Go Coach was founded in 2008 by Austin Blackburn. The company began operating as a coach hire company initially just using a single coach. In April 2010, Go Coach began operating bus services for the first time when they took over the Kent County Council tendered routes 401 and 421 from Arriva Southern Counties. In May 2011, Go Coach extended route 421 to Dartford to replace the Arriva Southern Counties route 423 bringing the operator into the town for the first time. The companies Dartford services were further boosted with the instruction of the Dart local town services in 2014. In April 2014, Go Coach expanded its operations into Edenbridge by taking over routes 232, 234, 238, 631 & 632 from Arriva Southern Counties. A number of their Sevenoaks services were altered at the same time. In 2015, a number of Go Coach services were boosted. The company took over a number of Kent County Council contracted services as well as introducing new circular town service 8 in Sevenoaks at the same time. Go Coach also upgraded and took over existing route 401 on a commercial basis in 2015, this being the first time that the company had operated a bus service in this way. In July 2017, Go Coach introduced two new routes in Sevenoaks in response to Arriva Southern Counties withdrawing major parts of their route 402 service at the same time. In April 2018, Arriva Southern Counties withdrew a number of their local services in Sevenoaks. Go Coach introduced a number of replacement services and at the same time became the network operator of the town. They also took over a number of services in Tonbridge at the same time. In November 2019, a number of the company's Sevenoaks services were restructured. As of April 2020, Go Coach suspended a number of its services due to the COVID-19 Pandemic and replaced them with the Go2 demand responsive service.
Garages and Services
Go Coach run services from two operating depots in Otford and Swanley which run a mixture of commercial and school services as well as services operated on behalf of Kent County Council with a total of approximately 46 routes. Go Coach operate a number of rural services across Kent and as such, a number of their services operate at very low frequencies with limited operating hours. Go Coach are also the main bus operator in the town of Sevenoaks and currently run and operate Sevenoaks Bus Station.
As of April 2020, Go Coach also operate the Go2 demand responsive service in Sevenoaks. The service is designed to allow passengers to hail buses to their locations to remove the need for unnecessary bus operations. As of April 2020, Go2 has temporarily replaced all Go Coach bus services in Sevenoaks and Edenbridge in response to the COVID-19 Pandemic. As well as serving Sevenoaks Town Centre and the surrounding towns and villages, Go2 also serves a number of hospitals outside of the normal operating area, these are: Queen Mary's Hospital, Sidcup, Tunbridge Wells Hospital, Pembury and Princess Royal Hospital, Bromley.
