Go-Coachhire Limited, trading as Go-Coach, is a bus operator running a total of 40 bus services (including school services) across

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

and

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

. The majority of these services are operated on behalf of

Kent County Council Kent County Council is a county council that governs the non-metropolitan county of Kent in England. The non-metropolitan county is smaller than the ceremonial county, which additionally includes the Unitary authorities of England, unitary auth ...

from their depot in Swanley.

History

Go-Coach was founded on 1 February 2008 by Austin Blackburn. The company began operating as a coach hire company initially just using a single coach.A decade of Go '' Coach & Bus Week'' issue 1350 19 July 2018 pages 16-23 In April 2010, Go-Coach began operating bus services for the first time when they took over the

tendered routes 401 ( Sevenoaks to Westerham) and 421 (Sevenoaks to Swanley) from Arriva Southern Counties. In May 2011, Go Coach extended route 421 to

Dartford Dartford is the principal town in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, England. It is located south-east of Central London and is situated adjacent to the London Borough of Bexley to its west. To its north, across the Thames Estuary, is Thurrock in ...

to replace the Arriva Southern Counties route 423 bringing the operator into the town for the first time. The companies Dartford services were further boosted with the instruction of the ''Dart'' local town services in 2014. In April 2014, Go-Coach expanded its operations into Edenbridge by taking over routes 232, 234, 238, 631 and 632 from Arriva Southern Counties. A number of its Sevenoaks services were altered at the same time. In 2015, a number of Go-Coach services were boosted. The company took over a number of

contracted services as well as introducing new circular town service 8 in Sevenoaks at the same time. Go-Coach also upgraded and took over existing route 401 on a commercial basis in 2015, this being the first time that the company had operated a bus service in this way. In July 2017, Go-Coach introduced two new routes in Sevenoaks (routes 431 and 435) in response to Arriva Southern Counties withdrawing major parts of their route 402 service at the same time. In April 2019, Arriva Southern Counties withdrew a number of their local services in Sevenoaks. Go Coach introduced a number of replacement services and at the same time became the network operator of the town. In December 2020, Go-Coach launched the new E1 circular bus service in Edenbridge giving the town a dedicated local service for the first time. On 23 August 2021, Go-Coach introduced the 24-hour Fastrack branded AZ service between Dartford and Gravesend, serving the new

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...

LCY3 distribution centre in Dartford. On 2 April 2022, this service was transferred to Arriva Kent Thameside in April 2022 with the Amazon LCY3 also now served by the current Fastrack A service. In December 2023, the company was sold to Derbyshire-based Hulleys of Baslow, but retained the Go-Coach branding, fleet and staff. Within a year however, Hulleys sold the operation back to previous owner and founder Austin Blackburn.

Garages, fleet and services

Go-Coach run services from a single depot Swanley which runs a mixture of commercial and school services as well as services operated on behalf of

with a total of 40 routes. Go Coach operate a number of rural services across Kent and as such, a number of their services operate at very low frequencies with limited operating hours. Go Coach are also the main bus operator in the town of Sevenoaks (since Arriva Southern Counties withdrew a number of their Sevenoaks routes in April 2019) and currently run and operate Sevenoaks bus station.Go-Coach becomes Sevenoaks area's main operator ''Coach & Bus Week'' issue 1390 23 April 2019 page 10 Go-Coach currently operate the following services (excluding school services): The fleet consists of Optare Solo, Optare Solo SR, Switch Metrocity (formerly known as the ''Optare Metrocity''), Optare Versa, Optare Tempo, Mellor Sigma 10, Mellor Sigma 7, ADL Enviro200 MMC, ADL Enviro400, and soon the RB6.

Go2 Sevenoaks

Since April 2020, Go-Coach have operated the Go2 demand responsive service in Sevenoaks in partnership with ViaVan. The service is designed to allow passengers to hail buses to their locations to remove the need for unnecessary bus operations.

Service history

April 2020

The Go2 demand responsive service was introduced in April 2020 when Go-Coach suspended all of its fixed line bus services in Sevenoaks and Edenbridge due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. The service initially ran Monday-Saturday only and covered the majority of the Sevenoaks District as well as extending north to

Orpington Orpington is a town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is 13.4 miles (21.6 km) south east of Charing Cross. On the south-eastern edge of the Greater London Built-up Area, it is south of St Mary Cray, sou ...

and south to

Tonbridge Tonbridge ( ) (historic spelling ''Tunbridge'') is a market town in Kent, England, on the River Medway, north of Royal Tunbridge Wells, south west of Maidstone and south east of London. In the administrative borough of Tonbridge and Mall ...

. It also served a number of hospitals outside of the main operating area including Tunbridge Wells Hospital in Pembury, Queen Mary's Hospital in

Sidcup Sidcup is an area of south-east London, England, primarily in the London Borough of Bexley. It is south-east of Charing Cross, bordering the London Boroughs of London Borough of Bromley, Bromley and Royal Borough of Greenwich, Greenwich. It was ...

and Princess Royal Hospital in Locksbottom.

August 2020

In August 2020, Go-Coach reinstated a number of their fixed line bus services in Sevenoaks and Go2 continued to operate alongside these services. At the same time, the service was removed from Orpington and Tonbridge as well as the hospitals outside the main operating area.

January 2021

In January 2021, Go-Coach again suspended a number of its Sevenoaks services due to the COVID-19 pandemic and replaced them with Go2.

April 2021

In April 2021, the Go2 service area was expanded to serve West Kingsdown, East Hill, Fairseat and Stansted. A limited Sunday service was also introduced on the service covering Sevenoaks, Swanley and West Kingsdown. At the same time, a number of Go-Coach fixed line bus services in Sevenoaks were reintroduced and Go2 again operates alongside these.

January 2023

In January 2023, a number of major changes were made to Go2 in response to a reduction in funding from

. The service was scaled back to operate on weekdays and Saturdays from 06:00-19:00 only, with the Sunday service being withdrawn. In addition, the operating area was reduced, no longer serving Swanley, Edenbridge or West Kingsdown.

Operating area

As of January 2023, the key areas served by the Go2 service include: Sevenoaks Town Centre, Sevenoaks Weald, Ide Hill, Westerham, Sundridge, Brasted, Chipstead, Dunton Green,

Knockholt Knockholt is a village and civil parish in the Sevenoaks District of Kent. It is located north west of Sevenoaks & south of Orpington, and is adjacent to the Kent border with Greater London. The village is mostly a ribbon development, surrou ...

, Halstead, Shoreham, Otford, Godden Green, Seal and Kemsing.

Go2 Ebbsfleet

Go2 has been operating in Ebbsfleet since 3rd February 2025. As of April 2025 it serves Ebbsfleet Green, Castle Hill, Ebbsfleet International, Swanscombe, Greenhithe, Bluewater, Darent Valley Hospital, Stone Crossing and Springhead. Majority of the areas covered are also run by the GC1 bus service. It will be run by RB6's which are produced by Wrightbus, under sub-brand Rightech, and will be used by Go2 and the GC1 by June 2025. It is currently run by Mellor Sigma 7's and Optare Solo's (also known as the ''Switch Solo'')

References

External links

{{Bus companies in South East England, state=collapsed Bus operators in Kent Transport companies established in 2008 2008 establishments in England