Dot2Dot

Last updated

Dot2Dot
Dot2Dot (Smooth Limited)
Company typeLiquidated
Industry Public Transport
Founded2007
Headquarters London, England
Area served
Greater London
Products Airport bus operator
Parent Corot plc
Website www.dot2.com
Volkswagen Crafter in Central London Dot2dot 1018.JPG
Volkswagen Crafter in Central London

Dot2Dot [1] was a demand responsive airport bus service and company operating in London, United Kingdom. It started operations on 1 November 2007, after National Express rebranded the Hotelink business it acquired in April 2007. [2] [3] [4]

Contents

Dot2Dot operated a mixed fleet of Mercedes-Benz Sprinter and Volkswagen Crafter minibuses and carried passengers from London's Heathrow and Gatwick airports to any location in a defined area of Central London or Canary Wharf, and vice versa. The company promised to have no more than three stops between pick-up and drop-off. [5] On 18 July 2008, Dot2Dot withdrew the service to Gatwick Airport, though this was later re-instated. [6]

National Express announced in late 2008 that not having turned a profit, Dot2Dot would close in early 2009 if no buyer was found. [6] In January 2009, Dot2Dot was sold to Corot plc of Milton Keynes for £1. [3] [7] Operations ceased in November 2009.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mobico Group</span> Transport company headquartered in Birmingham, England

Mobico Group, formerly National Express Group, is a British multinational public transport company with headquarters in Birmingham, England. Domestically it currently operates bus and coach services under brands including National Express. The company also operates transport services including trains abroad: in the Republic of Ireland, United States, Canada, Spain, Portugal, Malta, Germany, Bahrain, and Morocco, and long-distance coach services across Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gatwick Airport</span> Secondary international airport serving London, England, United Kingdom

London Gatwick, also known as Gatwick Airport, is the secondary international airport serving London, England, United Kingdom. It is located near Crawley, West Sussex, England 29.5 miles (47.5 km) south of Central London. In 2022, Gatwick was the second-busiest airport by total passenger traffic in the UK, after Heathrow Airport, and was the 8th-busiest in Europe by total passenger traffic. It covers a total area of 674 hectares.

Heathrow Airport Holdings is the United Kingdom-based operator of Heathrow Airport. The company also operated Gatwick Airport, Stansted Airport, Edinburgh Airport and several other UK airports, but was forced by the Competition Commission to sell them in order to break up a monopoly. It was formed by the privatisation of the British Airports Authority as BAA plc as part of Margaret Thatcher's moves to privatise government-owned assets, and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Express Coaches</span> Coach operator in Great Britain

National Express, also abbreviated NX, is an intercity and inter-regional coach operator providing services throughout Great Britain. It is a subsidiary of the British multinational public transport company Mobico Group. Most services are subcontracted to local coach companies. The company's head office is in offices above Birmingham Coach Station.

The Go-Ahead Group Limited is a passenger transport company based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. The majority of its operations are within the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, Singapore, and Norway. Go-Ahead was formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange prior to being purchased by Kinetic Group and Globalvia by 2022.

Tellings-Golden Miller is a charter coach operator in England. It was a subsidiary of Arriva twice previously, but once again has returned to family ownership. The company is now a subsidiary of Falcon Buses based in Byfleet, Surrey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Xplore Dundee</span> Scottish bus operator based in Dundee

Xplore Dundee is a bus operator based in Dundee, Scotland, operating services mainly within the city. The operator also runs a service to Edinburgh Airport. It is a subsidiary of McGill's Bus Services.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Transport in London</span> Transport network serving London and surrounding regions

London has an extensive and developed transport network which includes both public and private services. Journeys made by public transport systems account for 37% of London's journeys while private services accounted for 36% of journeys, walking 24% and cycling 2%,according to numbers from 2017. London's public transport network serves as the central hub for the United Kingdom in rail, air and road transport.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Green Line Coaches</span> Commuter coach brand in England owned by Arriva

Green Line is a commuter coach brand in the Home counties of England. The trademark is owned by Arriva, with services operated by Arriva Herts & Essex.

