Greyhound Motors, later known as Bristol Greyhound, was an English bus and coach company based in

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city, Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Glouces ...

History

Greyhound Motors was formed in February 1921 by Sydney Tom Toogood to operate motor buses in

. In February 1925, it commenced a long-distance coach service between Bristol and

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...

, which has been claimed to be the first long-distance coach service with scheduled stops en route to pick up and set down passengers. The journey time was eight hours. It later began services from Bristol 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 English ...

and

Paignton Paignton ( ) is a seaside town on the coast of Tor Bay in Devon, England. Together with Torquay and Brixham it forms the borough of Torbay which was created in 1998. The Torbay area is a holiday destination known as the English Riviera. Paig ...

, and from London to Bournemouth. It also continued to run local bus services in Bristol, competing fiercely with

Bristol Tramways Bristol Tramways operated in the city of Bristol, England from 1875, when the Bristol Tramways Company was formed by Sir George White, until 1941 when a Luftwaffe bomb destroyed the main power supply cables. History The first trams in Brist ...

. In 1928, the company was acquired by Bristol Tramways. Greyhound continued to operate as a separate business, including its bus routes in Bristol until 1936. The new owners expanded the Greyhound coach operations. In 1934 it was one of the founder members of the

Associated Motorways Associated Motorways was a consortium of motor coach operators in the south and Midlands of England, which was active from 1934 to 1974. History Associated Motorways was formed as a result of the Road Traffic Act 1930, which encouraged ...

consortium of long-distance coach operators, but continued the London service outside the consortium. At the beginning of 1936, the company's business was absorbed into Bristol Tramways. Bristol Omnibus Company continued to use the Greyhound name for its long-distance coach services until 1972, when the National Bus Company required Bristol to adopt the new

National Express National Express Group is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Birmingham, England. It operates bus, coach, train and tram services in the United Kingdom, Ireland (National Express operates Eurolines in conjunction ...

brand. Shortly before its demise, on 9 January 1972 Greyhound Motors commenced operating an express Bristol to London service via the new

M4 motorway The M4, originally the London-South Wales Motorway, is a motorway in the United Kingdom running from west London to southwest Wales. The English section to the Severn Bridge was constructed between 1961 and 1971; the Welsh element was largely ...

Revival of the name

In August 2009,

FirstGroup FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland.Greyhound UK Greyhound UK was a low-cost intercity scheduled coach service in the United Kingdom owned by FirstGroup. It was launched in September 2009 following their purchase of the long-established Greyhound service in the United States and developed in ...

was a byproduct of FirstGroup purchasing the

Greyhound Lines Greyhound Lines, Inc. (commonly known as simply Greyhound) operates the largest intercity bus service in North America, including Greyhound Mexico. It also operates charter bus services, Amtrak Thruway services, commuter bus services, and ...

business in the United States in February 2007. Greyhound UK also connected Bristol with

Swansea Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the C ...

and

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 ...

until March 2015.Greyhound halts bus service between Cardiff and Bristol Airport
''Wales Online'' 3 February 2015 This was the last Greyhound service operated.

History

Revival of the name

References

External links

Further reading