Quantock Motor Services is a privately owned bus operator in

Bishops Lydeard Bishops Lydeard () is a village and civil parish located in Somerset, England, north-west of Taunton in the district of Somerset West and Taunton. The civil parish encompasses the hamlets of East Lydeard, Terhill, and East Bagborough, and had a ...

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lor ...

, England. The company operates a substantial heritage fleet for private hire and on route 300.

History

Quantock Motor Services FNZ1052 157TYB TCZ6122 TCZ2613 TCZ2621

Minehead Parade Quantock Motor Services WA10LHO

Rexquote, a transport engineering business in

, operated a fleet of old buses under the name of ''Rexquote Heritage''. As well as private hire, some regular circular tourist routes were advertised. One such was between

Weston-super-Mare Weston-super-Mare, also known simply as Weston, is a seaside town in North Somerset, England. It lies by the Bristol Channel south-west of Bristol between Worlebury Hill and Bleadon Hill. It includes the suburbs of Mead Vale, Milton, Oldmi ...

, Sand Bay and nearby tourist attractions in the summer of 2000. In 2002 the

Exmoor Exmoor is loosely defined as an area of hilly open moorland in west Somerset and north Devon in South West England. It is named after the River Exe, the source of which is situated in the centre of the area, two miles north-west of Simonsbat ...

Explorer circular service was started from Minehead. In 2001 Rexquote established a new Quantock Motor Services operation. It was initially based in

Ilfracombe Ilfracombe ( ) is a seaside resort and civil parishes in England, civil parish on the North Devon coast, England, with a small harbour surrounded by cliffs. The parish stretches along the coast from the 'Coastguard Cottages' in Hele Bay towar ...

, with three vehicles to operate schools contracts and a service from

Combe Martin Combe Martin is a village, civil parish and former manor on the North Devon coast about east of Ilfracombe. It is a small seaside resort with a sheltered cove on the northwest edge of the Exmoor National Park. Due to the narrowness of the ...

Barnstaple Barnstaple ( or ) is a river-port town in North Devon, England, at the River Taw's lowest crossing point before the Bristol Channel. From the 14th century, it was licensed to export wool and won great wealth. Later it imported Irish wool, but ...

. On 6 September 2014, Quantock Motor Services ceased operating its four route services as well as school services. The vintage hire business continues to trade."Quantock Heritage bus operations cease trading" ''

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 ...

'' issue 716 November 2014 p. 8

Routes

Public services ceased in September 2014, at which time four services were being operated: * 10

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by m ...

Wiveliscombe Wiveliscombe (, ) is a small town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated west of Taunton in the Somerset West and Taunton district. The town has a population of 2,893. The Square, fronted by several listed structures, held the former ...

- Langley Marsh * 25A

Taunton Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England, with a 2011 population of 69,570. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century monastic foundation, Taunton Castle, which later became a priory. The Normans built a castle owned by t ...

Norton Fitzwarren Norton Fitzwarren is a village, electoral ward, and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated north west of Taunton in the Somerset West and Taunton district. The village has a population of 3,046. History The village is on the southern slop ...

- Tithill * 39

Minehead Minehead is a coastal town and civil parish in Somerset, England. It lies on the south bank of the Bristol Channel, north-west of the county town of Taunton, from the boundary with the county of Devon and in proximity of the Exmoor National P ...

Porlock Weir Porlock Weir is a harbour settlement approximately west of the inland village of Porlock, Somerset, England. "Porlock" comes from the Old English ''port'' '' loca'', meaning an enclosure near a harbour. Porlock Weir refers to the salmon stakes ...

* 300 Minehead -

Lynmouth Lynmouth is a village in Devon, England, on the northern edge of Exmoor. The village straddles the confluence of the West Lyn and East Lyn rivers, in a gorge below Lynton, which was the only place to expand to once Lynmouth became as b ...

Service 300

Route 300, between

and

, was for a time branded 'Exmoor Coastal Link'; it appeared in April 2008 in the '' Daily Telegraph'' list of the 20 best bus routes in England for over 60s to use free their bus passes. In 2010 it featured on a local

BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

programme that featured "great South West journeys". The regular vehicle for many years was an East Lancashire bodied Scania N94UD open top bus. After the 2012 season this was sold and replaced with a single-deck open top Alexander PS bodied

Volvo B10M The Volvo B10M was a mid-engined city bus and coach chassis manufactured by Volvo between 1978 and 2003. It succeeded the B58 and was equipped with the same 9.6-litre horizontally mounted Volvo diesel engine mounted under the floor behind the ...

. The service ceased operating in September 2014, but returned the following summer using heritage (not necessarily open top) buses. File:Minehead - Quantock Motor Services R928XVM.jpg, Minehead sea front File:Woodcombe YN55RDV.jpg, Woodcombe File:Porlock Wier from Quantock Motor Services YN55RDV.jpg, Near the top of Porlock Hill File:Lynmouth Countisbury Hill Quantock Motor Services YN55RDV.jpg, Countisbury Hill, Lynmouth

Service 400

Until 2011 the service 400 'Exmoor Explorer' operated a circular tour from Minehead to

Dunster Dunster is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, within the north-eastern boundary of Exmoor National Park. It lies on the Bristol Channel southeast of Minehead and northwest of Taunton. At the 2011 Census, it had a populatio ...

Timberscombe Timberscombe is a village and civil parish on the River Avill south-west of Dunster, and south of Minehead within the Exmoor National Park in Somerset, England. The parish includes the hamlet of Bickham. History The parish was part of the ...

, Wheddon Cross, Exford and Porlock. Operated by heritage open top buses, it only ran on selected days during the summer but was withdrawn after

Somerset County Council Somerset County Council is the county council of Somerset in the South West of England, an elected local government authority responsible for the most significant local government services in most of the county. On 1 April 2023 the county coun ...

funding was withdrawn. It had been a recommended route in ''Scenic Britain by Bus''.

Depots

During 2010 the depot was relocated from

, to a facility next door to

Bishops Lydeard railway station Bishops Lydeard railway station is a heritage railway station in the village of Bishops Lydeard, Somerset, England. It is the southern terminus for regular trains on the West Somerset Railway. History B&ER/GWR The station was first opened on 3 ...

on the heritage

West Somerset Railway The West Somerset Railway (WSR) is a heritage railway line in Somerset, England. The freehold of the line and stations is owned by Somerset County Council; the railway is leased to and operated by West Somerset Railway plc (WSR plc); which ...

. Heritage vehicles undergoing restoration are at an outstation in Langley Marsh,

. File:Langford Mead - Western National 1935 and Southern Vectis 501.jpg, Taunton File:Bishops Lydeard Rossendale 45.jpg, Bishops Lydeard File:Langley Marsh workshop Barton 467.jpg, Langley Marsh

Fleet

As at October 2013 Quantock Motor Services operate 15 modern vehicles painted in a red livery. A new

Alexander Dennis Enviro200 The Alexander Dennis Enviro200 (previously known as the TransBus Enviro200) is a midibus that was manufactured by TransBus International and later Alexander Dennis between 2003 and 2018. The original TransBus Enviro200 design was innovative but ...

was purchased in 2010 for new contracts.

Heritage vehicles

A number of older vehicles are operated by Quantock Motor Services, although not all are licensed for paid operations. Norton Fitzwarren - Barton 851 (851FNN).jpg, Northern Counties bodied AEC Regent V Taunton Castle Green - Blackburn 43 (ABV43B).jpg, East Lancashire bodied Leyland PD2 Taunton Castle Green - London Transport D130 (CCX777).jpg, Duple bodied Daimler Taunton station - Ipswich 65 (DPV65D) beside old hotel.jpg, East Lancashire bodied AEC Regent V Norton Fitzwarren - Northampton 258 (GNH258F).jpg, Charles H. Roe bodied Daimler CV Taunton Castle Way - Crosville TA5 (JFM575).jpg, Strachan bodied AEC Regal Minehead Western National 1936.jpg, ECW bodied Bristol LDL6G

References

External links

* {{Bus companies in South West England, state=collapsed Bus operators in Somerset Companies based in Somerset Transport companies established in 2001 Vintage bus operators in the United Kingdom 2001 establishments in England