Crossways is a fictional model bus company based in the county of Gloucestershire, run by Model Bus Federation member Ryan Birch. Primarily a model maker, the fleet provides a theme, or 'excuse' for this model making.
Crossways has a diverse history - the video gives a brief overview of what we do.
Much has changed within our short history, as is explained below:
Crossways started with just two vehicles in 2012. Our first contracted work was for Shearings holidays, with both vehicles (a coach and small feeder minibus) employed on the contract. A small depot was hired in the Quedgeley area (a suburb of Gloucester) to house these vehicles.
During 2013, Crossways gained another contract, this time to operate a National Express service between Gloucester and Swindon. Two coaches were purchased for these duties. A heritage fleet was also established, for wedding and other event hires, taking the total fleet up to six.
As the image from 2013 shows, there was no fleet livery at this time, producing a varied fleet.
The fleet's first livery and logo were introduced during 2014 to create a more cohesive brand with which to move forward. However, it would take almost two years for this livery to be applied to most of the fleet.
During this time, the first local bus services were operated by the company. In a major milestone, our first brand new vehicle was also purchased.
Crossways joined the Model Bus Federation (MBF) in 2015, opening up the possibility for collaboration with many other fleet operators on a number of projects.
The largest of these projects is our fictional organisation of shuttle bus services for the National Hunt Festival at Cheltenham Racecourse in March every year, requiring cooperation from numerous operators to create a fleet in excess of 100 vehicles each year.
The MBF have also been instrumental in helping the Crossways fleet grow and develop, and membership is highly recommended.
During this period, the fleet also expanded into the Stroud area, taking on local bus services from North Western of Gloucester.
A new livery was introduced in 2018 in an attempt to enhance the brand identity.
This period also saw a shift towards focussing on coaching work, with much of our service work disposed of.
Holiday work was taken on from regional/ national brands including Pullman Holidays and UK Getaway, in addition to the launch of our own day trips programme. Schools, events and private hire work also increased.
Crossways was proud to be voted the MBF fleet operator of the Year 2018 and 2019.
Crossways joined forces with our friends at Southwestbus in 2018 to create Flexicoach. Flexicoach provides fictional 'on demand' coach travel throughout the UK, both as regular services and on an 'ad hoc' basis for events and holidays, using an online pre-booking system to book journeys.
We have partnered with fictional model bus companies throughout the UK to provide high quality services at an affordable cost.
More about Flexicoach can be found on their website, link here.
The 2020 Coronavirus Pandemic has required Crossways to adapt to the fast changing climate.
Whilst much of our work has changed or been indefinitely suspended, the company has been able to take advantage of the opportunities available to be able to build for the future.
Several significant new lines of work have included a College contract that will provide a significant amount of work for the majority of the fleet for the foreseeable future.
