Taunton is the county town of Somerset, England, with a 2011 population of 69,570. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century monastic foundation, Taunton Castle, which later became a priory. The Normans built a castle owned by the Bishops of Winchester. Parts of the inner ward house were turned into the Museum of Somerset and Somerset Military Museum. For the Second Cornish uprising of 1497, Perkin Warbeck brought an army of 6,000; most surrendered to Henry VII on 4 October 1497. On 20 June 1685 the Duke of Monmouth crowned himself King of England here in a rebellion, defeated at the Battle of Sedgemoor. Judge Jeffreys led the Bloody Assizes in the Castle's Great Hall. The Grand Western Canal reached Taunton in 1839 and the Bristol and Exeter Railway in 1842. Today it hosts Musgrove Park Hospital, Somerset County Cricket Club, is the base of 40 Commando, Royal Marines, and is home to the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office on Admiralty Way. The popular Taunton flower show has been held in Vivary Park since 1866, and on 13 March 2022, St Mary Magdalene parish church was elevated to the status of Taunton Minster.
The West Somerset Railway (WSR) is a 22.75-mile (36.6 km) heritage railway line in Somerset, England. The freehold of the line and stations is owned by Somerset County Council; the railway is leased to and operated by West Somerset Railway plc ; which is supported and minority-owned by charitable trust the West Somerset Railway Association (WSRA) and the West Somerset Steam Railway Trust (WSSRT). The WSR plc operates services using both heritage steam and diesel trains.
Arriva Southern Counties is a bus operator in Surrey, West Sussex, East Sussex, Kent, Essex, Hemel Hempstead, and Watford in England. It is a subsidiary of Arriva UK Bus.
free bus is a zero-fare bus system that operates in Greater Manchester. The system was first introduced in Manchester city centre in 2002, with three routes linking the city's major thoroughfares and stations with its main commercial, financial and cultural districts.
Quality Line was a bus company based in Epsom, England. A subsidiary of the RATP Group, Quality Line operated bus services throughout the South West London and Surrey area, with many under contract to Transport for London. It ceased operations on 2 July 2021, with all remaining routes transferring to RATP's London United subsidiary.
The Optare Versa is a low-floor midibus that was manufactured by Optare at its Sherburn-in-Elmet factory. In total 883 were produced between 2007 and 2018.
First South West is a bus company operating services in the English counties of Somerset and Cornwall. It is a subsidiary of FirstGroup.
Preston park and ride is a park-and-ride scheme in the city of Preston in Lancashire, England, operated by Rotala subsidiary Preston Bus.
The York park and ride is a park and ride network in the cathedral city of York, England, with sites operated by the City of York Council and bus services operated by First York. It is the largest park and ride network in the United Kingdom, with 4,970 car spaces across six sites: Askham Bar, Grimston Bar, Monks Cross, Poppleton Bar, Rawcliffe Bar and York Designer Outlet.
First Beeline Buses, trading as First Berkshire & The Thames Valley, is a bus operator providing services in and around Slough. It is a subsidiary of FirstGroup.
Edwards Coaches is a family-owned coach company based in Llantrisant, near Pontypridd in South Wales.
The earliest known infrastructure for transport in Somerset is a series of wooden trackways laid across the Somerset Levels, an area of low-lying marshy ground. To the west of this district lies the Bristol Channel, while the other boundaries of the county of Somerset are along chains of hills that were once exploited for their mineral deposits. These natural features have all influenced the evolution of the transport network. Roads and railways either followed the hills, or needed causeways to cross the Levels. Harbours were developed, rivers improved, and linked to sources of traffic by canals. Railways were constructed throughout the area, influenced by the needs of the city of Bristol, which lies just to the north of Somerset, and to link the ports of the far south-west with the rest of England.
Nippy Bus was a privately owned bus company operating services in Somerset, England. It operated local town services in Yeovil under contract to the Somerset County Council as well as rural services. Nippy Club was launched in 2010 utilising a coach on chartered services twice a month for clubbers.
Cumfybus is a bus company based in Southport, Merseyside. Its operations were small scale throughout the 1990s, but it has expanded significantly since its incorporation as a limited company in 2002, and in 2010 had a fleet of nearly 100 buses.
Quantock Motor Services is a privately owned bus operator in Bishops Lydeard, Somerset, England. The company operates a substantial heritage fleet for private hire and on route 300.
Padarn Bus was a bus company based in Llanberis, Gwynedd. It operated 21 routes in North Wales plus three summer services in Snowdonia National Park. Many of its vehicles and routes were acquired when it merged with larger company KMP. The operator, who were being investigated by North Wales Police over allegations of fraud at the company, closed down on 30 May 2014.
Wardle Transport was a bus operator based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. Formed in 1963 as Jack's of Norton, it expanded from 2001 to operate a network of local bus routes using over 60 vehicles. Arriva purchased the company in December 2010 and placed under the control of its Arriva Midlands subsidiary. Arriva stated that Wardle's identity would be retained. At the time of the takeover, Wardle employed 105 staff and operated a fleet of 64 buses and ran 18 scheduled services. A new livery of two-tone red and white applied in Arriva's corporate style was introduced in June 2011.
Canterbury Park and Ride is a park and ride system operated by Stagecoach South East in the English historic cathedral city of Canterbury. It was designed to reduce pollution in the city centre.
The Buses of Somerset is the trading name used by bus operator First South West for services operated in Somerset from depots in the towns of Taunton and Bridgwater since 2014. The services were formerly managed as part of First Somerset & Avon.
Kernow is a bus company operating services in Cornwall, England. It is part of First South West, a subsidiary of FirstGroup.
