Stagecoach West

Stagecoach West is the trading name of Cheltenham & Gloucester Omnibus Company Limited, a bus operator providing services in Gloucestershire, Bristol, Wiltshire, Somerset and Herefordshire, in the west of England. The company is a subsidiary of Stagecoach Group.

For the ABC television series from 1960/61, see Stagecoach West (TV series).

Stagecoach West
Alexander Dennis Enviro300 bodied MAN 18.240 in Oxford in 2008
ParentStagecoach Group
Founded1983
HeadquartersGloucester
Service areaGloucestershire
Bristol
Herefordshire
Wiltshire
Somerset
Service typeBus & Coach services
Routesover 80
Depots6
Fleet391 (November 2019)
Annual ridership24.9 million (2018/19)[1]
OperatorStagecoach UK Bus
Managing DirectorRupert Cox
Websitewww.stagecoachbus.com

History
Alexander PS bodied Volvo B10M
Alexander ALX200 bodied Dennis Dart SLF in June 2012
Stagecoach Gold liveried Alexander Dennis Enviro400 in September 2009

In 1983, Bristol Omnibus Company's Gloucestershire-based operations were transferred to the Cheltenham & Gloucester Omnibus Company.[2] In 1985, the National Bus Company's Swindon and District operation was transferred to the same company. In 1986, all the assets were transferred to a new legal entity, Western Travel.

In 1986, Western Travel was privatised in a management buyout and in December 1987 purchased Midland Red South.[3] In 1993, Western Travel purchased Circle Line of Gloucester (primarily a school bus operator, who had started to compete on regular bus routes) before being sold to Stagecoach in November 1993.[4][5]

In 1988, National Welsh Omnibus Services was privatised in a management buyout. After being placed in receivership in January 1992, the Eastern Division was purchased by Stagecoach South Wales. After the Western Travel purchase, the Wye & Dean operations were transferred to Stagecoach West.

In September 2018, the company took over the operation of eight routes in the Bristol and Bath areas from Wessex Bus.[6][7]

On 1 September 2019 Stagecoach West took over operation of the X5 (Weston-super-Mare to Cribbs Causeway) and Severn Express (Newport to Bristol) routes from First West of England.[8] In October 2019, Stagecoach West took over the South Gloucestershire Bus & Coach business with 53 vehicles.[9]

Depots

Stagecoach West operated six depots as of 2017:[10]

Routes

Stagecoach West mainly operates services across Gloucestershire, Bristol, Herefordshire, Wiltshire and into South Gloucestershire, although some routes serve more distant destinations including Hereford, Monmouth, Oxford and Bath.

The local bus network is operated in two brands, Stagecoach livery & Stagecoach Gold with vehicles of a higher specification and generally providing more frequent, higher profile or interurban routes.

Routes operated as Stagecoach Gold services are: 10 Cheltenham to Lower Tuffley, 55 Chippenham to Swindon, 63 Forest Green to Gloucester, 94 Cheltenham to Gloucester, 97/98 Cheltenham to Gloucester and S6 Swindon to Oxford.

When Stagecoach West purchased South Gloucestershire Bus & Coach in November 2019, they took over operation of their existing local bus, Private Hire & Megabus work. This included the fleet but this has been replaced with newer vehicles sourced from across Stagecoach Group.

Fleet

As of November 2019, the fleet consisted of around 400 vehicles (including training vehicles). Types include:

See also

References
  1. https://www.stagecoachbus.com/media-library/files/west/annual-report-2019.pdf
  2. Companies House extract company no 1713578 Cheltenham & Gloucester Omnibus Company Limited
  3. Companies House extract company no 1556310 Midland Red (South) Limited
  4. Stagecoach acquires Western The Independent 27 November 1993
  5. Midland Red Depots Archived 3 November 2013 at the Wayback Machine MidlandRed.net
  6. Important Changes for Wessex Bus Wessex Bus 20 July 2018
  7. Wessex bus to close and services 42, 12 and 51 cancelled in Bristol and Bath Bristol Post 20 July 2018
  8. "Severn Express and X5 bus routes to transfer from First Bus to Stagecoach". First Bus. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
  9. Britain's biggest bus and coach operator expanding in Bristol Stagecoach 23 September 2019
  10. Annual Report May 2012 - April 2013 Archived 17 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine Stagecoach West
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