bodied
Leyland Olympian in High Wycombe in July 2009 in the original livery for route A40 in High Wycombe in July 2009 Carousel Buses was formed in 2000 by Steve Burns and John Robinson. It initially expanded by winning
Buckinghamshire County Council contracts. In August 2003 route A40 High Wycombe to
Heathrow Airport commenced, initially using second-hand
Leyland Olympian double-deckers. By April 2004 these had been replaced by new low-floor
Mercedes-Benz Citaro single-deck buses, in a dedicated silver and red livery. The route, which ran in partnership with Buckinghamshire County Council and
Heathrow Airport Holdings, was formally introduced in January 2004. The company launched a new commercial route in June 2004, replacing services withdrawn by
Arriva The Shires between High Wycombe and
Lane End. In March 2008 Carousel introduced routes 35 and 36, branded as Purple Route, to replace a withdrawn Arriva Shires & Essex service to
Flackwell Heath. The 35 was temporarily withdrawn in January 2010 because of road conditions, but was later restored. Arriva Shires & Essex currently run a combined 35 service with Carousel, with Carousel operating all daytime services, and Arriva operating evening and Sunday journeys. In October 2008 the majority of services to
Winchmore Hill were withdrawn, leaving the village with just one bus a day. In August 2009 route 336, which had previously run between
Watford and
Amersham, was extended to High Wycombe reinstating a through link for the first time in 30 years. The network of routes linking
Chesham and Amersham, numbered 373, 374 and 375, were rationalised into two routes, the 71 and 73, running hourly between the two locations. These routes have since changed to Red Rose Travel, linking Whelpley Hill and Ley Hill to Hilltop, Chesham Broadway, Chesham Bois, Amersham Station, Quill Hall Estate, Little Chalfont, Penn Street, Coleshill and Winchmore Hill, where Carousel no longer serves. In September 2009 two new routes were introduced, route 740 supplemented the A40 between High Wycombe and
Uxbridge, increasing the overall frequency to every 30 minutes and incorporating
Beaconsfield, and route 730 from
Chesham to Heathrow Airport. A further change saw the existing route to Lane End replaced by new circular routes 2A and 2C in April 2010. These are no longer Carousel services. In March 2012 Carousel Buses was purchased by the
Go-Ahead Group. Carousel retains its identity, with its management passing to the group's
Oxford Bus Company operation. Go-Ahead had previously operated services in the High Wycombe area under the Wycombe Bus name, but sold this operation to Arriva in December 2000. On 3 June 2018, their 'Link' network became the 'Chiltern Hundreds'. Routes 101/102 link
High Wycombe and
Uxbridge, route 103 links High Wycombe and
Watford, route 104 links High Wycombe and
Slough via and
Gerrards Cross, and route 105 links
Hemel Hempstead with
Uxbridge via
Amersham,
Chesham,
Gerrards Cross and the Chalfonts. The network also introduced a frequency of every 15 minutes between High Wycombe and
Beaconsfield and a direct link to
Wexham Park Hospital from High Wycombe, Beaconsfield and Gerrards Cross. On 25 July 2022, Route 103 was withdrawn between
Watford and
Amersham and was rerouted to serve
Chesham. Carousel buses said that the service was "financially sustainable" and that passenger use was low in the withdrawn section of the route. It also said that
Hertfordshire County Council is planning a replacement service.
Arriva introduced the replacement named route 336 between Watford and Amersham. Route 105 operating between
Chesham and
Uxbridge was withdrawn, but a timetable change on routes 106/7 between
Amersham and
Slough replaced it. Both routes were also extended up to
Chesham in the mornings and began to stop at
Little Chalfont as the 103 ceased serving the area. The link 40 was taken over by Red Rose Travel. As of 8 January 2023, the route 41 from
Great Missenden railway station to
High Wycombe bus station was transferred to Carousel from Arriva Beds & Bucks (operating under
Arriva Shires & Essex); the route was later extended to Amersham. In August 2023, the 103 route was extended from Slough to Windsor as well as taking over route 275 between High Wycombe and Oxford from Red Rose. In May 2024
Arriva proposed the closure of their Aylesbury & High Wycombe depots, with Carousel Buses saying they would take over any withdrawn services. With Carousel reintroducing "Going back to the 30's" routes around Wycombe Town Centre (e.g. 30 Downley Circular, 31 High Wycombe-Sir William Ramsay School, Tyler's Green-Penn-Beaconsfield so on) In April 2025, Carousel took over a number of
Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead and
Buckinghamshire Council contracted services in the Maidenhead/Windsor and Chesham areas, significantly expanding their area of operation. In July 2025, it was announced that new services would be introduced, increasing the number of buses between
High Wycombe and
Beaconsfield. New route 105 would connect
Beaconsfield To the Chalfonts,
Amersham and
Chesham. In addition, the number of buses on route 103 between
High Wycombe and
Slough would be increased to every 30 minutes, extending to
Windsor every 30 minutes on Mondays to Saturdays and every hour on Sundays. Route 104 would have its Sunday services run hourly between
Beaconsfield, The Chalfonts,
Gerrards Cross and
Uxbridge. In July 2025, Carousel Buses also celebrated 25 years of operation. The company celebrated this anniversary with an event taking place at their depot in
High Wycombe that reunited multiple colleagues and managing directors. The company was later delivered 9
Alexander Dennis Enviro200s in 2 different sizes. 4 of the buses were painted in a livery specified for bus routes in the
Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead and were put to service on routes 3, 3A, 4 and 9, with 3 others being set to operate routes 37 and 10/10A that give links to
High Wycombe and
Staines. The remaining 2 entered service on "Carousel Country" services around
Buckinghamshire and
Berkshire. == References ==