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 (lower body) and black (upper body).

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. The depot at Crondall closed on 23 May 2015, with staff transferred to Basingstoke and Aldershot, and remaining routes and vehicles to Aldershot.

Fleet
In 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 (for the majority of the routes) 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 transferred from London upon Stagecoach's purchase of the bus company.

Services
Before services ended in 2015, Fleet Buzz 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: