Not often do new operators come onto the coaching scene. With high outlay for vehicles, a stringent regulatory landscape and a list of perennial challenges from recruitment to parking and congestion, it’s no surprise that the industry is made up of established players.
But for Berkshire-based Green Metro Coaches, coach and bus is a new venture, and the future. Green as a descriptor is apt; only 10 months have passed since it was founded in late 2024. But the company already operates a mixed fleet of 12 coaches, buses and minibuses, and plans to double that figure to 24 by 2026. With confidence and rapid growth planned in a short space of time, its owners are still learning how to maximise work — but are now at the stage where they understand where they want the business to go, and the best way of getting there.
From cars to coaches
Before coaches, there was Green Metro Cars, founded 15 years ago by Mushtaq Ahmed, who had bought a small taxi company with ambitions to expand. 10 years ago, he was joined by Alan Parkinson, who had been licensing taxi firms since 2000. Alan had been looking to retire and simply drive a cab, but upon learning of his experience, Mushtaq recruited him to help the taxi company expand as fast as possible.
“Mushtaq is an outright entrepreneur,” Alan, now General Manager, says. “We work well together because he is fierce, in that entrepreneurial way. I have mine and he has his opinions and together we find a way which is sensible, but fast enough for him to cope. He doesn’t like to do anything slowly — we spark off each other. And he’s the only reason I’m still here.”
As its rapid expansion shows, speed has been a strong aspect at Green Metro. It has to come quickly, due to dependence on turnover. Getting that critical mass is what affords breathing space. But Mushtaq is convinced coach and bus presents huge opportunities for growth. “After running a taxi company for 15 years and realising the unpredictable nature of this industry, it seemed like the right thing to do with the experience we had — to move into coaches, as this industry has a much brighter future,” he says.
The company’s coach arm was launched as an extension of school transport it was already undertaking through the taxi firm. Green Metro saw the direction of travel for school transport and recognised coaches would help it maintain its position in the market. “We knew that as councils struggled with funding, they would want to put more children on each vehicle because of economies of scale,” explains Alan. “As the largest school run operator in the area we didn’t want to lose our position.”
Not long after, Mushtaq realised the other opportunities that came with entry into coaches; one has been in private hire. To facilitate the move into private hire, Green Metro subdivided into separate companies, with a second company undertaking school runs in smaller vehicles based in Wokingham, and an operating centre in the same area connected to home-to-school transport.
Having two entities and two different sites is a better way according to Alan, who has worked closely with local authorities in the region for some 20 years, and who says, for them, school buses were a new concept. “It’s regular work,” he adds, “but it is never going to make you rich.”
In the early days the company began with two 22-seater Mercedes-Benz Sprinters. They were joined by a 29-seat Atego Turas and a 37-seat AOS Grand Toro. Other vehicles in the fleet now include two more Sprinters, three Yutongs — two with 53 seats, one with 37 — two 33-seat Iveco Dailys, and a 74-seat Scania MOBIpeople.
Eight- and six-seater vehicles are used alongside the 22-seat Sprinters on school duties, while the larger vehicles are predominantly used for private hire work.
Having explored various seat configurations, Alan says 53-seat coaches are likely to be the preference moving forward. “They have a toilet, and running costs are not that different to smaller sizes, but they give more flexibility. Mushtaq realised the executive and luxury side is where the money is, which is why we have started buying brand-new vehicles. There is also the fact that maintenance on coaches is high, and it’s a lot less headache to have new vehicles under guarantee.”
Most work comes through partner aggregators, and a smaller percentage through Green Metro’s website. That makes sense for a fresh operator; aggregation enables Green Metro to leverage the professional service of companies that have been in business longer than itself. It has also set up in tandem with a startup in this field, and both businesses have been fashioned to grow from one another. “It’s providing an enormous amount of quality work, with little room for error, and I don’t want to give that up,” Alan says. “The website is an advertising tool, and we will take work from it, but when it’s quiet, you need help. We’re taking bookings for the quiet period now. That’s always the fear in coaches — that it gets to November, and you will be left with nine drivers and no work for them.”
‘Run like a family’
According to its owners, Green Metro is proudly “run like a family.” Owner Mushtaq does everything “on a personal level” and brings a high ethical standard to every level of the business, from how customers are treated to how drivers are treated.
“If you want to survive in today’s world, you need to have a good relationship, both with the people you work with and your employees. That’s the way loyalty develops. Then they don’t leave you,” Alan says.
While the company has not long operated coaches, its 12 years as a taxi business means most conceivable customer-facing issues have been met. A large part of it is managing expectations, according to Alan. “The most important thing is to employ drivers that fit with the service you want to give,” he adds. “We are in the process of designing a training programme. When we get a driver, it’s part of the recruitment process to be trained in the way we want them to work.”
Mushtaq has ambitions to set up a driving academy, first for Green Metro’s own staff before potentially moving on to external candidates. “That isn’t on the immediate horizon,” Alan says, “as we have found through taxis, drivers get into bad habits. If you get them when they’re fresh, having just passed their test, there is more chance of them working the way you want them to.”
For now, training focus is on Mushtaq’s daughter Imaan Alam. Imaan turns 20 in August and is being fast-tracked through the business, absorbing as much as possible, with the intention of being able to run the coach company competently when the time comes. Mentoring is crucial to getting young persons’ buy-in, according to Alan — that allows new joiners to grow into a role.
“It was rocky at the beginning and at times still is,” he says. “But she’s incredibly capable and at times finds things that other people would feel are difficult to be second nature. At the end of the day, she’s young and has taken on a lot for a 19-year-old. As time goes by, she will gain more control, and she enjoys being in control.”
The challenge ahead
Bringing fresh eyes to the industry can make certain barriers more obvious. For Mushtaq, even coming from taxi operation, there have been surprises.
“One was just how complex and regulated it is behind the scenes,” he says. “From strict compliance with drivers’ hours and vehicle maintenance to navigating licensing and insurance, there’s a lot more administration than I initially expected.”
And while Alan admits the company has made rookie mistakes in its journey, managing driver times and work allocation has proven particularly difficult.
“Most of the software out there has been designed for regular bus routes,” he says. “When you have private hire and unknown timescales, it makes life very difficult to plan, and there isn’t really a dispatch software or coach management software that I would call complete yet. It’s a long journey, and AI will no doubt be involved, but there are so many variables that it’s difficult to maximise your fleet and your drivers.”
In an ideal world Alan would be able to input details for any private hire work into software that would reveal what drivers were available, the time it would take, and the amount of fuel needed, allowing for an instant quote to a customer. “That’s the holy grail,” he says. “Being able to tell the customer with surety that we can or cannot do a job, or whether we’re fully booked.”
In the meantime, a long-term goal is a tripling of the coach fleet size. Alan calls that safety in numbers. Green Metro Cars is successful because of volume. That gives self-sufficiency. Mushtaq agrees, and says financial muscle is necessary for anyone else trying to start a coach business; to that end, Green Metro’s growth has been entirely organic. “A strong set of backers or company accounts are essential to build your fleet in the early stages to ensure financial stability as you expand,” he says.
By the end of 2026, the operator will be looking to establish a permanent base, ideally a location that fits its purpose with good connections to the M5, M25 and M4. But finding land, with prices in Reading and restrictions on space, means there is a lot to consider. In the meantime, it continues to test the waters on what vehicles do and don’t work. With its proximity to London, zero-emission may also prove one day to be a policy decision for Mushtaq.
“We’re young, and we’re flexible,” Alan says. “We’ll deal with whatever comes down the road.”
