Ensignbus

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Ensign logo.

An Ensign Optare Spectra at the London Bus Preservation Trust's Cobham bus museum in 2008.

An Ensign coach at the 2008 LBPT Cobham bus rally.

An Ensign Alexander Royale bus at Showbus 2004.

Ensignbus is a Purfleet-based bus and coach dealer, open top bus tour operator and bus service operator. Ensignbus has amassed 20 ex-London vehicles of various ages and conditions in a transport museum.

Ensignbus owns parts of the City Sightseeing worldwide sightseeing tour operator. Ensignbus sells used buses from several major UK operators, and boasts "the largest stock of used double-deck buses in the world, with anywhere from 100-500 buses in stock".^[1] Ensignbus also hires out an unusual range of buses from service buses, open top buses and vintage vehicles.

Ensignbus was a former London tendered service operator twice in its history, and developed London Pride Sightseeing. It retains a small bus service network centred on Lakeside Shopping Centre and Grays Bus station.

1 Origin
2 Bus sales
3 Open top tour operations
4 London tendered services
5 Current bus services
6 See also
7 Notes
8 External links

[edit] Origin

Ensignbus was formed in 1972, with a small number of bus contracts. It went on to establish commercial services in Essex, and providing buses for specialist contracts such as rail replacement and temporary hire. Ensignbus has a blue and silver livery, with buses carrying the Ensignbus company name. [1][2][3] [4]

[edit] Bus sales

The company came to prominence in the UK bus scene when London Transport decided to dispose of its unpopular and poor performing Daimler Fleetline DM and DMS class buses from 1979. Ensignbus was the only company willing to bid for all these buses as one batch, numbering over 2000 buses, as preferred by London Transport.

As the vehicles arrived, Ensignbus moved to new premises in Purfleet, which became known as the 'DMS graveyards'. While the sheer numbers involved meant several vehicles just rotted away, Ensign made a success of selling on many of these buses to operators around the country and abroad, with many ex-municipal companies and new operators requiring cheap re-inforcements for enhanced competition due to deregulation of bus services in 1986. The standard London specification (eg. centre exit doors) was modified to various degrees to suit each buyer's needs, for regular bus work or open top tours.

During the London Pride operation Ensignbus continued selling buses in smaller numbers from a site in Rainham. With the sale of London Pride, Ensignbus moved to a new site in Purfleet, a short distance from the DMS graveyard, and accelerated its sales business.

[edit] Open top tour operations

Ensignbus operated several open top tour buses in London. Originally the tour buses ran in their standard blue/silver livery, with buses frequently passing between the tours, services and hires allocations. Ensignbus later expanded this operation (see London Pride Sightseeing).

Through links gained through selling open top buses to other operators around the world, Ensignbus, through London Pride, expanded the concept to other cities setting up new tours.

Starting in 1998 with an operation in Seville, Ensignbus launched a global sightseeing bus brand City Sightseeing at the World Travel Market in 1999 along a worldwide franchise model, and proceeded to rapidly expand into several cities. In May 2002 City Sightseeing bought out its main rival, Guide Friday.

[edit] London tendered services

Also as a result of deregulation, Ensignbus expanded into tendered London Bus service market in East London. Starting from one or two routes, Ensignbus gained a network of routes, using several second hand vehicles and batches of new vehicles:

8^[2] 1989-built Alexander-bodied Leyland Olympian double-deckers[5]
5^[3] 1989-built Northern Counties-bodied Leyland Olympian double-deckers [6]
16^[4] 1988-built MCW Metrobus double-deckers [7]

Ensignbus also inherited a batch of 1991-built Frontrunner South East sold to Ensign Bus Services in 1989. [8]

In 1990 Ensignbus sold its London tendered bus services to Hong Kong company Citybus, which rebranded the operations as Ensign Citybus and then Capital Citybus (now part of First London).

Ensignbus briefly re-entered London tendered service, taking over some of its original routes from First Capital who had bought Capital Citybus, before once again selling its London services in December 1999, this time to Town and Country buses.

[edit] Current bus services

Ensignbus currently operate a number of routes in the Thurrock area, which are listed below. The routes changed on Saturday 29 March 2008, with a new route 22 replacing routes 66 and 73 between Lakeside Shopping Centre and Aveley Usk Road. Full details and timetables can be found on the Ensignbus website.

Route Number	Route
22	Grays - Lakeside Shopping Centre - Derwent Parade - Belhus - Aveley Usk Road (Peak journeys continue to Upminster)
	Lakeside Shopping Centre - Chafford Hundred - Grays
	Lakeside Shopping Centre - Purfleet - Grays (Journeys continue to Orsett Hospital on weekdays)
	Lakeside Shopping Centre - Belhus - Lakeside Shopping Centre
	Lakeside Shopping Centre - Grays - Tilbury
73	Lakeside Shopping Centre - Grays - Tilbury (Monday to Saturday service)
80	Tilbury - Chafford Hundred Station - Lakeside Shopping Centre
X80	Chafford Hundred Station - Bluewater Shopping Centre