This West Sussex independent has built up a portfolio of niche market income streams — from hiring out London Routemasters to football supporters’ park-&-ride — and is about to invest in its first new double-deckers, which will be rather special bespoke vehicles, as ALAN MILLAR reports
If it was inevitable that Neil Bird would make a career for himself in the bus industry, it was surely even more predetermined that his career would also involve classic London buses.
They are in his blood and form a backbone of the fleet at Southern Transit, the West Sussex independent that he joined in 2006 as a self-employed mechanic and acquired a couple of years later. His fondness for Routemasters and the earning power that they can command when properly presented surely owes much to his father, Bob, who is senior curator of road vehicles at the London Transport Museum and has helped ensure the survival of the five examples in its care.
Besides the four Routemasters used mainly for weddings and special events, most of the newer vehicles in the fleet also began life in London, and as Southern Transit now expects to take delivery of its first brand new doubledeckers, they too will have a strong London feel to them. Of which more later.
