Private company

Go South Coast

Logo: gosouthcoast.co.uk3

Bus operator in southern England

Go South Coast is a bus operator on the south coast of England. It is a subsidiary of the Go-Ahead Group. All services under the company come under its operating certificate, although the buses run under a multitude of brands.2 It is part of Go-Ahead Group plc.1 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 20, 2026.

Overview

2005Founded1

See how the biggest companies compare on our leaderboards

Go South Coast is a bus operator on the south coast of England. It is a subsidiary of the Go-Ahead Group. All services under the company come under its operating certificate, although the buses run under a multitude of brands.2

Corporate structure

Go South Coast is part of a group headed by Go-Ahead Group plc. 44 entities, 4 countries on record. Switch between the flow chart and the network, and select any entity to see its details.

Built from parent and subsidiary links from GLEIF, the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (CC0); subsidiaries, stakes and holdings from Wikidata (CC0). Each entity in the chart links to its source.

The story

In August 2003 the Go-Ahead Group purchased the business of Wilts & Dorset, including its Damory Coaches and Tourist Group subsidiaries, followed in July 2005 by Southern Vectis including its Solent Blue Line subsidiary. In February 2006 Wilts & Dorset purchased bus refurbishment company Hants & Dorset Trim.

Later in 2006, Go-Ahead consolidated the management of its south coast operations under Go South Coast in Poole.

In October 2006, Marchwood Motorways was purchased and integrated into Bluestar.

Thamesdown Transport was purchased from Swindon Borough Council in February 2017 and rebranded as Swindon's Bus Company.

In May 2025, Managing Director Andrew Wickham died, reportedly after a long illness, at age 58. Wickham was a respected figure in the UK bus industry where he had worked for almost 40 years, and was appointed MBE in 2024 for services to the industry. Ben Murray, Go South Coast's Finance Director, took over as interim Managing Director of the company.

From Wikipedia’s article on Go South Coast, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4

Products and brands

Subsidiaries

All public bus services come under local brands, which have distinct liveries. These are:

Bluestar – The brand for Southampton

Unilink – The brand for the University of Southampton

Morebus – The brand for Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole

Read the full text

UNIBUS – The brand for Bournemouth University and Arts University Bournemouth

Salisbury Reds – The brand for Salisbury

Southern Vectis – The brand for the Isle of Wight

Swindon's Bus Company (formerly Thamesdown Transport) – The brand for Swindon

The company also has three coach brands:

Excelsior Coaches – Bournemouth, offering private coach hire, school services and tours

Damory Coaches – school buses and services in central East Dorset

Tourist Group – Dorset and Wiltshire, providing services to schools in Wiltshire

The company has a bus refurbishment and repair shop, 'Hants and Dorset Trim', based in Eastleigh.

Fleet

As at May 2023, Go South Coast operated over 850 buses and coaches from thirteen depots.

From Wikipedia’s article on Go South Coast, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4

Subsidiaries and ownership

Parent company

Subsidiaries

From Wikidata.1

Timeline

  1. 2005Founded Founded1

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
    Company websiteGo South Coast logo
  4. 4