Travel de Courcey

Travel de Courcey
	Optare Olympus bodied Scania N230 in April 2010
Founded	1972; 52 years ago
Defunct	23 August 2020; 4 years ago
Headquarters	Baginton, Coventry, United Kingdom
Service area	Coventry; Warwickshire; Leicestershire
Service type	Bus & coach services
Depots	Baginton, Coventry; (Main HQ); NEC Birmingham; (NEC Shuttle Buses); Newtown, Birmingham; (National Express Coaches);
Chief executive	Adrian de Courcey (Chairman)

Travel de Courcey^[1] was a bus and coach operator based near Coventry in the West Midlands region of England. It operated local bus services in the Coventry and Warwickshire area and National Express contracts.

History

Mike de Courcey Travel was founded in 1972 by Mike de Courcey. It expanded into bus service operations after the Transport Act 1985 deregulated the UK bus industry.

In June 2011, Mike de Courcey Travel took over the Birmingham depot of Veolia Transport and several National Express contracts from them.^[2]^[3] In April 2017 Mike de Courcey Travel was awarded the Queen's Award for Enterprise in the sustainable development category.^[4]

On 24 August 2020, the operator fell into administration, citing a steep decline of passenger numbers in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.^[5]^[6] Stagecoach took over the running of the routes 60 and 703^[7] and Arriva took over the running of route X6 between Leicester and Coventry.^[8]

Services

Mike de Courcey Travel operated a number of local bus services, many from the University of Warwick, as well as school services under contract to Warwickshire County Council.^[9]

As of 2012, Mike de Courcey Travel operated services under contract to National Express on these routes:^[10]

210 Birmingham - Gatwick Airport
325 Birmingham - Manchester
384 Birmingham - Llandudno
387 Coventry - Blackpool
410 Wolverhampton - London
420 Wolverhampton - London
540 Manchester - London

Former significant bus routes:

Until July 2016, Travel de Courcey operated 360A/360C Coventry City Circular, the longest urban bus route in Europe at 31 miles.^[11]^[12]^[13]^[14]^[15]^[16]

References

^ Companies House extract company no 1360645 Mike DeCourcey Travel Limited
^ Travel de Courcey speeds up with National Express win Insider News 11 August 2011
^ National Express contract prompts £5m investment businessdesk.com 12 August 2011
^ West Midlands business recognised in Queen's Award for Enterprise Birmingham Post 21 April 2017. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
^ Sandford, Elis (24 August 2020). "Coventry bus company goes into administration". CoventryLive. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
^ "Travel de Courcey enters administration after dramatic decline". Route One. 24 August 2020. Archived from the original on 24 August 2020. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
^ "Disruptions". Network West Midlands. Archived from the original on 21 August 2020. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
^ "New Service Between Coventry and Leicester". Arriva Bus. Archived from the original on 26 September 2020. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
^ Where are you travelling to? Archived 5 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine Travel de Courcey
^ National Express Coach Handbook - 8th Edition. British Bus Publishing. 2012. ISBN 978-1-904875-78-9.
^ Coventry bus route is longest in Europe at 31 miles BBC News 4 June 2013
^ New Coventry bus route the longest in Europe Coventry Telegraph 4 June 2013
^ Record breaking bus route launched Nuneaton News 13 June 2013
^ Lack of patronage leads to restructure of Europe's longest bus route Route One 21 April 2016
^ Major Coventry bus route to be axed because not enough people use it Coventry Telegraph 21 April 2016
^ City's popular 360 bus service scrapped to make way for three separate services Coventry Observer 21 April 2016

External links

Media related to Travel de Courcey at Wikimedia Commons
Company website

[1] Companies House extract company no 1360645 Mike DeCourcey Travel Limited

[2] Travel de Courcey speeds up with National Express win Insider News 11 August 2011

[3] National Express contract prompts £5m investment businessdesk.com 12 August 2011

[4] West Midlands business recognised in Queen's Award for Enterprise Birmingham Post 21 April 2017. Retrieved 4 August 2017.

[5] Sandford, Elis (24 August 2020). "Coventry bus company goes into administration". CoventryLive. Retrieved 24 August 2020.

[6] "Travel de Courcey enters administration after dramatic decline". Route One. 24 August 2020. Archived from the original on 24 August 2020. Retrieved 24 August 2020.

[7] "Disruptions". Network West Midlands. Archived from the original on 21 August 2020. Retrieved 24 August 2020.

[8] "New Service Between Coventry and Leicester". Arriva Bus. Archived from the original on 26 September 2020. Retrieved 3 December 2020.

[9] Where are you travelling to? Archived 5 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine Travel de Courcey

[10] National Express Coach Handbook - 8th Edition. British Bus Publishing. 2012. ISBN 978-1-904875-78-9.

[11] Coventry bus route is longest in Europe at 31 miles BBC News 4 June 2013

[12] New Coventry bus route the longest in Europe Coventry Telegraph 4 June 2013

[13] Record breaking bus route launched Nuneaton News 13 June 2013

[14] Lack of patronage leads to restructure of Europe's longest bus route Route One 21 April 2016

[15] Major Coventry bus route to be axed because not enough people use it Coventry Telegraph 21 April 2016

[16] City's popular 360 bus service scrapped to make way for three separate services Coventry Observer 21 April 2016

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