms for the coach fleet. There were two Dennis Dart SLFs that were new to Durbin in 2003 for Orange and UWE work. It was revealed in 2007 that the South Gloucestershire fleet was the most un environmentally-friendly bus fleet in the country with an emission level of 15.79 g/kW.
In 2007 the bus side of the company was sold to Rotala Group subsidiary Flights Hallmark. The sale included 68 buses for the price of £1.26 million and the right to operate the routes they were used on for a further £600,000. The takeover was completed in stages and everything was finalized by the 31st March 2008. It was stated at the time that the assets being acquired had an annual turnover of £4.2 million pounds. The business was slowly rebranded as Wessex Connect, however the majority of the vehicles that Rotala purchased stayed in South Gloucestershire livery. They were gradually disposed of as and when Rotala were able to replace them with suitable low floor vehicles. Most of the low floor vehicles from the SGBC fleet were painted white and ended up with Rotala group company Central Connect.
After the sale to Rotala, SGBC were left with school services, the 462 commuter service and the Axa 101 service, that both interworked with school services. The fleet has been continually updated since the sale in 2007 with more modern coaches and further second hand buses. All coaches are now white with a new South Gloucestershire fleet name in silver, and school vehicles are gradually being painted into an all over yellow scheme inspired by the purchase of a former Plymouth Citybus school vehicle. The blue livery is still a familiar site on the street of Bristol with a large proportion of the bus fleet still in this livery.
It was in 2007 that 8 Van Hool bodied coaches were acquired from Go West Midlands (themselves selling out to Rotala) for the coach fleet. These arrived in National Express livery for use on National Express service 319 from Dec 07 to Jan 08, duplicates and Friday & Sunday extras on the 040 service. Although they were regularly used on school services and soon ended up being painted all over white.
In December 2007, South Gloucestershire were awarded the contract for the seasonal 319 Bristol to Birmingham route which ran non stop, it was introduced to meet demand over the festive period until January 2008.
It wasn’t until 2008 that South Gloucestershire were awarded their first full time National Express contract operating the 200. This was picked up from First Coaches who handed in the contract, with most of their drivers transferring across with the contract. Initially the service was worked by the Van Hools, until a fleet of 7 new tri axle Scania K340EB6/Caetano Levante were delivered specifically for the service. These were followed by a further three former National Express operations owned vehicles in 2009. They joined the fleet around the time SGBC picked up their second full time contract, the 040, also won from First Coaches. Again the majority of the drivers transferred across with the service, which was worked by the 9 Levantes, with 5 Van Hools now being used on the 200. A further service was picked up in mid 2010, the 402/3 routes from Bath were won after First Somerset & Avon handed in the contract, the drivers were given the option to TUPE across or stay with First on service work. To work these routes a batch of 12 Volvo B9R/Caetano Levantes were ordered to be split between 5 for the 200 and 7 for the 402/3. However due to issues regarding delivery the start date had to be pushed back a few months and eventually they were delivered for an August start with the service starting a few weeks before and being covered by second hand purchases. In December 2007, South Gloucestershire took over operation of the short lived 319 Bristol-Birmingham route which ran non stop between Bristol and Birmingham and had been introduced to meet demand over the festive period. The service was withdrawn in January 2008.
Further services have been picked up in 2011 including the 318 which was taken over from Applegates Coaches, and the 339 service that was previously operated by Hookways of Meeth, but was awarded to SGBC after Hookways got into financial trouble. The 502 service was also covered by SGBC for a few weeks after the collapse of Hookways.
In addition to the full time Nat Ex work, services to special events at locations such as Reading Festival, Glastonbury and Wembley are also operated from the South West & Wales and mainly uses vehicles from the private hire or Nat Ex spares fleet.
South Gloucestershire have a varied fleet of National Express coaches that includes:
South Gloucestershire currently operate five National Express routes.
At the present time, South Gloucestershire's only scheduled bus services are the 462 and 462A routes, which run at peak hour times from Emersons Green, Mangotsfield and Bromley Heath to either Bristol Temple Meads Station or Clifton Triangle via Bristol City Centre. Service 462A operates on school days only and comprises of one single journey from Temple Meads to Emersons Green via Downend. Prior to April 2011 a morning journey from Downend to Temple Meads operated on this route.
South Gloucestershire also operate route 101 for Friends Life. This service is also a peak time only service with four return runs in the morning and 5 return runs in the evening. The service runs from Axa at Parkway, near Stoke Gifford, to Lewins Mead in Bristol City Centre via the A4174 and M32. This service is not available to the general public.
Most of the services are operated by the familiar blue buses from the fleet, however, because routes are interworked with school services from time to time Yellow school buses or the white coaches are also used on the services. Also due to limited resources sometime certain services will be worked by a National Express coach returning to the depot, for example PM workings on the 101 service from the Centre sometimes see a Nat Ex coach used on its way back to the depot, instead of running much of the same route to the depot empty.
In total 40 school services are currently operated, split between:
Most of the services are interworked with each other, for example the Wellsway, Mangotsfield School, Winterbourne International Academy and UWE and Filton College routes are interworked with the John Cabot routes. John Cabot routes are also interworked with the 462 and 101 routes. South Gloucestershire's school bus routes use a mixture of single and double decker buses and coaches and all three types of vehicles appear on the 462. It is also not un common to see Wessex Connect vehicles in use of school routes when South Gloucestershire are stretched for demand.
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