Greyhound UK was a low-cost intercity scheduled coach service in the United Kingdom owned by

FirstGroup FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland.Greyhound service in the United States and developed in the following two years in South East England and

South Wales South Wales ( cy, De Cymru) is a loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, south Wales extends westwards ...

. The last service ceased in December 2015.

History

Greyhound UK began operations on 14 September 2009 with an hourly service between

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

. Services were introduced from London to

Bournemouth Bournemouth () is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council area of Dorset, England. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 183,491, making it the largest town in Dorset. It is situated on the Southern ...

and

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 2010. The 'Shuttle 100' service between

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

and

Swansea Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Swansea ( cy, links=no, Dinas a Sir Abertawe). The city is the twenty-fifth largest in ...

was transferred to Greyhound from First Cymru the same year. In January 2011 operation of overnight coach services between London and

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

was transferred to Greyhound from

First Glasgow First Glasgow is the largest bus company serving the Greater Glasgow area in Scotland. It is a subsidiary of FirstGroup. The company operates within the area covered by the Strathclyde Partnership for Transport, a public body responsible for h ...

. The London to Poole/Dorset services ceased in November 2012. The London/Glasgow service ceased in September 2012.Greyhond retrenches with major cuts
''Bus & Coach Professional'' 18 October 2012 The Swansea/Cardiff service was extended to

Bristol Airport Bristol Airport , at Lulsgate Bottom, on the northern slopes of the Mendip Hills, in North Somerset, is the commercial airport serving the city of Bristol, England, and the surrounding area. It is southwest of Bristol city centre. Built on ...

in March 2013 but was withdrawn on 17 March 2015. The service ceased on 5 December 2015.

Service

Greyhound UK's service was 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. The first service from Portsmouth on the first day of customer operations was operated by Driver Francis Oldfield.

History of name

The earliest use of the Greyhound name and logo for coach services in England was by

Greyhound Motors Greyhound Motors, later known as Bristol Greyhound, was an English bus and coach company based in Bristol. History Greyhound Motors was formed in February 1921 by Sydney Tom Toogood to operate motor buses in Bristol. In February 1925, it comm ...

in 1921. The name and logo continued to be used by

Bristol Omnibus Company The Bristol Omnibus Company was a dominant bus operator in Bristol, and was one of the oldest bus companies in the United Kingdom. It ran buses over a wide area of Gloucestershire, Somerset, Wiltshire and neighbouring counties. History ...

(which bought Greyhound in 1936) until 1972 when their coach services were re-branded as National Express.

FirstGroup FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland.Western Greyhound Western Greyhound was a bus operator based in Summercourt, near Newquay, which operated services in Cornwall and Devon from January 1998 until March 2015. History Western Greyhound was established in January 1998 to take over the three veh ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

Fleet

The Greyhound fleet consisted of 11

Irizar PB The Irizar PB is a coach body manufactured by the Irizar Group from 2001 to 2015. It was built upon of the wide range of chassis. It was designed by Arup Design Research in the UK. Its revolutionary styling and features led to the variant wi ...

bodied

Scania K114EB The Scania 4-series low floor city bus and coach range was introduced by Scania in 1997 as a successor to the 3-series bus range. The 4-series bus range was first presented in September 1996, when the integral low-floor city bus OmniCity w ...

coaches. They were numbered in the same fleet numbering system as other FirstGroup vehicles, and also carried women’s names from popular American songs: 23315 - ''

Sweet Caroline "Sweet Caroline" is a song written and performed by American singer Neil Diamond and released in May 1969 as a single with the title "Sweet Caroline (Good Times Never Seemed So Good)". It was arranged by Charles Calello, and recorded at Americ ...

''
23316 - ''

Mrs. Robinson "Mrs. Robinson" is a song by American music duo Simon & Garfunkel from their fourth studio album, '' Bookends'' (1968). Written specifically for the 1967 film ''The Graduate'', the song was released as a single on April 5, 1968, by Columbia Re ...

''
23317 - ''

Good Golly Miss Molly In most contexts, the concept of good denotes the conduct that should be preferred when posed with a choice between possible actions. Good is generally considered to be the opposite of evil and is of interest in the study of ethics, morality, ph ...

''
23318 - ''

Mandy Mandy or Mandie may refer to: People * Mandy (name), a female given name and nickname * Iván Mándy (1918-1995), Hungarian writer * Mark Mandy (born 1972), Irish retired high jumper * Philip Mandie (born 1942), a former judge on the Supreme Cou ...

''
23319 - '' Sherry''
23320 - ''

Billie Jean "Billie Jean" is a song by American singer Michael Jackson, released by Epic Records on January 2, 1983, as the second single from his sixth studio album, '' Thriller'' (1982). It was written and composed by Jackson and produced by Jackson and ...

''
23321 - '' Proud Mary''
23322 - '' Barbara Anne''
23323 - ''

Sharona Sharona ( he, שָׁרוֹנָה /saˈʁona/, but publicized in English as /ʃəˈɹoʊnə/) is a moshav in northern Israel. Located south-west of Tiberias, it falls under the jurisdiction of Lower Galilee Regional Council. In , it had a populati ...

''
23324 - '' Joelene''
23325 - ''

Peggy Sue "Peggy Sue" is a rock and roll song written by Jerry Allison and Norman Petty, and recorded and released as a single by Buddy Holly on September 20, 1957. The Crickets are not mentioned on label of the single (Coral 9-61885), but band members Jo ...

'' 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 Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

to London Victoria, 200 Bristol to

Gatwick Airport Gatwick Airport (), also known as London Gatwick , is a major international airport near Crawley, West Sussex, England, south of Central London. In 2021, Gatwick was the third-busiest airport by total passenger traffic in the UK, after H ...

, 412

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east ...

to London Victoria, 222

Hereford Hereford () is a cathedral city, civil parish and the county town of Herefordshire, England. It lies on the River Wye, approximately east of the border with Wales, south-west of Worcester and north-west of Gloucester. With a population ...

to Gatwick Airport and 707

Northampton Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England; ...

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.Greyhound UK Specifications
FirstGroup

References

External links

{{FirstGroup, state=collapsed Coach operators in England FirstGroup bus operators in England Greyhound Lines 2009 establishments in England 2015 disestablishments in England British companies disestablished in 2015 British companies established in 2009