Lynx,Coastal Red Limited
Companies House extract the trading name of 'Coastal Red Ltd', is an independent bus company based in

King's Lynn King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is located north of London, north-east of Peterborough, no ...

and operating services across west and north Norfolk and eastern Cambridgeshire.

History

Coastal Red was founded by Stephen Challis and Andrew Warnes in 2013. The pair (along with Julian Patterson) had previously established

Konectbus Konectbus is a bus operator based in Dereham in Norfolk, England. It is a subsidiary of the Go-Ahead Group and forms part of Go East Anglia. History Konectbus was formed in 1999 when the Saham Toney depot of Norfolk Green was purchased from ...

in 1999 before selling it to the Go-Ahead Group in March 2010. Having considered construction and engineering, the idea of a new bus operation formally began in spring 2014. Julian Patterson would come aboard later that year upon leaving Go-Ahead.Second time around for former Konectbus team
''Bus & Coach Buyer'' 11 February 2015 Operations commenced for Lynx on 6 January 2015, with a school contract between

Southery Southery is a village and civil parish in Norfolk, England, which covers an area of and had a population of 1,324 at the 2011 Census. For local government purposes, it falls within the district of King's Lynn and West Norfolk King's Lynn and ...

and Downham Market Academy. On 26 January 2015, their first public bus service began, operating hourly between

Hunstanton Hunstanton () is a seaside town in Norfolk, England, which had a population of 4,229 at the 2011 Census. It faces west across The Wash, making it one of the few places on the east coast of Great Britain where the sun sets over the sea. Hunstant ...

, seven days a week. Lynx expanded its network of routes with the takeover three Council-subsidised bus services from

Stagecoach in Norfolk Stagecoach in Norfolk (formerly Norfolk Green) was a bus operator based in King's Lynn in Norfolk, England. It operated public bus services in the counties of Norfolk, Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire as well as numerous school and college servi ...

in September 2017, followed by a further eight former Stagecoach routes from 29 April 2018, after Stagecoach closed their King's Lynn depot. Among the services taken on following Stagecoach's withdrawal from the area was the western half of the popular and well established ''Coasthopper'' service between King's Lynn and Cromer."All change in King's Lynn as Stagecoach vacates the town" ''

Coach & Bus Week ''Coach & Bus Week'' (CBW) is the only paid-for weekly trade magazine for the road passenger transport industry in the United Kingdom. It is available by subscription, from main branches of WHSmith and from some independent newsagents. The magazi ...

'' issue 1340 1 May 2018 page 11 Lynx took over operation of the King's Lynn to Wells-next-the-Sea section of this route, rebranded it as ''Coastliner 36'' and extended the service inland from Wells to Fakenham. A further three services were taken over from Stagecoach in September 2018. During 2019, Lynx funded a 'comprehensive' refurbishment/renewing of the

Queen Elizabeth Hospital, King's Lynn Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King's Lynn, Norfolk, England. It is located on the outskirts of King's Lynn, to the eastern edge of the town. The catchment area of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital covers the West Norfolk area, South Lincolnshire and N ...

bus shelters, and a next bus information screen was provided by Norfolk County Council. A brand new, thoroughly redesigned website (powered by the 'BusHub Mobility Platform') launched in December 2019, including a live bus tracker, fare calculator and journey planner, with an iOS &

Android Android may refer to: Science and technology * Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human * Android (operating system), Google's mobile operating system ** Bugdroid, a Google mascot sometimes referred to ...

app following shortly afterwards in January 2020

Fleet

Lynx commenced operations with a fleet of four single-decker Optare Tempos, including an experimental prototype purchased directly from Optare. It has standardised on the type and by April 2018 it was operating the largest fleet of Tempos in the United Kingdom with 26. Since September 2016, Lynx has also operated double-deckers including Optare Spectra and Wright Pulsar Gemini bodied DAF DB250LFs and Leyland Olympians. Two new, bespoke

Alexander Dennis Enviro400 MMC The Alexander Dennis Enviro400 MMC (sold as the Alexander Dennis Enviro400) is a low-floor bus, low-floor double-decker bus produced by the British bus manufacturer Alexander Dennis since 2014, replacing the Alexander Dennis Enviro400. The Envi ...

s arrived in spring 2021 for added capacity on the Coastliner route. Lynx own a Leyland National, which is operated as a heritage bus in a semi-preserved state, painted in Lynx's standard red livery. Delivered new to Hants & Dorset in November 1977, it has been used in passenger service several times to mark special occasions, as well as attending industry and promotional events and bus enthusiasts' rallies. As of winter 2019/20 it is stored out of service. Buses are painted in Volkswagen 'Mars Red' - chosen to stand out against other bus operators in the area and as a nod to the 'Poppy Red' of National Bus Company days.

References

External links

Company website
{{Bus companies in East England Bus operators in Cambridgeshire Bus operators in Norfolk Transport companies established in 2015 2015 establishments in England