14 November 2022

Go South West Expands

Go-Ahead expands in south-west England through acquisition of Dartline

  • Exeter-based bus and coach operator to join Go South West
  • Acquisition adds 118 employees and 84 buses
  • Complementary geographical fit alongside Plymouth Citybus, Go Devon Bus, and Go Cornwall Bus

The Go-Ahead Group has agreed to buy Dartline, a bus and coach operator based in Exeter, which will build on the group’s position as a leading local transport operator in Devon and Cornwall.

A well-established business with 30 years’ experience in the region, Dartline operates a fleet of 84 buses, coaches and special education needs taxis, and employs 118 people.

Dartline provides essential services for commuters, schools, day trippers local communities across East Devon. Its bus routes are a mixture of commercial routes and services operated under contract for Devon County Council.

Dartline’s coach division provides tours and private hire services. The company operates the team coach for Exeter Chiefs rugby union team.

Go-Ahead has grown rapidly in the West Country. From its origins as Plymouth Citybus, the group expanded into East Cornwall in 2014, and again in 2020 through an eight-year contract to deliver rural bus routes from Lands End to the Tamar for the county council, creating Go Cornwall Bus. The combined operation was given a new corporate identity as Go South West.

Following the acquisition of Dartline, Go South West, an Investors in People Platinum accredited company, will comprise of four customer facing brands operating 380 buses and coaches, employing a workforce of 900 people.

Richard Stevens, Managing Director of Go South West, said:

“We’ve been admirers of Dartline for a long time – it’s a family focused, well run bus company with a strong reputation and a competitive fleet. This acquisition will take us into wider Devon, and will mean that Go South West bus services stretch from the western tip of Cornwall to the Devon, Dorset and Somerset border.

“Operating as a standalone business, we will maintain Dartline’s strong focus on delivering for local communities, and we will invest in growing and adding services in mid and east Devon.”

Dave Hounslow, Managing Director of Dartline, said:

"I reached the grand age of 70 this year and decided its time to hand the reins to a progressive company like Go Ahead, the brand will continue as Dartline and all the staff will be maintained. Having started Dartline on 4th January 1987 with 8 Vehicles and building it to its size today I feel proud that it will continue under the new Management."

Christian Schreyer, Group Chief Executive, The Go-Ahead Group, said:

“We look forward to welcoming our new colleagues at Dartline into the group. This acquisition underlines Go-Ahead’s commitment to expand in the regional bus market in the UK, as set out in our group strategy, The Next Billion Journeys.”

Official Staff Notice can be seen here

Tavistock  01/08/2022

©Mark Bailey

One of Dartlines Solo SRs (YJ18 DLN) leaving Tavistock on the hourly 118 service to Okehampton via Lydford, and now lettered to promote the recently-reopened GWR rail link from Okehampton to Exeter.


18 comments:

  1. so what happens to Go Devon Bus? Surely that'll end up turning into Dartline, considering Dartline is now under GSW ownership and is in the same region? Doesn't make much sense to have a GDB and Dartline brand under the same location and same owner....

    Glad they're keeping it as Dartline though, better than the generic GDB branding. Hopefully they won't go red!!

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    1. Four brands presumably means Go Devon Bus will remain, where this goes I don't know but I suspect Dartline will be South & East devon while Go Devon will focus on Mid & North Devon, but time will only tell where things will go.

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    2. Im assuming it will be like EYMS hopefully they keep the dartline livery as it will not be a sea of red buses across Devon

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  2. Watch Go Ahead screw up another decent bus company!

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  3. think they need to think of a better livery for go devon bus before they ruin dartline brand... thats if they dont just keep it go ahead dartline

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  4. Watch all the busses getting cancelled

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    1. Buses cancelled, timetables all over the place, the coach business run into the ground because they aren't really interested. GSW are taking on more than they can handle and it will implode at some point.

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    2. Yes I agree. I can see Go Ahead collapsing in South west soon. They would make a great takeover target for First South though!

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    3. This without doubt is a very silly move by Go SouthWest. The company constantly is cancelling services in Plymouth and Cornwall. Whilst many services were axed/reduced in April 2022 there has been no change to the cancellations besides the drop in services.Go Devon Bus is operated with agency drivers and and routes here have already suffered cancellations in the first week. Given a number of Optare Solo SRs are arriving and with so many cancellations and agency drivers on Go North Devon this just proves the company are trying to expand without and expand without any due care or attention to what resources they have avaliable. they did not have any suitable buses for the former Oakleys routes so some Mercedes Sprinters had to be procurred for that. Dartline were a fantastic company and liked by many. Unfortunately Richard Stephens only cares about expansion and profit and not the customer experience. If Customer experience was cared about then perhaps the company would reduce services down to a manageble level to cut cancellations.

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    4. Takeover target by First South, also short of drivers with non-stop strikes by unhappy existing staff slowly transferring to better pay at Go Cornwall you mean?! How would that help?

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    5. Sure Go Ahead in Devon & Cornwall is collapsing, they have totally had two public inquiries in the same year over the state of the company, safety & service... Honestly of the big 3 in Devon & Cornwall, it is Stagecoach who seems to be in dire straights with the most recent ruling from the TC to provide additional customer service roles & to provide free travel over a couple weekends in Exeter, something that wont exactly help them...

      They may not seem like the best company, granted, but if you look across the industry right now it's very hard for all across the board. From my perspective Go South West is a relatively stable company compared to others and is using that position to expand and grow it's portfolio, rightfully so

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    6. Anon 18 Nov @ 01:50 hmm First Group are actually the most stable and have the least cancelled services of all of the big 3. Apart from the Discover Exeter I can't think of a single service that has been drastically changed, cancelled in the last 12 months. They've invested in the fleet all be it with second hand vehicles, Somerset soon going all Enviro. A lot of places are going on strike right now and if you look at the South West compared to their sisters in Bristol and WoE they are in a much better position.

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    7. I never said Go Ahead down here was the most stable, but they are definitely more so than others across the industry - A lot of the most drastic service changes that have happened in Plymouth have come as a result of external factors, such as Stagecoach withdrawing services and filling the voids; council/tendered routes being altered or withdrawn and long term road closures & traffic events seeing access to roads change. The biggest, yet negative, change I can think of is either related to timing & reliability or the 34/A debacle.

      This and majority of their network, alongside First Kernow, is propped up by public subsidies

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  5. Sorry, for a moment I thought you meant Stagecoach .... as for the coach business, it was only ever a small sideline and there are plenty of other coach companies in the area so it made sense for CityBus to pull out.

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  6. It seems as if they are trying again in the coach market with coaches avalible for hire. But i can see another dorset coming and look whats left of that venture

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  7. Hang on James First South West has loads of strikes with no services running, 6 separate days now & also missing services. The Day Tripper buses hardly ran at all with no advice given most of the time & in Somerset the network was butchered back in the Summer I recall reading in one of the bus mags & in online user group protest messages so none of the 3 big groups doing too well for balance here.

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    1. Again a lot of places are on strike national rail network, post office, nurses. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-63512592 First offered them a 17% pay rise over two years and they've rejected it surprising as I'd say that's a pretty good offer considering the current situation with buses and the cost of living.

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    2. Not just about pay but conditions which include unpaid breaks on First

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