Carousel Buses Limited,[2]trading asCarousel Buses, is a bus company based in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England. Originally an independent company, it is a subsidiary of the Go-Ahead Group. It is grouped together with Oxford Bus Company and Thames Travel, both of Oxfordshire, and with Pulham's Coaches of Gloucestershire, with the fleets of each operator regularly interchanged.
Carousel Buses was formed in 2000 by Steve Burns and John Robinson. It initially expanded by winning Buckinghamshire County Council contracts.[3]
In August 2003 route A40 High Wycombe to Heathrow Airport commenced, initially using second-hand Leyland Olympian double-deckers.[4] By April 2004 these had been replaced by new low-floor Mercedes-Benz Citaro single-deck buses, in a dedicated silver and red livery.[5] The route, which ran in partnership with Buckinghamshire County Council and Heathrow Airport Holdings, was formally introduced in January 2004.[6]
The company launched a new commercial route in June 2004, replacing services withdrawn by Arriva The Shires between High Wycombe and Lane End.[7]
In March 2008 Carousel introduced routes 35 and 36, branded as Purple Route, to replace a withdrawn Arriva Shires & Essex service to Flackwell Heath.[8] The 35 was temporarily withdrawn in January 2010 because of road conditions, but was later restored. Arriva Shires & Essex currently run a combined 35 service with Carousel, with Carousel operating all daytime services, and Arriva operating evening and Sunday journeys. [9] In October 2008 the majority of services to Winchmore Hill were withdrawn, leaving the village with just one bus a day.[10]
In August 2009 route 336, which had previously run between Watford and Amersham, was extended to High Wycombe reinstating a through link for the first time in 30 years. The network of routes linking Chesham and Amersham, numbered 373, 374 and 375, were rationalised into two routes, the 71 and 73, running hourly between the two locations. These routes have since changed to Red Rose Travel, linking Whelpley Hill and Ley Hill to Hilltop, Chesham Broadway, Chesham Bois, Amersham Station, Quill Hall Estate, Little Chalfont, Penn Street, Coleshill and Winchmore Hill, where Carousel no longer serves. [11]
In September 2009 two new routes were introduced, route 740 supplemented the A40 between High Wycombe and Uxbridge, increasing the overall frequency to every 30 minutes and incorporating Beaconsfield, and route 730 from Chesham to Heathrow Airport.[12]
A further change saw the existing route to Lane End replaced by new circular routes 2A and 2C in April 2010. These are no longer Carousel services[13]
In March 2012 Carousel Buses was purchased by the Go-Ahead Group. Carousel retains its identity, with its management passing to the group's Oxford Bus Company operation.[14] Go-Ahead had previously operated services in the High Wycombe area under the Wycombe Bus name, but sold this operation to Arriva in December 2000.[15][16]
On 3 June 2018, their 'Link' network became the 'Chiltern Hundreds'. (102 runs from High Wycombe to Uxbridge/Heathrow Airport, 103 runs from High Wycombe to Slough, 104 runs from High Wycombe to Uxbridge via Seer Green and the Chalfonts and 106/107 runs from Amersham to Slough.)
As of 25 July 2022 Carousel Buses have cut the Watford part of the 103 and cut the 103 back to Wycombe and Chesham with the reason being low passenger usage and in September is set to be extended to Slough with Chesham being cut. The Watford part has been replaced by Arriva's 336 Watford to Amersham and 335 Watford to Chorleywood.
Carousel also cut 105 Chesham to Uxbridge by extending 106/7 to Amersham with the reason being the same as 103. Route 40 also passed to Red Rose Travel with the same reason as 105 and 103. However route 102 has been extended back to London Heathrow and 101 has been reinstated after being suspended during Covid 19
As of September 2022, Carousels routes 35 and 36 have transferred to Arriva. With school route 39A being fully terminated due to lack of use. While carousel takes over the Route 1/1A/1B entirely. Carousel have also started a "PickMeUp" service, operating similar to Uber and funded in part by Buckinghamshire County Council.
As of 8 January 2023, the route 41 from Great Missenden railway station to High Wycombe bus station was transferred to Carousel [17] from Arriva Beds & Bucks (operating under Arriva Shires & Essex), the route was later extended to Amersham.[18] In August 2023, the 103 route was extended from Slough to Windsor as well as taking over route 275 between High Wycombe and Oxford from Red Rose.[19]
In May 2024 Arriva proposed the closure of their Aylesbury & High Wycombe depots, with Carousel Buses saying they would take over any withdrawn services.[20]
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Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial county in South East England and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-east, Hertfordshire to the east, Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, and Oxfordshire to the west. The largest settlement is the city of Milton Keynes, and the county town is Aylesbury.
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