Fleet Buzz


Fleet Buzz was a bus company based in Crondall, Hampshire, England. It was a subsidiary of Stagecoach.

History

Countywide Travel was formed in 1995 as a coach and bus company, based on vehicles from Marchwood Motorways and a depot was established in Basingstoke. In 1998 the depot relocated to the site formerly used by Oakley Coaches in Oakley, Hampshire. Countywide took over many of the routes from Tillingbourne Bus Company when it ceased trading in 2001. On 1 October 2007 the coach business was sold to Weavaway Travel and the bus operation moved to Crondall. Around this time, the bus company was renamed Fleet Buzz due to their large presence at Fleet, Hampshire.
In 2008/09 the company upgraded its fleet with the purchase of four new Optare Solos and four Optare Versas. The buses were painted in a livery of yellow and black.
In December 2011 the business was sold to Stagecoach with 22 buses and 29 staff. It was run as a division of Stagecoach South.
In September 2012 Surrey County Council's bus review phase 3 saw the historic route 92 renumbered to 72 to fit with routes 70 and 71.
On 31 December 2014, three years after the Stagecoach takeover, the website was updated to announce the end of the Fleet Buzz name with operations being fully integrated into Stagecoach South from the date of some major network changes on Monday 5 January 2015.

Fleet

As at September 2013 the fleet consisted of 33 buses.
Mercedes Varios used to form the backbone of the fleet, but were eventually phased out by other Stagecoach-branded buses due to their step entrances.
Four Optare Versas, with branding for routes 72 and 82, two Caetano Nimbuses and four Optare Solos were purchased in 2008/9 as part of a fleet upgrade. Four Mini Pointer Darts and three Alexander ALX200s - one of which in plain white - were also bought upon Stagecoach's purchase of the bus company.

Services

Before services ended in 2015, Buzz Fleet operated 11 bus routes: numbers 11, 30, 31, 41, 42, 72, 77, 80, 82, 83 and 145.
The company's regular routes operated were as follows:
NumberFromToViaMonday-Friday FrequencySaturday FrequencySunday FrequencyRefs.
11FarnboroughPaddock HillCamberleyHourlyHourlyNo service
30FarnboroughBasingstokeCove, Fleet, Church Crookham, Odiham, HookHourly through to Basingstoke Hourly through to Basingstoke No service
31FarnboroughFrimley Park HospitalFrimley High StreetHourly3 journeys No service
41FarnboroughAshNorth CampHourlyNo serviceNo service
42FarnboroughSouthwoodCoveHourlyHourlyNo service
72AldershotReadingSwallowfield, Hartley Wintney, FleetHourly HourlyNo service
77Fleet StationFleet StationCircular service. Fleet town serviceHourlyNo serviceNo service
77AFleet StationFleet StationCircular service. Variation to route 77HourlyNo serviceNo service
82FarnboroughYateleyHawleyHourly 2 journeysNo service
145Three Mile CrossWokinghamEversley1 journey No serviceNo service