London Buses Airbus routes describes the dedicated routes run by London Buses and its successors to Heathrow Airport. The routes have the prefix letter A. Currently only one route exists, route A10, with four others having been withdrawn.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Travel Surrey</span> Former bus company

Travel Surrey was a bus company operating services in Surrey. It was a subsidiary of National Express before being sold in May 2009 to NedRailways. In October 2009, it was rebranded as Abellio Surrey.

Capital Logistics was a bus and coach operator in London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Airport bus</span> Transport to, from or within airports

An airport bus, or airport shuttle bus or airport shuttle or Shuttle Bus is a bus used to transport people to and from, or within airports. These vehicles will usually be equipped with larger luggage space, and incorporate special branding. They are also commonly painted with bright colours to stand out among other airport vehicles and to be easily seen by the crews of taxiing aircraft when negotiating the aprons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">South Gloucestershire Bus & Coach</span>

South Gloucestershire Bus & Coach Company Ltd was a bus and coach operator operating school bus services under contract to Bristol City Council and South Gloucestershire Council and coach services under contract to Megabus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">First Beeline</span> Bus operator in the United Kingdom

First Beeline Buses Limited, trading as First Beeline, is a bus operator providing services in and around Slough. It is a subsidiary of FirstGroup.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lucketts Travel</span>

Lucketts Travel is a coach hire and excursion company with depots in Fareham, Worthing and Southampton. It is a subsidiary of Mobico Group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edwards Coaches</span>

Edwards Coaches is a family-owned coach company based in Llantrisant, near Pontypridd in South Wales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heathrow Terminal 3</span> Airport terminal at London Heathrow Airport

Heathrow Terminal 3 is an airport terminal at Heathrow Airport, serving London, the capital city of the United Kingdom. Terminal 3 is currently used as one of the main global hubs of the International Airlines Group members British Airways and Iberia since 12 July 2022. It is also used by the majority of members of the Oneworld and a few SkyTeam alliances along with several long-haul non-affiliated airlines. It is also the base for Virgin Atlantic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Megabus (Europe)</span> Long distance coach operator

Megabus is a long-distance intercity coach service operator owned by Scottish Citylink and based in the United Kingdom. Founded by Stagecoach Group in August 2003, it operates using low-cost fares, formerly starting at £1, based on a yield management model.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Milton Keynes Coachway</span>

The Milton Keynes Coachway is a Coachway interchange close to junction 14 of the M1 motorway on the eastern edge of Milton Keynes, north Buckinghamshire, England. It supports National Express intercity coach services to cities, towns and airports on the M1, and on into Scotland, to Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted and Luton Airports, as well as Stagecoach East's route X5 between Oxford and Bedford, and interchange between these services. There are also local bus services and nearby, a park and ride site. It is the second busiest coach station in the United Kingdom. Dating from 1989, it was the first of the UK's Coachway interchanges.

References

  1. Companies House extract company no 2590727 Smooth Limited formerly National Express Dot2Dot Limited formerly Hotelink Limited
  2. Launch of Dot2Dot and acquisition of Kings Ferry National Express 12 November 2007
  3. 1 2 Millar, Alan (March 2009). "Questions over NatEx future as it sells National Express Dot2Dot". Buses Magazine (648): 5.
  4. Hotelink - Heathrow to London airport transfer service by National Express Dot2Dot Archived 11 September 2009 at the Wayback Machine Dot2Dot
  5. New look for NatEx Hotelink service Bus & Coach Professional 26 September 2007
  6. 1 2 National Express gives up on National Express Dot2Dot Bus & Coach Professional 3 November 2008
  7. Dot2Dot bus service sold for £1 The Wharf 13 January 2009

Commons-logo.svg Media related to Dot2dot (bus company) at Wikimedia Commons