Metrobus (Go-Ahead Group)
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| Metrobus | |
| Parent Company | Go-Ahead Group |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1983 |
| Headquarters | Crawley |
| Locale | South London, East Surrey, West Sussex, North-west Kent |
| Service Area | United Kingdom |
| Service Type | Bus |
| Routes | 100 |
| Hubs | Crawley Croydon Orpington |
| Fleet | AEC Routemaster (1) Dennis Dart (152) Dennis Lance (2) Dennis Trident (6) Mercedes Sprinter (1) Optare Solo (2) Scania CN94 (46) Scania N94 (110) Scania Omnitown (23) Volvo Olympian (25) |
| Operator | |
| Website | http://www.metrobus.co.uk/ |
Metrobus (a subsidiary of the Go-Ahead Group) operates local bus services in south and south-east London, and parts of Surrey, Kent, West Sussex and East Sussex.
Their Head Office address is:
- Crawley Depot
- Wheatstone Close
- CRAWLEY
- West Sussex
- RH10 9UA
Contents |
[edit] Company history
Initially, its headquarters were in Orpington and became a significant independent operator of routes contracted to London Transport (later Transport for London). Expansion into Surrey and Kent followed following the takeover of East Surrey Buses.
On 24 September 1983, Metrobus Ltd was formed by a management buyout of the London operations from the parent company, Tillingbourne. In 1999 it was acquired by the Go-Ahead Group, a major bus group (with its origins in the North-East of England) which also operates the Southeastern and Southern rail franchises.
Following the decision by Arriva to discontinue its operations in Crawley and most of Surrey, Metrobus purchased Arriva's premises in Crawley to develop a commercial bus network in the town. This led to Metrobus moving its headquarters to Crawley. In addition, Metrobus secured the tender to operate local buses in the Redhill/Reigate area.
Metrobus is the operator of the Fastway guided bus network in Gatwick and Crawley which opened in September 2003.
[edit] Fleet livery
Fleet livery is blue and yellow, though buses used on Transport for London contracts are red with discreet blue and yellow striping. However, a new two-tone blue livery was introduced in late 2005 with the arrival of a batch of Scania OmniCitys. Fastway buses are dark blue and silver. One bus operated for Kent Country Council is yellow with a blue skirt.
[edit] Garages
They have 4 bus garages.
[edit] Crawley
Their address is:
- Wheatstone Close
- CRAWLEY
- RH10 9UA
This garage runs London bus routes 405 and 420. Non-London bus routes that are run from here include 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 10, 20, 23, 24, 82, 84, 100, 200, 271, 273, 281, 291, 405, 420, 430, 435, 460, 473 and many more.
[edit] History
[edit] Bus types in use
[edit] Croydon
Their address is:
- 134 Beddington Lane
- CROYDON
- CR0 4TD
This garage holds 74 buses, and runs London bus routes 64, 127, 130, 146, 356, 359, 367, 434, 466, X26, school route 664, and Tramlink feeder route T33.
[edit] History
A new depot opened by Metrobus in December 2005 to house route 127 which had been surrendered early by the current operator Centra. Work is still continuing on the garage buildings, but it is anticipated that Croydon Depot will eventually house most of the TfL contracts held by Metrobus that serve the Croydon area. This garage took over the London routes that ran from Godstone with the expection of the 146 and 246 which moved to Orpington. Now in 2006, there was a need to move the 405 back to Crawley as there was not enough staff to be able to operate it from Croydon.
[edit] Bus types in use
[edit] Green Street Green
Their address is:
- Oak Farm
- Farnborough Hill
- ORPINGTON
- BR6 6DA
This garage holds 84 buses, and runs London bus routes 138, 146, 181, 246, 261, 284, 320, 336, 352, 354, 358, B14, R2, R7, R8, 24-hour route 119, and school route 664.
[edit] History
A former farm, Green Street Green depot was for many years the only garage for all of Metrobus' London tendered routes since the award of route 61 in 1986. More recently routes have been operated from Godstone and in December 2005 a new depot was constructed in Croydon to cope with new tender awards. The depot and company have steadily grown over the years and in 1999 the company was purchased by the 'Go Ahead Group' for the sum of £14million. During mid-2005 major reconstruction started on the Green Street Green site to make improvements and provide an expansion. During these works a temporary base is being used at Polhill in Kent which was the former base of Southlands Travel, a company once owned by Metrobus, and which was later acquired by Sullivan Buses.
In the early 1990s, Metrobus operated their "Wealdsman" 746 service, as a complimentary service to the Surrey Hills weekend leisure bus network. Metrobus used a specially painted blue and yellow AEC Regal IV (RF-class) vehicle, for the long service between Bromley and Tunbridge Wells, connecting with other leisure services (London & Country Routemaster service 410 to Box Hill) at Westerham.
[edit] Bus types in use
- Dennis Dart SLF/Plaxton Pointer
- Dennis Dart SLF/Plaxton Pointer 2
- Dennis Dart SLF/Alexander Dennis Pointer
- Dennis Trident/East Lancs Lolyne
- Scania OmniDekka
- Volvo Olympian/East Lancs Pyoneer
- Volvo Olympian/NC Palatine 1
[edit] Polhill
This garage was temporary and is now closed down as the building work at Green Street Green has finished and buses have been brought back.
[edit] See also
| Companies operating buses under contract to London Buses |
|---|
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Arriva London | Arriva Shires & Essex | Arriva Southern Counties | Blue Triangle | CT Plus Docklands Buses | Ealing Community Transport | East London | East Thames Buses First London | London Central | London General | Metrobus | Metroline | NCP-Challenger Quality Line | Selkent | Sullivan Buses | Transdev London | Travel London | Uno |
| Also, see Bus garages in London for operating codes. |
| Bus operators owned by Go-Ahead |
|---|
| Brighton & Hove | Diamond | Docklands Buses | Go North East | Go West Midlands | London Central London General | Metrobus | Oxford Bus Company | Solent Blue Line | Southern Vectis | Wilts and Dorset |
