South West Coaches

South West Coaches is a privately owned company that operate a number of bus services around Somerset, Dorset and Wiltshire, in South West England. It operates local town services in Yeovil under contract to the County Council, ex-Sureline routes in the Dorchester, Weymouth and Isle of Portland mainly commercial and long distance commercial rural services. A large proportion of its work is coach trips under the South West Tours brand as well as private hire and school contracts.

History
South West Coaches was founded in 2000 following the merger of AG Hulbert & Son and Wakes Services which together have over 100 years experience in the bus and coach industry.

In 2007, South West Coaches acquired Safeway Services, a local bus and coach operator in the village of South Petherton in Somerset. Safeway Services was established in 1928 and was family run up until the South West Coaches takeover operating one of its routes throughout this time. South West Coaches rebranded this company almost immediately even though it was a well established and respected name in its operating area. A new Optare Versa was named Miss Gunn after a Safeway Services director.

On 26 October 2009 South West Coaches acquired Sureline, a local bus operator on the Isle of Portland in Dorset. Sureline is a larger operation with a much shorter history. It became a familiar feature of the roads of Weymouth and Dorchester as well as Portland in the 21st century, and also operated a route between Bridport and Maiden Newton.

Operation
There is little competition in their operating area although another independent operator Nippy Bus registered Route N10 in competition with South West Coaches Route 81 and First compete with the Portland routes. In most villages South West Coaches are the sole bus operator and therefore many communities are heavily reliant on their services. The geographical area covered is vast stretching from Minehead and Taunton in the West to Salisbury in the East and from Portland and Bournemouth in the South to Warminster and Frome in the North. The company employs over 90 full and part-time staff.

Fares & Ticketing
The company participates in the County Ticket scheme in Somerset. The Wiltshire Day Rover ticket is valid within Wiltshire. Singles, returns, weekly, monthly and annual season tickets are available. Free travel for those holding an English National Concessionary Pass is available across the bus network including before 09:00 on the rural routes where no other service operates.

The company has inherited one of the first Smartcard "Smartrider" schemes in the United Kingdom when Sureline was incorporated into the business it gives a 10% discount on single fares.

Current depots
Routes: 1/1A/1B/1C/1S, 2/2B/2S, 3, 7/7A, 25, 26, 28, 30, 32, 33, 40A, 42, 109, 117 Routes: 1/1B, 5, 7/7A, 8, 10, 11/11A, 14, 15, 19/19A, 36, 40, 68, 74, 81, 202, 665, T1 (Tesco), T2 (Tesco), T3 (Tesco), X11 Routes: 61, 62, 73, 205, 206, 210, 211, 212, 214, 220, 230
 * Wincanton - Southgate Road, Wincanton, Somerset, BA9 9EB
 * Yeovil - 11 Oak Way, Lufton Business Park, Yeovil, Somerset BA22 8HS
 * Portland - Unit 17, Tradecroft Industrial Estate, Portland, DT5 2LN

Engineering:
 * Lopen

Former depots
Former route: 81
 * South Petherton

Vehicles Operated
The company operates over 90 vehicles which are mainly coaches which are used on local bus services; in addition they operate the following single decker buses on the more frequent services:


 * 1 Optare Versa
 * 5 Optare Solo
 * 1 Dennis Dart / MCV Capital
 * 1 DAF / Ikarus
 * 1 Dennis Dart / Marshall Capital
 * 1 Dennis Dart / Wright Handybus
 * 1 MCV Evolution
 * 1 Optare Excel
 * 2 Volvo B6

A fifth Optare Solo has just been purchased for the extension of route 68

Somerset, Dorset & Wiltshire
South West Coaches run the following services;