The use of Optare Solos on a town centre service in Bideford is clearly contributing to growth in demand, according to operator Beacon Bus.

John Carter, who runs the Devon company, says that putting quality buses with good drivers onto the service is attracting more passengers. “When we decided to expand our business from coaching into bus operation we felt that it would only work if we had the good quality buses with a high calibre of driver. That approach is definitely paying-off with passenger numbers growing steadily since we took over the service three months ago.

“We chose the Optare Solo because it ticked all the right boxes. It has an exceptionally low entry height and a flat floor that makes it easy for passengers of all levels of mobility to get on and off safely and quickly. And it’s a compact and simple bus to drive, which makes it very compatible with the roads and traffic conditions in North Devon.

“To start the service we hired three Solos from North West Bus Rental in Preston, who provided excellent service. These proved well suited to the route and town centre conditions and very acceptable to passengers and we placed orders with Optare for three.

“The service is subsidised by Devon County Council who had set standards for the buses we would use in terms of DDA compliance and minimum carrying capacity. But we were sufficiently confident that our ‘quality buses – quality drivers’ approach would lead to increased usage that we opted for higher capacity at 32 seats, which with 17 standees takes total capacity to 49. We’ve recently added a fourth Solo, a four-year-old used one, to allow us to rotate buses for routine servicing.”

“We were also fortunate in finding five experienced drivers who are very passenger-friendly and this is undoubtedly contributing to the growing popularity of the service.”

Prior to moving into bus operation Beacon Bus was only operating coaches, including a pair of Optare Nouvelle midicoaches. It was good experience with them that led John Carter to chose Solo, although he did carry out a thorough evaluation of several makes and models.

“We’ve come to like our Solos a lot,” he says, “because they do what it says on the tin! They’re a pleasure to drive and they’re simple to maintain, which we do ourselves at our base in Dolton.”

The three new Solos are 9.2 metre models with the 110 kW (147 bhp) Mercedes-Benz engine and Allison 2000 automatic transmission. They have Esteban Civic VO seats and Mobitec electronic destination equipment. LED rear and marker lights give a higher level of illumination and provide added safety, particularly on dark winter mornings and evenings.

Beacon Bus is an operating arm of Holsworthy Limited, a company owned and run by John Carter and his wife Anne, ably assisted by their Transport Manager, Roger Jennings, who has been in the coach industry for many years. It origins are in petrol retailing and trucking but four years ago they set up Beacon Coach and more recently its sister business, Beacon Bus. The company has ambitious plans to expand the business further based on its customer-focussed philosophy of delivering quality service.

For further information please contact:
Martin Hayes, Communications Advisor, +44 (0) 207 494 8050