Bowers Coaches

Bowers Coaches

Slogan	Serving the Peak District/Serving Derbyshire and Cheshire [1]
Parent	Centrebus Group
Founded	1952 by Eric W. Bowers[2]
Locale	North West, East Midlands
Service area	Greater Manchester, Derbyshire, Cheshire East
Service type	Bus
Hubs	Buxton, Chapel-en-le-Frith, Glossop, Macclesfield, New Mills
Fleet	Optare Solo, Plaxton Beaver, Plaxton Centro, Alexander Strider
Fuel type	Diesel
Operator	Eric W. Bowers Coaches Limited
Web site	www.bowersbuses.com

Eric W. Bowers Coaches Limited trading as Bowers^[1] (formerly known as Bowers Coaches) is a bus operator based in the High Peak district of Derbyshire in the United Kingdom. It is currently a subsidiary of the Centrebus Group, having been so since 2007, and prior to that an independent family business. It operates local bus services centered around the towns of Buxton, Glossop and New Mills. The company specialises in local bus services and the service area covers the High Peak Borough and some surrounding areas such as the town of Marple in Stockport and Ashbourne in the Derbyshire Dales. Some time after the Centrebus purchase of the company in 2007, the company was rebranded to 'Bowers'^[1] from the previous name of 'Bowers Coaches'; however, the legal entity of the company is still 'Eric W. Bowers Coaches Limited'.^[2]

In addition, after the takeover, the majority of buses added to the fleet have been painted in the Centrebus corporate livery of orange and blue; however, they do contain the Bowers name. However, in early 2010 buses appearing on route 27 were repainted to say 'Cheshire Connect operated by Centrebus.'^{[citation needed]}

The High Peak is a tourist area. During the summer, there is a large influx of visitors, and the Bowers bus network provides tourist links between the key towns of Buxton, Glossop and Ashbourne, and areas of specific tourist interest or beauty.^[3]

Bus route list

The table below summarizes the local bus routes in parts of Derbyshire, Cheshire, and Greater Manchester (both commercial routes and those operated under contract to local authorities).

No.	Route
19	Macclesfield – Prestbury
27	(Tatton Park –) Knutsford – Chelford – (Astra Zeneca, Alderley Park –) Macclesfield – Congleton
42	Buxton – Ashbourne Direct
42A	Buxton – Ilam – Tissington
58	(Chatsworth House – Bakewell –) Buxton – Cat & Fiddle – Macclesfield
60	(New Mills –) Whaley Bridge – Rainow – Macclesfield
61	Glossop – Hayfield – New Mills – Whaley Bridge – Buxton
62	Chapel-en-le-Frith – Hayfield – New Mills – Marple
62A	Hayfield – Thornsett – New Mills
63	Whaley Bridge – Stoneheads Circular
64	Glossop – Hayfield – New Mills – Whaley Bridge – Rainow – Macclesfield
69	Hayfield – New Mills – Whaley Bridge – Chapel-en-le-Frith
69A	Glossop – Hayfield – Chapel-en-le-Frith
76	Buxton Town Service
189	Buxton – Dove Holes – Chapel-en-le-Frith – Chinley – Whaley Bridge
190	Buxton – Peak Forest – Chapel-en-le-Frith – Chinley – Whaley Bridge
200	Chapel-en-le-Frith – Edale – Castleton
300	Knutsford Town Circular
389	New Mills Town Service
393	Padfield – Glossop – Shirebrook Park (Circular)
411	Ashbourne – Carsington – Wirksworth – Matlock
442	Ashbourne – Hartington – Warslow – Longnor – Buxton
489	Chapel-en-le-Frith – Combs

The majority of the bus services above are operated under contract to Derbyshire County Council and other local authorities; however, a number of services such as the 61 between Glossop and Buxton are operated commercially. Until September 2007 the company operated an hourly service between Hayfield and Stockport, Greater Manchester as service 62/62A; however, this service was withdrawn to run only as far as Marple due to falling revenues.

Operations

In 2009 two new low-floor buses were bought, with extra seating capacity to meet customer demand. These operate in the "Go Green" livery, promoting environmental credentials of bus travel, and these Euro 5 specification low emission buses in particular.^[3]

In Cheshire, Bowers works in partnership with the East Cheshire Council to deliver a number of key bus services, including the important Knutsford to Macclesfield route, serving the busy Astra Zeneca facility, and one of the first bus routes in Cheshire to offer real-time passenger information through satellite tracking.^[3]

Coach operations

The company began life known as Bowers Coaches and used this name up until some time after the Centrebus takeover, this is because the original company set up in 1952 was a coach company, and afterwards it expanded into bus routes, particularly after bus de-regulation in 1986. Throughout its history as a coach company it provided excursions from places around the High Peak and it provided coaches for schools and other uses. However the decision was taken by Centrebus that coaches were no longer viable and did not fit into the scope of the Centrebus Group so they ought to be disbanded and this occurred, so afterwards the decision was taken to drop the 'coaches' from the company name, as this could be misleading. The company still do private hire however, and cater for schools and groups on short trips.

High Peak

In summer or autumn 2011, Bowers will merge with the Buxton division of Trent Barton, to form a new company called High Peak.^[4] The new company will run all services previously run by Bowers and the Buxton division of Trent Barton, such as the Skyline 199, and 61.

The new operator will operate from Dove Holes and will have a combined fleet of 50 buses and around 100 employees. All the staff currently employed by the two operators will transfer to the new operation and no jobs will be lost. It is expected that High Peak will start operating in the late summer or early autumn as soon as the necessary Operating Licences have been granted by the Traffic Commissioner.^[5][6][7].

See also

• List of bus routes in Derbyshire

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} "Bowers - serving Derbyshire and Cheshire - Home". Centrebus. http://bowersbuses.com/default.aspx. Retrieved 2009-12-31. 
2. ^ ^{a b} "Companies House - Web CHeck - Eric W. Bowers Coaches Limited". Companies House. http://wck2.companieshouse.gov.uk/d5ff2faff8b2ddea734e5df03f4e9282/compdetails. Retrieved 2009-12-31.  Co Reg# 00548351
3. ^ ^{a b c} From http://www.centrebus.co.uk/SubPages/Derbyshire-Cheshire.html. All rights reserved.
4. ^ "trent barton - news". http://www.trentbarton.co.uk/news-and-media/newsstory.aspx?articleid=611. Retrieved 21 May 2011. 
5. ^ "New High Peak bus company following merger.". Buxton Advertiser. http://www.buxtonadvertiser.co.uk/news/business/new_high_peak_bus_company_following_merger_1_3392526. Retrieved 21 May 2011. 
6. ^ "The High Peak bus company. Trents Dove Holes and Bowers operations set to merge.". http://www.derbybusdepot.co.uk/highpeakbuscompany.html. Retrieved 21 May 2011. 
7. ^ Bowers Coaches. "Press Release High Peak". http://bowersbuses.com/Documents/Press%20Release%20High%20Peak.pdf. Retrieved 21 May 2011. 

External links

Official website