Kinetic’s Go-Ahead Group has gone from strength to strength in England’s Cotswolds with the purchase of another beloved family operator
International operator Go-Ahead, owned by Australasian operator Kinetic alongside joint venture partner Globalvia, has expanded its English business with the acquisition of Pulham & Sons Coaches.
The long-established family run bus and coach operator works in England’s central-southwest Costwolds region.
Pulhams, which has a fleet of 90 buses and coaches and employs 126 people, is a well-known and respected local business serving communities in Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Warwickshire.
It will become part of Go-Ahead’s Oxford Bus Company division that presently comprises Thames Travel, Carousel Buses and City Sightseeing Oxford as well as the eponymous Oxford Bus Company.
Based in Bourton-on-the-Water, Pulhams has won multiple awards for delivering high standards and currently holds both DVSA Earned Recognition and Guild of British Coach Operators accreditation. The company is one of the oldest established passenger transport companies in Britain, having been founded in 1880 to carry passengers into Cheltenham from nearby villages by horse and cart.
The acquisition will expand Go-Ahead’s Oxford business to the west and see improved connectivity between Pulhams’ bus services in Oxfordshire and the wider Go-Ahead network of services.
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In addition, it will enable Go-Ahead to expand its coaching operations – which in the Oxford division already include the airline services to Heathrow and Gatwick, and National Express branded operations – by developing the coach hire side of the Pulhams business across the wider business operating area.
As part of Go-Ahead’s business strategy, The Next Billion Journeys, the group is committed to investing and expanding in regional buses in Britain. The deal is Go-Ahead’s third acquisition in a year, following the purchase of Dartline in Devon and Southdown Buses in West Sussex.
“Pulhams’ buses and coaches are familiar and well-loved in communities throughout the Cotswolds,” Oxford Bus Company managing director Luke Marion says.
“The business links nicely with our existing services in Oxfordshire and surrounding counties and helps us to diversify our business further into new market segments. We’ll be investing in developing the Pulhams business further, for the benefit of both customers and colleagues.”
Pulhams Coaches managing director Andrew Pulham says he’s excited to work with Marion and the Go-Ahead team in developing new business opportunities and enhancing those that Pulham Coaches already has in place.
“Go-Ahead’s commitment to invest in the Pulhams’ business as we look towards decarbonisation of our fleets is welcome and I look forward to learning from the group’s experience in this area. Kathryn and I remain committed to Pulhams and look forward to this next chapter in our well-established, successful business,” Pulham says.