Greyhound UK
 | |
|---|---|
 Greyhound Scania K114EB 23315 Sweet Caroline seen on the Isle of Wight on a promotional visit | |
| Parent | FirstGroup |
| Founded | 14 September 2009 |
| Headquarters | Swansea |
| Locale |
 UK |
| Service area | South Wales, Bristol |
| Service type | Intercity coach service |
| Routes | 1 |
| Fleet | Scania K114EB/Irizar PB |
| Website | www.greyhounduk.com |
Greyhound UK[1] is a low-cost intercity scheduled coach service in the United Kingdom owned by FirstGroup and based on the long-established Greyhound service in the United States.
It began operations in September 2009 as an hourly service between London and Portsmouth or Southampton.[2] In 2010 services were introduced from London to Bournemouth[3] and Poole.[4] These services ceased in November 2012.[5][6][7]
In 2010 the Shuttle 100 service between Cardiff and Swansea was transferred from First Cymru.[8][9] In January 2011 Greyhound UK took over operation of overnight coach services between London and Glasgow that had previously been operated by First Glasgow. This service ceased in September 2012.[5]
Service
Greyhound UK's service is being presented as upmarket, with free wireless internet, extra legroom and reclining seats, using refurbished coaches painted in the same livery as recently introduced by Greyhound in the United States.[10][11] Greyhound offers cheaper tickets when booked in advance via their website, similar to Funfares on National Express, and Megabus.
Route and destinations
Greyhound UK operates a service between Cardiff to Swansea, with a number of services continuing on to Bristol Airport, calling at Newport, University of West England and Bristol bus station en route.
The extended route to Bristol Airport began in March 2013; previous to this, operating only between Swansea and Cardiff.
History of name
The earliest use of the Greyhound name and logo for coach services in England was by Greyhound Motors in 1921. The name and logo continued to be used by Bristol Omnibus Company (which bought Greyhound in 1936) until 1972 when their coach services were re-branded as National Express.[12] FirstGroup now owns the former Bristol Omnibus Company, but their revival of the name is not connected to the former use of the name by their subsidiary; instead, it follows FirstGroup's acquisition of the owner of the American Greyhound Lines operation in February 2007, with the logo and livery adopted for the United Kingdom.[13] By extension of this acquisition, FirstGroup is now affiliated with Greyhound Lines in the U.S., Greyhound Canada, and Greyhound Mexico, as well as Greyhound UK. It has no ties with Greyhound Australia, Greyhound South Africa, or Greyhound Travels (in India), however, as those remain independently owned. It is also not associated with Western Greyhound, which is based in Newquay, Cornwall. Despite the prevalence of the Greyhound name in English-speaking countries (and Mexico), FirstGroup has no immediate plans to re-brand its Ireland-based Aircoach services under the Greyhound moniker.
Fleet
The Greyhound fleet consists of 11 Scania K114EB/Irizar PB coaches. They are numbered in the same fleet numbering system as other FirstGroup vehicles, and also carry women’s names from popular American songs:
23315 - Sweet Caroline
23316 - Mrs Robinson
23317 - Good Golly Miss Molly
23318 - Mandy
23319 - Sherry
23320 - Billie Jean
23321 - Proud Mary
23322 - Barbara Anne
23323 - Sharona
23324 - Joelene
23325 - Peggy Sue
The coaches originally had 49 seats, and were purchased in 2005/06 for use on FirstGroup's National Express contracted work. They were based at First's depots at Bristol, Cheltenham and Northampton and used on National Express routes 040 Bristol to London Victoria, 200 Bristol to Gatwick Airport, 412 Gloucester to London Victoria, 222 Hereford to Gatwick Airport and 707 Northampton to Gatwick Airport. After refurbishment they had only 41 seats providing extra legroom and a 41" seat pitch, free wireless internet and at-seat power sockets.[14]
See also
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Greyhound UK. |
References
- ↑ Companies House extract company no 6983718 Greyhound UK Limited
- ↑ The Greyhound has landed FirstGroup 19 August 2009
- ↑ Extra Greyhound services for Bournemouth FirstGroup 1 June 2010
- ↑ Greyhound under starter's order in Poole FirstGroup 13 August 2010
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Greyhond retrenches with major cuts busandcoach.com 18 October 2012
- ↑ Firm axes coach service from Southampton to London Southern Daily Echo 18 October 2012
- ↑ Greyhound Solent Closure Greyhound UK news 18 November 2012
- ↑ Greyhound under stater's orders in Wales FirstGroup 9 September 2010
- ↑ Iconic Greyhound bus sets up Welsh service South Wales Echo 8 September 2010
- ↑ Greyhound bus to launch in London with £1 fares to coast Evening Standard 19 August 2009
- ↑ FirstGroup to launch Greyhound bus service The Guardian 19 August 2009
- ↑ National Express Group plc and Saltire Holdings Ltd Monopolies and Mergers Commission February 1994 page 3
- ↑ FirstGroup buys Greyhound buses BBC News 9 February 2007
- ↑ Greyhound UK Specifications FirstGroup
