Go South Coast is a bus operator on and around the south coast of England. It is a subsidiary of the Go-Ahead Group.

History

In August 2003 the Go-Ahead Group purchased the business of Wilts & Dorset, including its Damory Coaches and Tourist Group subsidiaries, followed in July 2005 by Southern Vectis including its Solent Blue Line subsidiary. In February 2006 Wilts & Dorset purchased bus refurbishment company Hants & Dorset Trim. At this stage, Go-Ahead consolidated the management of its south coast operations under Go South Coast in

Poole Poole () is a large coastal town and seaport in Dorset, on the south coast of England. The town is east of Dorchester and adjoins Bournemouth to the east. Since 1 April 2019, the local authority is Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Counc ...

. In October 2006 Marchwood Motorways was purchased. Thamesdown Transport was purchased from

Swindon Borough Council Swindon Borough Council is the local authority of the Borough of Swindon in Wiltshire, England. It is a unitary authority, having the powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined. As such, it is administratively separate fro ...

in February 2017.

Subsidiaries

Go South Coast originally did not operate any buses in its own right, all being operated by subsidiary companies. Operators in ''italics'' are considered part of and managed by the bigger company above. * Bluestar – Hampshire **'' Unilink'' – University of Southampton * * *Hants & Dorset Trim * More – Bournemouth and Poole **''UNIBUS'' – Bournemouth University and Arts University Bournemouth * Salisbury Reds – Salisbury * Southern Vectis – Isle of Wight *

Swindon's Bus Company Swindon's Bus Company (formerly Thamesdown Transport) is a bus operator in England, serving Swindon and the surrounding area. Previously owned by Swindon Borough Council, in February 2017 ownership passed to the Go-Ahead Group and the operatio ...

(formerly Thamesdown Transport) – Swindon The company has three coach brands: *Excelsior Coaches – Bournemouth, offering private coach hire, school services and tours *Damory Coaches – school buses and services in central East Dorset *Tourist Group – Dorset and Wiltshire, providing services to schools in Wiltshire. In June 2014, all the subsidiary companies' vehicles were brought together under the Go South Coast licence."Go South Coast" ''

Buses A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...

'' issue 714 September 2014 page 72

Fleet

As at May 2015, Go South Coast operated 760 buses and coaches from nine depots.

References

External links

* {{Go-Ahead Bus Companies, state=collapsed Bus operators in Dorset Bus operators in Hampshire Bus operators on the Isle of Wight Go-Ahead Group companies 2005 establishments in England