Berrys Coaches
Berrys Coaches is a coach operator based in Taunton, Somerset. It was established in 1920 and is still a family owned business today.
History
Berrys started out as a road transport company set up by Clifford Berry in 1920. From there, Berrys continued to grow and established itself as a bus and coach company, acquiring more vehicles and moving locations within Taunton to keep up with the expansion.Superfast coach services
Berrys started operating a service between Somerset and London in 1981 following deregulation of the UK coach industry by the Transport Act 1980. Today it operates five services under the 'Superfast' brand in each direction to and from Hammersmith bus station in London over three routes:- Superfast 1 - Wellington, Taunton, North Petherton, Bridgwater
- Superfast 2 - Taunton, Ilminster, South Petherton, Yeovil, Ilchester, RNAS Yeovilton, Wincanton
- Superfast 3 - Taunton, Street, Glastonbury, Wells, Shepton Mallet, Frome, Warminster, Codford, Amesbury
Other operations
Its workshop and maintenance facilities were expanded to provide services to external to both other PSV operators and local HGV operators. These include vehicle inspection, repairs and maintenance and an ATF approved testing lane.
Berrys operated local services around Taunton in the 1990s under the Beaver Bus brand using Bristol VRT double-deck buses in competition with Southern National.
Fleet
Berrys operate a fleet of buses, coaches and executive minibuses for their own services and private hire work. These range from 16 to 78 seats.After World War II the company operated a fleet based for a long time on Plaxton bodies and Bedford chassis. In the 1980s, as the company had preferred Volvo chassis, they began purchasing the first Van Hool bodied coaches, which still today form a large part of the Superfast and Executive fleet. The local school and tour fleet is based mainly on VDL Futura coaches.