Stagecoach South West

Stagecoach South West

A Stagecoach Enviro 200 at Cockwood Harbour on the former extended route B.
Parent	Stagecoach
Founded	1919
Headquarters	Exeter
Service area	Devon and East Cornwall plus a route to Bristol
Service type	Bus services
Depots	6 (September 2013)
Fleet	334 (September 2013)
Chief executive	Bob Dennison
Website	Stagecoach South West website

Stagecoach South West is a bus operator providing services in Devon and East Cornwall along with coach services to Bristol. It is a subsidiary of Stagecoach.

The Devon General Omnibus and Touring Company commenced operations in South Devon in 1919 with two bus routes from Exeter to Torquay. In 1922 Torquay Tramways purchased the company, although it was operated as a subsidiary of the National Electric Construction Company (NECC) and the tramway company's motor buses were transferred to Devon General. In 1931 the NECC became a part of the British Electric Traction Group.

British Electric Traction's bus operations, including Devon General, became part of the National Bus Company when it was formed in 1969. In April 1970 the Exeter City Council's buses and routes were transferred to Devon General but the city's unusual use of route letters (as opposed to numbers) continued. In January 1971 the bus operations of Devon General were transferred to neighbouring Western National but the Devon General name was retained as a brand.

In January 1983 Western National was split into four new companies, one of which was Devon General Limited that operated in south and east Devon as the old Devon General had done, but the Tiverton area services became part of North Devon. On 19 August 1986 Devon General became the first National Bus Company subsidiary to be privatised under the Transport Act 1985 being sold in a management buy out led by managing director Harry Blundred.

An experimental high-frequency service using 22 minibuses was introduced in Exeter on 27 February 1984. By the time the company was privatised the minibus fleet had expanded with more than 200 Ford Transits and Ivecos in service, comprising over half the fleet. By the end of 1990 all regular services had been converted to minibus operation using a mixture of 16 and 24 seat vehicles.