Operator applies vintage livery to one of its open-top Volvos as it reflects on years of innovation in the area
Bath Bus Company has celebrated 20 years of serving the Bath area by painting a bus in the company’s original livery of 1997, comprised of bright cream and red.
The vehicle, which is an open-top Ayats O55/24F-bodied Volvo B7TL, also carries a number of the brand names which have applied over the past two decades.
Formed by four former Badgerline directors, the now RATP-owned operator has been responsible for a series of innovations in the area since its inception, including:
• First Multi-lingual tours in Bath, which were also the first to use headphones so residents were not disturbed by commentaries;
• First low emission tour buses in the UK;
• First use in the West of England of a classic London Routemaster;
• First use outside London of a New Routemaster on Imber Service;
• Operator of annual service to the lost village of Imber on Salisbury Plain;
• Past winners of tour bus operator of the year; and
• First operator of thebio-methane ‘Poo Bus’.
Bath Bus Company also now has operations in Cardiff and Windsor.
Some of the longest serving staff helped launched the anniversary bus with a birthday cake, from the company’s Burnett base.
Managing Director and Founding Member, Martin Curtis, said: “Although we struggled in the early years to become established, by setting our standards higher than other bus companies we now enjoy considerable success – and other operators have had to keep up with us to survive.
“We could not have achieved so much without the support and dedication of our staff at every level including those responsible for driving, guiding and engineering.”
