A Leyland Olympian of Capital Citybus operating route 212 at Chingford. |
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| Founded | 1990 |
|---|---|
| Defunct | 1998 |
| Service area | Greater London |
| Routes | 43 |
Capital Citybus was a major bus operator for London Buses in North and East London. The company was eventually sold to First in 1998. Capital Citybus is not to be confused with the other former London bus and coach operator Capital Logistics, for whom in 1999 it provided amongst others relief buses for the troubled route 60 start up.
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The company was established in 1990 with the purchase of the London tendered bus services of Ensignbus by the Hong Kong businessman T T Tsui and his conglomerate CNT Holdings, which also owned bus operator Citybus.
Citybus purchased the London tendered routes, one garage and some vehicles. The company was rebranded Capital Citybus and gained a large number of routes after the collapse of London Buses subsidiary London Forest in 1991 and further tendering. Later, on December 21, 1995, CNT Holdings sold Capital Citybus to a Management Buy Out Team of the company.
In 1998 Capital Citybus became the second London bus operator to be sold to FirstGroup, after Centrewest. After a period of initially separate operation, the company has been fully amalgamated into the other First London operations, and the Capital name has been dropped from buses. The yellow f adorning the front of some buses is a reminder of the Capital Citybus livery.
Capital Citybus saw service on the following London bus routes
As Capital Citybus originated from Ensign, the fleet experienced several livery iterations from their inherited blue and silver scheme, starting out as merely Ensign blue/silver vehicles with Ensign Citybus fleetnames painted over where the Ensignbus name was, into variations of yellow and silver. [42][43][44].
The company settled on an allover yellow livery with stylised C logos either side of the destination blind on the front of the bus. Initially buses had red fleetnames incorporating the Chinese characters "城巴" (Citybus) and the stylised C with the Capital Citybus name [45], along with taglines such as "moving comfortably ahead" and "here today... here tomorrow". After the sale of the company to its management, the fleetname was subsequently modified to just Capital Citybus. with the Chinese characters and stylised C phased out [46].
Capital Citybus was a frequent contractor for British Rail and London Underground replacement service work, and during its existence operated specially liveried vehicles for Docklands Light Railway [47] and the East London Line [48][49] replacement services.
As the regulations changed regarding London tendered service liveries, a revised mainly red livery was introduced [50].
As the company passed into First ownership, for a time there existed a subtly different First Capital red and yellow livery with the First Group flying f replacing the Citybus C on the front of buses, and First Capital replacing the Capital Citybus fleetname [51]. Now only the frontal f remains in an allover red First livery.
Capital Citybus bought large numbers of new vehicles throughout the 1990s. These included the majority of the relatively rare Dennis Arrow double-decker.
In addition to its new buses, Capital Citybus employed many second-hand vehicles, many from Ensign.
An early articulated bus, the Leyland-DAB appeared in Capital Citybus livery, with blinds for the London Red Arrow service [79].
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