Anthony’s first with ‘secretly’ designed Barbi

Anthony’s Travel of Runcorn is to be the first operator to run a specially designed Barbi Galileo.

The newly designed coach is the result of a secret mission to Barbi’s plant in Portugal. A hand-picked group of UK-based operators selected by BASE Coach Sales, the dealer of Barbi coaches in the UK, were tasked with designing the new coach. The aim of the mission was to take the best of the Barbi and build a model for the future.

Among the selected coach operators was Richard Bamber, Managing Partner of Anthony’s Travel. He said: “We flew out to the factory to meet with the designers, each of us explained what makes the Galileo such a special vehicle within our fleets, what sets it apart and what if anything we would like to improve on whilst not losing the appeal and flair of the original vehicle. Or do we build the same? A series of designs with the modifications and styling changes were sent to each of the party for comment and over a period of time we were able to come up with a vehicle we feel will take the spirit of the Galileo into the next decade.

“In 2016 we purchased our first Barbi Galileo coach, we now operate four within our fleet, the coach is somewhat an industry secret and in an age of mass production it’s becoming increasingly rare to find a vehicle that’s truly bespoke. From our first coach entering our fleet the feedback from clients and drivers and the build quality, reliability and versatility of the vehicles has been amazing and we have been able to offer our customers something truly different. There is only a small group of operators with this type of coach but all have similar feedback and we all want more of these coaches. Once the design process was complete, the decision was who would be first to operate the new style vehicle and we jumped at the chance!”

Anthony’s Travel’s new coach will be to its Club Class specification, 12.5m in length, 36 seats and features the latest MAN technology. It is due for delivery in mid-March.

Nick Dodgson, General Manager of BASE Coach sales, said: “Richard is a well-known and respected member of the coaching community and having another family business want to work so closely with us has been great value to develop a bespoke niche vehicle with real individuality to the mass market offered currently.”

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