Central Buses has completed the purchase of the operations of Valley Travel, part of the Merlin Venture Group, which operates the 696 Castle Vale circular service. Two Dennis Dart SLFs were acquired along with the transfer of driving staff under TUPE.
Geoff Cross, MD of Central Buses said: “The Valley Travel operation fits in well with our local bus network in North Birmingham and Warwickshire. Valley Travel has built a loyal customer base over the last 13 years. We aim to provide Castle Vale community with an affordable, reliable, frequent and comfortable service.’’
Robert Brown, Merlin Venture CEO said: “Central Buses has acquired a specialist bus operator which is more likely to sustain the service than we are. However, we have mixed emotions because we’ve operated the ‘Purple Bus’ for almost 13 years and have completed over one million passenger journeys. Merlin is part of the Castle Vale community – it’s in our DNA – but we have always put our customers first and we feel it is in their interests the service becomes part of a larger bus group.”
