NAT Group
New Adventure Travel (trading as NAT Group) is a bus and coach company in South Wales. It is a subsidiary of ComfortDelGro. History. Established in 2008 with four buses, New Adventure Travel has now grown to have over 100 buses and coaches in its fleet from May 2020 - with most buses being second-hand from London. New Adventure Travel purchased Humphrey's Coaches of Pontypridd in 2011, and has since purchased the businesses of VR Travel of Merthyr Tydfil in October 2013 and Select Local Bus of Neath in 2015. In February 2018 the business was purchased by  ComfortDelGro. Adam Keen of Damory Coaches was appointed managing director of New Adventure Travel. It was confirmed in late 2019 that the business is being progressively rebranded to AdventureTravel - with the coaching side of the business being rebranded to AdventureCoachlines. In May 2020, NAT Group permanently ceased all operational work in mainland Europe due to COVID-19 pandemic, and is now focusing on its United Kingdom bus and coach services. Routes. NAT Group have won various routes in their operation, these include: Controversy. In May 2015 the company faced criticism for two adverts on the back of its route X1 buses  which showed a scantily clad woman and man holding a placard saying "Ride me all day for £3". NAT Group said that the advertising campaign had been a "tongue-in-cheek" effort to target the younger generation and no offence had been intended, but that due to the volume of complaints, it would remove the adverts immediately. In March 2019, NAT Group was fined £17,550 for buses not running to registered timetables. The company also had 4 buses taken off the road due to them having defects. ComfortDelGro claimed this was due to staff shortages, and the company  have since implemented new software with better monitors to make sure routes run the schedule. 2019 saw residents of Thornhill, Cardiff rebel against NAT Group's X8 service. The route has since been amended. Fleet. As of July 2020, NAT Group operated around 120 vehicles out of depots in Cardiff, Pontypridd and Swansea. The bus service fleet mainly consists of second-hand vehicles, either from London operators or their sister company, Metroline. The group also previously operated older vehicles like Alexander ALX400 and Plaxton President, but due to the fleet standardisation program they have all been retired. NAT Group currently , as of May 2020, operate the following vehicles in their bus service fleet: Depots. NAT Group's headquarters are at Coaster Place in Cardiff. However, the company also operate depots at Taff's Well (Pontypridd) and Swansea. The group have also previously operated depots at the following locations: Newport Depot. NAT Group previously ran a number of commercial services to compete with Newport Bus after NAT Group won their school services, enabling them to run bus routes off the back of them. Subsequently, NAT Group withdrew from Newport and closed its Newport depot. The only NAT Group routes that remain  in Newport are the R1 between Newport bus station and Risca, and the Sainsbury's Free Bus - both these routes are run by the group's Cardiff depot. NAT Group. Skewen. Following the purchase of Select Local Bus of Neath, NAT Group ran a number of ex-Select routes and vehicles from this depot. NAT Group has now largely withdrawn from Neath and only provides limited services. Abercrave. NAT Group purchased the Abercrave depot when Crossgates Coaches ceased trading. The depot was used for storage but was sold and is now closed.