A NEW bus company serving schools is operating in the BCP region and wider Dorset.

Transpora South West, a branch of London-based Transpora Group, has successfully won a contract to provide a service from the Verwood area to Poole and Parkstone Grammar schools and is operating routes to St Peter's School from all over the conurbation.

Monday, February 20, was the first day of operation for Transpora in Bournemouth.

Initially, the routes to St Peters School from Wimborne, West Moors, Canford Heath and Charminster, numbered 906, 907, 908 and 909, will be operated on behalf of Yellow Coaches up until Friday, March 17.

Bournemouth Echo: Transpora busesTranspora buses (Image: Transpora)

From Monday, March 20, the routes will be wholly operated by Transpora. Any tickets and passes purchased from now will continue to be valid.

Transpora also works with Bournemouth-based firm Passenger which operates the My Trip app and enables customers to purchase weekly, monthly, termly and annual tickets for the service.

The buses to St Peter's School are operated on a commercial basis, while the bus to Poole and Parkstone Grammar is operated under contract.

A spokesperson from the Poole and Parkstone School Bus Commissioning Committee said: “We are very happy to be working with Transpora.  They were professional and easy to deal with through our tender process and the first day of the operation (straight after the February break) went very well.

Bournemouth Echo:

“We are looking forward to a successful working relationship.”

Rhys Hand, operations director for Transpora, added: “We intend to prove that we can provide a reliable sustainable service that we can build on for the future. We have set up a new depot at Poole Port, and I would like to thank the Harbour Commissioning Authority for all of their help and support so far.

“We look forward to serving the local community in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole conurbation. We have established a great team of drivers locally. We are looking to further develop our operation working with local partners and taking advantage of any opportunities that arise.”

Transpora operates around 50 vehicles from operating centres in London, Blackpool, Manchester, Bristol and now Poole.