Safeguard Coaches is a bus and coach operator based in

Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, around southwest of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The name "Guildf ...

History

Safeguard was established in 1924 by Arthur Newman, when he converted an accident damaged lorry to carry passengers, and by 1927 was running bus services to the newly constructed Aldershot Road housing estate. Shortly afterwards, another service to Onslow Village commenced.Safeguard Coaches
Countrybus However, the main company in the area

Aldershot & District Traction Aldershot & District Traction Company Limited was a major bus company operating services in East Hampshire, West Surrey and parts of adjoining counties for sixty years during the 20th century, from 1912 until 1972 when it became part of Alder ...

challenged Safeguard with six months of competition. After this, the two companies agreed that Safeguard would run the Woodside and Onslow routes, and both companies the Guildford Park service. In time, Safeguard extended the Woodside route to Westborough and then to Park Barn, and the Guildford Park service reached Dennisville. In 1988, Farnham Coaches was purchased, adding a significant number of vehicles to the Safeguard fleet. In 2000, Safeguard gained the contract for the Guildford Shuttle, a free service connecting various parts of Guildford Town Centre. At first, a

Plaxton Pointer The Plaxton Pointer (originally known as the Reeve Burgess Pointer, and later as the TransBus Pointer and Alexander Dennis Pointer) was a single-decker bus body manufactured during the 1990s by Reeve Burgess, Plaxton and latterly built by Alexa ...

bodied Dennis Dart SLF was acquired. This was replaced by an

Optare Alero The Optare Alero is a Low-floor bus, low-floor GRP monocoque minibus that was built by Optare between 2001 and 2008. It was built as an alternative to minibus, van-derived buses such as the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter. Around 300 were built in the ...

. However, this proved too small and so another Mini Pointer Dart was acquired. More recently, in 2002, Safeguard lost some school bus work and Onslow routes 10/11 to Countryliner after ten years. As a result of this, the bus fleet was cut from ten to seven vehicles. The Guildford Shuttle was withdrawn in August 2008, the council saying it was costing too much to operate. Commencing 4 November 2018, Arriva launched routes A (to/from

Royal Surrey County Hospital The Royal Surrey County Hospital (RSCH) is a 520-bed District General Hospital, located on the fringe of Guildford, run by the Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust. History The hospital has its origins in a facility at Farnham Road which opened i ...

), B (to/from the

Park Barn Estate Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, around southwest of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The name "Guildf ...

) and C (to/from Stoughton) to rival the existing routes already operated by

Stagecoach South Stagecoach South is a bus operator providing services in South East England. It is a subsidiary of Stagecoach. It operates services in Hampshire, Surrey, and Sussex with some routes extending into Brighton and Wiltshire. It operates 487 buses fr ...

and Safeguard. Safeguard retaliated with re-entry to Bellfields. Safeguard AEC Reliance

On 18 December 2021, following the withdrawal of Guildford operations by Arriva, Safeguard took control of the route 18, which ran from Onslow Village to Guildford town centre. This service was extended to Bushy Hill in

Merrow Merrow (from Irish ', Middle Irish ' or ') is a mermaid or merman in Irish folklore. The term is of Hiberno-English origin. The merrows supposedly require a magical cap ( ga, cochaillín draíochta; Hiberno-English: cohuleen druith) in order t ...

via

Burpham Burpham is a rural village and civil parish in the Arun District of West Sussex, England. The village is on an arm of the River Arun slightly less than northeast of Arundel. A slight minority of the population qualifies as within the workin ...

to cover gaps created by Stagecoach South's new route 6 on what were routes 36 and 37 from Arriva. This was on the same day as the company left Onslow Village 92 years ago, in 1929. A heritage bus was operated on the day of changes. From 30 August 2022, the route 18 will be transferred to Compass Travel.

Current services

Bus routes

Safeguard currently operate three circular bus routes, route 3, which runs to and from Bellfields estate; and routes 4 and 5 which run in opposite directions linking Park Barn with Guildford town centre. From 24 July 2010, Safeguard ran Merrow Park and Ride route 300 using

Surrey County Council Surrey County Council is the county council administering certain services in the non-metropolitan county of Surrey in England. The council is composed of 81 elected councillors, and in all but one election since 1965 the Conservative Party has ...

owned buses freed up following the withdrawal of the

Ride Pegasus! First Student UK was the brand used by FirstGroup for student transport in the United Kingdom. The brand was originally used in the United States for school transport there, and was expanded to the United Kingdom in 2000. First Student UK was a ...

school bus scheme by Surrey County Council. From September 2013, this service was being run by Stagecoach who won the contract to operate all of the town's Park & Ride network, Monday to Friday. For many years, Safeguard ran Guildford town services 3, 4 and 5 jointly with Arriva, however from 23 May 2010 the two companies agreed that Arriva would wholly run route 3 and Safeguard have complete control over the 4 and 5. As Arriva withdrew from the Guildford operations, Safeguard took over the Sundays and bank holidays services on route 3. As a result, in a little under three years the service had fully moved from Arriva to Safeguard. From 30 August 2022, it was announced that Safeguard would take over a number of routes in the

Woking Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in northwest Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'' and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settlement o ...

area, which included four shopper's services and a school service.

Coaches

Most coach work is private hire, with a high amount of it coming from local schools. Coaches are also run to the

University of Surrey The University of Surrey is a public research university in Guildford, Surrey, England. The university received its royal charter in 1966, along with a number of other institutions following recommendations in the Robbins Report. The institut ...

from various places, including areas as far afield as

Crawley Crawley () is a large town and borough in West Sussex, England. It is south of London, north of Brighton and Hove, and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Crawley covers an area of and had a population of 106,597 at the time of th ...

and

Chichester Chichester () is a cathedral city and civil parish in West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton B2 edition. Publishing Date:2009. It is the only ci ...

References

External links