Berry's superfast - Somerset (and Wilts) to London

[whole diary]

[JayMac]

The 'big boys', NatEx and Stagecoach have, in many cases, seen off competiton from local operators from towns and cities where they offer cheap advance purchase fares.

One local London scheduled coach service dear to my heart is Berry's Superfast from Taunton and other Somerset locations (and Tiverton across the border). This continues to be very popular, I guess because of the lack of competition from either National Express, who do not offer their advance Fun Fares from Taunton, and from Megabus, who do not operate in the area.

edit - I have split this off from the topic about Baker's Dolphin as it deserves its own thread - G
Previous thread - http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=12844.0

[grahame]

One local London scheduled coach service dear to my heart is Berry's Superfast from Taunton and other Somerset locations (and Tiverton across the border). This continues to be very popular ...

Link at http://www.berryscoaches.co.uk/content/superfast_about.html ... a total of five return trips on most days (some extras) also serving Warminster and Codford in Wiltshire. Warminster to Hammersmith in 2 hours looks, indeed, superfast and runs at 09:30 (Monday to Saturday) and 10:00 and 16:00 (Sunday and Bank holiday), return from Hammersmith in West London at 17:45 (or 18:00 and 20:30 Sundays and holidays)

To compare, the 09:46 train to Waterloo gets in at 11:49, and the 09:25 train (change at Westbury) will get you to Paddington at 11:24.

[JayMac]

Thanks for that grahame. I was unaware that Berry's now have Superfast 3 from Somerset via Wiltshire.

It's a fairly recent addition to the Superfast services and, as yet, has no mention on either the 'About' or 'Town Links' pages of the website.

A quick call to Berry's confirms that the Superfast 3 daily service started on July 30th of this year. Prior to that it ran irregularly, to gauge the market.

[grahame]

From Berrys Coaches

Dear Loyal Customers,

In light of Monday’s statement from the Government in which they stated to avoid all “non-essential travel and contact”, as of 23rd March until 3rd of April, we have decided to cancel all of our London Superfast Service and Day Tours. This decision has not been taken lightly and we have considered the impact it will have on both our customers and the Berrys Coaches team.

Cancelling from the 23rd March allows all Superfast customers time to reschedule their plans, and travel back to their homes.

If you have a booking with us between the dates above, our Booking Office team will be in touch this week. We can either postpone your booking to a later date, or we can issue a refund for your booking.

We’d like to thank our customers for their support and understanding during these difficult times, and over the last 100 years. We look forward to welcoming you back on board in the near future once the current risk has passed.

For further updates, please monitor our website (berryscoaches.co.uk) and our Facebook page (@berryscoaches).

Kind Regards

Stuart Berry