Go Coach

Go Coach Hire Ltd is a medium sized bus operator running a total of 46 bus services (including school services) across Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex and South London.[1] The majority of these services are operated on behalf of Kent County Council from their two depots in Otford and Swanley.[2] As of April 2020, Go Coach also operates the Go2 demand responsive service in Sevenoaks.[3]

Go Coach
A Go Coach Hire Optare Solo in Tunbridge Wells Town Centre in November 2013
Slogan"We're right up your street"
Founded2008
HeadquartersOtford, Kent
Service areaKent, East Sussex, West Sussex, South London
Service typeBus services
Routes46 (including school routes)
HubsSevenoaks, Dartford, Edenbridge, Tonbridge, Tunbridge Wells
Fleet50 (As of 2020)
Chief executiveAustin Blackburn
Websitewww.go-coach.co.uk

History
A Go Coach Marshall Capital at Westerham Green on route 401 - the companies first bus route

Go Coach was founded in 2008 by Austin Blackburn.[2] The company began operating as a coach hire company initially just using a single coach.

In April 2010, Go Coach began operating bus services for the first time when they took over the Kent County Council tendered routes 401 (Sevenoaks to Westerham) and 421 (Sevenoaks to Swanley) from Arriva Southern Counties. In May 2011, Go Coach extended route 421 to Dartford to replace the Arriva Southern Counties route 423 bringing the operator into the town for the first time.[4] The companies Dartford services were further boosted with the instruction of the Dart local town services in 2014.[5]

In April 2014, Go Coach expanded its operations into Edenbridge by taking over routes 232, 234, 238, 631 & 632 from Arriva Southern Counties.[6] A number of their Sevenoaks services were altered at the same time.

In 2015, a number of Go Coach services were boosted. The company took over a number of Kent County Council contracted services as well as introducing new circular town service 8 in Sevenoaks at the same time.[7] Go Coach also upgraded and took over existing route 401 on a commercial basis in 2015, this being the first time that the company had operated a bus service in this way.[8]

In July 2017, Go Coach introduced two new routes in Sevenoaks (routes 431 and 435) in response to Arriva Southern Counties withdrawing major parts of their route 402 service at the same time.

In April 2018, Arriva Southern Counties withdrew a number of their local services in Sevenoaks. Go Coach introduced a number of replacement services and at the same time became the network operator of the town. They also took over a number of services in Tonbridge at the same time. In November 2019, a number of the company's Sevenoaks services were restructured.

As of April 2020, Go Coach suspended a number of its services due to the COVID-19 Pandemic and replaced them with the Go2 demand responsive service.[9] However, as of August 2020, a number of these services have been reinstated.

Garages and Services

Go Coach run services from two operating depots in Otford and Swanley which run a mixture of commercial and school services as well as services operated on behalf of Kent County Council with a total of approximately 46 routes. Go Coach operate a number of rural services across Kent and as such, a number of their services operate at very low frequencies with limited operating hours.[10] Go Coach are also the main bus operator in the town of Sevenoaks (since Arriva Southern Counties withdrew a number of their Sevenoaks routes in April 2019[11]) and currently run and operate Sevenoaks Bus Station.[12][13][14]

Fleet

The Go Coach fleet consists of a total of approximately 50 buses. The majority of the fleet is painted into the company's yellow and purple livery with the exception of a few buses which carry special liveries and branding. The fleet consists of a mixture of Optare Solo, Optare Versa, Optare Tempo, Optare MetroCity, Plaxton President and Alexander Dennis Enviro400 buses.

Go2 Sevenoaks

As of April 2020, Go Coach also operate the Go2 demand responsive service in Sevenoaks.[15] The service is designed to allow passengers to hail buses to their locations to remove the need for unnecessary bus operations. As of April 2020, Go2 has temporarily replaced all Go Coach bus services in Sevenoaks and Edenbridge in response to the COVID-19 Pandemic. As well as serving Sevenoaks Town Centre and the surrounding towns and villages, Go2 also serves a number of hospitals outside of the normal operating area, these are: Queen Mary's Hospital, Sidcup, Tunbridge Wells Hospital, Pembury and Princess Royal Hospital, Bromley.

In August 2020, Go2 ceased to serve the hospitals outside of the main operating area. At the same time, the service ceased to serve the towns of Orpington and Tonbridge following the resumption of some of the companies local bus services.

References
  1. "About Us". Go Coach, June 2020.
  2. A decade of Go Coach & Bus Week issue 1350 19 July 2018 pages 16-23
  3. "Go2 Taxi Hire Ltd". Go2, June 2020.
  4. "Changes and cancellations to Arriva Bus Services". News Shopper, May 2011.
  5. "Go Coach launches Darts in Dartford". Bus & Coach buyer, January 2014.
  6. "Changes to bus times in the Sevenoaks, Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells areas". Arriva Southern Counties, April 2014.
  7. "Go Coach to operate year round Sevenoaks bus service". CBW Magazine, November 2015.
  8. "Go Coach goes Silver Service". CBW Magazine, July 2015.
  9. "Sevenoaks bus services replaced by on-demand service". Horton Kirby and South Darenth Parish Council, April 2020.
  10. "Timetables, Routes and Fares". Go Coach, 2020.
  11. "Arriva to stop running route 1 and 2 buses in Sevenoaks and Tunbridge Wells 285 service". Kent Online, March 2019.
  12. "Go Coach celebrates becoming the main bus operator in the Sevenoaks area". My Sevenoaks Community, April 2019.
  13. "Go Coach route to Orpington replaces Arriva". RouteOne, August 2017.
  14. Go-Coach becomes Sevenoaks area's main operator Coach & Bus Week issue 1390 23 April 2019 page 10
  15. "Go Coach and ViaVan launch on-demand public transport solution Go2". SmartTransport, April 2020.

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