Tag: coach operator

Timberbush Tours embarks on job creation and new investment round

25 new jobs to be created as coach tour operator extends coach fleet with £2.5m investment

The exponential growth of coach tourism remains strong in Scotland with the country’s leading coach tour operator investing more than £2.5million to enhance and upgrade its coach fleet and seeking to recruit a new generation of driver-guides trained to tell ‘Scotland’s story’.

Timberbush Tours, which specialises in day and multi-day coach trips across Scotland and the North of England as well the private and corporate travel sectors, has placed orders for seventeen new coaches of varying capacity. The new vehicles, from manufacturers MAN, as well as agents BASE Coach Sales and Coachtraders are scheduled for delivery in March and early April.

The vehicles will be distributed across its three Scottish locations – Inverness, Glasgow and its Granton, Edinburgh hub.

Additionally, the company is about to embark on a recruitment drive. It is seeking to employ driver guides who will be trained by the company to enhance the visitor experience. Driver guides provide a fun and informative insight into Scotland’s historical places of interest, ancient culture, and breath-taking natural landscapes.

In total, Timberbush Tours will look to recruit and train 25 driver guides, to be based at each of its centres.

Commenting on its new investment round and recruitment strategy, Steve Spalding, CEO of Timberbush Tours, said: “We are excited to invest in new state-of-the-art vehicles to bolster our fleet and they’ll be manned by driver guides who we consider to be the best in the Scottish coach tour business.

“Our training will be intensive and rigorous in preparation for the season ahead.

“We want our customers to see the very best of Scotland narrated by driver guides who inject fun and their own personality into the experience whilst they sit back and enjoy the experience of travelling in the most environmentally advanced coaches available.” 

Asset Alliance Group helps Ratho Coaches lead the charge with new electric vehicle

Ratho Coaches has become the first operator in the central belt of Scotland to put an electric coach into service, after taking delivery of a new Yutong TCe12 from Asset Alliance Group.

The Edinburgh-based firm added the coach as part of its sustainability drive, and to ensure compliance with the existing Low Emission Zone (LEZ) in Glasgow city centre and ahead of the introduction of the LEZ in the Scottish capital on 1 June 2024.

Charles McIntosh, Co-Owner and Director at Ratho Coaches, says: “We are delighted to be leading the way as an environmentally-friendly coach operator. It’s the first time we’ve used Asset Alliance Group and we’re extremely pleased with the exceptional service they have provided.

“The Yutong TCe12 is a fantastic addition to our fleet and a key part of our mission to become a more sustainable business.

“It replaces a diesel coach previously used for city tours to places like Glasgow, Stirling and as far as St Andrews, helping the company to reduce its carbon footprint.”

After being certified as an Ultra Low Emission Bus (ULEB) in August 2020, the Yutong TCe12 is the first fully electric zero-emission coach to be made available in the UK. It means that the 50-seat, fully PSVAR-compliant vehicle is eligible to receive the 30p per kilometre Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG) Low Emission Vehicle (LEV) incentive payment in Scotland for qualifying work.

Using an identical electric driveline and control system to Yutong’s E10, E12 and airport buses, the vehicle’s 281 kWh battery offers Ratho Coaches a range in excess of 200 miles on a full charge.

“The excellent battery range of the coach, combined with the flexible seating and luxury specifications – including fold down tables and footrests – offers a high level of comfort for passengers joining our city tours,” adds McIntosh.

“We plan to add more electric coaches to our fleet in the coming years to take advantage of ongoing improvements in battery charging infrastructure for EVs, which will allow us to utilise them for UK-wide tours and further enhance our green transport credentials.”

Ratho Coaches currently runs a fleet of 76 vehicles, ranging from people carriers and 16-seat Mercedes-Benz Sprinters to 57-seat Executive coaches and 70-seat capacity coaches.

This year, the coach operator hopes to access the Scottish Government grant system designed to accelerate the bus and coach sector’s transition to net zero. The company has applied to the Scottish Zero Emission Bus Challenge Fund (ScotZEB) to help acquire additional EVs.