The independent
transport videos studios welcome you to this special two-part DVD programme,
which features the buses in the Surrey town of Guildford.
The first part celebrates the centenary
celebrations of the family owned Safeguard Coaches at an event held at
Guildford Cathedral on Saturday 16th
March 2024. The second part looks back at the final days
of the Arriva buses in service in Guildford during November 2021. The
red and
cream buses have been a fixture in Guildford for 100 years. Owned
by the Newman family they operate three
routes across the town. Service 3 to the
Bellfields estate and services 4 and 5 to Park Barn and Southway.
In 2024 the fleet consisted of 18 coaches, 16
local buses and two Heritage vehicles available for hire namely 644
HAA, a
Bedford J2 / Plaxton Embassy coach and 200 APB, an AEC Reliance with a
Burlingham B44F body. We begin our filming in the town centre where we
see not
only the Safeguard buses, but also the dominant operator, Stagecoach
South as
well as independents Falcon Coaches of West Byfleet, Compass Travel of
Worthing
and White Bus Company of Windsor. The
busy Friary bus station gives us plenty of variety for you to enjoy
before our
cameras travel to Guildford Cathedral for the main event. In
order to get to the cathedral, Safeguard
Coaches provided three ‘Free Heritage Routes’ - Route ‘A’ from the bus
station,
Route ‘B’ from the Park Barn estate and Route ‘C’ from the Onslow Park
&
Ride site. Buses operating the routes
included some from the London Bus Museum at Brooklands, namely RT4779,
RF600
and the prototype AEC Regal IV, UMP 227.
Friends of King Alfred supplied AEC Renown 595 LCG and Leyland Panther
UOU 419H and the Dennis Society provided 178 (HOU 904), a Dennis Lancet
in the
livery of Aldershot & District. The
routes proved so popular that Safeguard had to supply a number of extra
buses
to keep the crowds moving! All these
buses are seen in action on this programme.
Our day concludes with a ride to Onslow Park & Ride site on board
Safeguard YJ60 LRO, an Optare Versa completing an excellent day, as you
will
see. The second part of this DVD
programme goes back to November 2021 just before Arriva Southern
Counties
pulled out of Guildford. Our cameras
spent a rather wet and dismal day in the town capturing the buses in
service. Arriva had quite an interesting allocation at
Guildford, consisting of Mercedes-Benz Citaro, Caetano-bodied Dennis
Darts and
a number of Optare Versa single-deckers not unlike the ones operated by
Safeguard
that we also see on this programme.
Stagecoach South is also present with a number of ALX400 double-deckers
and ADL Enviro200 single-deckers. The
day begins with a ride on a ‘Glide’ Park & Ride service from the
Spectrum
site on board Stagecoach battery-electric 29104 (LJ68 CZD), a BYD ADL
Enviro200MMC-EV to the Friary bus station.
Our filming locations include Onslow Street, Woodbridge Road, a brief
visit to the Arriva bus depot at Leas Road, then further filming on
Commercial
Road and North Street. As well as the
independents mentioned above we film an ADL Enviro200 from Reptons
Coaches of
Great Bookham also in the town. Our
filming concludes with another ride on Stagecoach 29104 back to the
Spectrum
Park & Ride site.
