The Bath Bus Company is a bus operator in the United Kingdom which runs open top tours in Bath,

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 ...

and

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 the 'Bristol Air Decker' service between Bath and Bristol Airport. The company has been a subsidiary of the French RATP Group since 2011.

History

Bath Pierrepoint Street - Bath Bus Company A504 (SK52USH)

Bath Bus Company was formed in May 1997 by Martin Curtis and three other former

Badgerline Badgerline was a bus operator in and around Bristol from 1985 until 2003. Its headquarters were in Weston-super-Mare. Initially a part of the Bristol Omnibus Company, it was privatised in September 1986 and sold to Badgerline Holdings in a manag ...

managers. It commenced operating open top tours in Bath with

Bristol VR The Bristol VR was a rear-engined double-decker bus chassis which was manufactured by Bristol Commercial Vehicles as a competitor to the Leyland Atlantean and Daimler Fleetline. Development The Bristol VR was originally designed for s ...

Ts and an

AEC Routemaster The AEC Routemaster is a front-engined double-decker bus that was designed by London Transport and built by the Associated Equipment Company (AEC) and Park Royal Vehicles. The first prototype was completed in September 1954 and the last one ...

. It later diversified into the operation of tendered services. In 1999, Bath Bus Company became a

City Sightseeing City Sightseeing is an open-top, sightseeing tour bus operator. It provides tour bus services in more than 130 cities around the world. As City Sightseeing has grown and expanded, the company now also provides boat tours, sightseeing trai ...

franchisee."In Focus: Bath Bus Company" '' Buses'' issue 716 November 2014 page 81 In June 2004, the business was purchased by

Ensignbus Ensignbus is a bus and coach operator and bus dealer based in Purfleet, Essex. History Ensignbus was formed in 1972 by Peter Newman, who remains involved today as chairman and his sons Ross and Steve as directors. Ensignbus commenced with ...

, who transferred its existing City Sightseeing operations in

Eastbourne Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. Eastbourne is immediately east of Beachy Head, the highest chalk sea cliff in Great Britain and part of the la ...

and

Windsor Windsor may refer to: Places Australia * Windsor, New South Wales ** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area * Windsor, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland **Shire of Windsor, a former local government authority around Wi ...

to become part of Bath Bus Company. In February 2011, the business was purchased by

RATP Dev RATP may refer to: Transportation: * RATP Group, or ', a public transport operator based in Paris, France * RATP Iași (), a transit operator responsible for public transportation in Iași, Romania * RATP Ploiești (), a transit operator respon ...

, the overseas division of RATP Group. A service was started in March 2013 that linked Bath with Bristol Airport and branded 'Air Decker'. It offered through ticketing with Abus services in the

area. On 21 November 2014, the company began a short-term service between Bristol and Bath using the country's first bus powered entirely by human and

food waste Food loss and waste is food that is not eaten. The causes of food waste or loss are numerous and occur throughout the food system, during production, processing, distribution, retail and food service sales, and consumption. Overall, about o ...

. The

biomethane Renewable natural gas (RNG), also known as sustainable natural gas (SNG) or biomethane, is a biogas which has been upgraded to a quality similar to fossil natural gas and having a methane concentration of 90% or greater. By increasing the concentr ...

gas is generated at Bristol sewage treatment works in

Avonmouth Avonmouth is a port and outer suburb of Bristol, England, facing two rivers: the reinforced north bank of the final stage of the Avon which rises at sources in Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and Somerset; and the eastern shore of the Severn Es ...

, which is run by GENeco, a subsidiary of

Wessex Water Wessex Water Services Limited, known as Wessex Water, is a water supply and sewerage utility company serving an area of South West England, covering 10,000 square kilometres including Bristol, most of Dorset, Somerset and Wiltshire and parts o ...

. The introduction of Bath's

Clean Air Zone A Clean Air Zone (CAZ) is an area in the United Kingdom where targeted action is taken to improve air quality. A CAZ can be non-charging or charging. Whether a vehicle is charged when entering or moving through a CAZ depends on the type of vehicl ...

in March 2021 caused the Bath Bus Company to invest heavily in new buses for its services. The Bath Bus Company introduced a new tour in nearby Bristol on 17 May 2021 which was branded TOOTbus. Bristol tours had been operated by Rubicon Tours from 1994 until 2020. The TOOTbus brand would also appear later that year on some tours in Bath but others would retain the more familiar

branding.

Services

As well as open top bus tours in Bath, Bristol and Cardiff, the Bath Bus Company operates a service from Bath to Bristol Airport branded as 'Air Decker'.

Fleet

The fleet consisted of 36 buses in October 2014.

References

External links

* Official websites:
Air Decker

City Sightseeing Bath

TootBus Bath
{{RATP Group Bus operators in East Sussex Bus transport in Cardiff City Sightseeing RATP Group Transport in Bath, Somerset Transport in Berkshire 1997 establishments in England