Cavendish Motor Services

A Cavendish Motor Services Dennis Dart SLF in Eastbourne on route 11, shortly before Stagecoach Group acquired the company.
Slogan	The Lighthouse Line
Parent	Stagecoach Group
Founded	2006
Defunct	2009
Headquarters	Polegate & Eastbourne
Locale	East Sussex
Service area	Eastbourne
Service type	bus service
Alliance	Eastbourne Buses
Hubs	Eastbourne, Polegate & Hailsham
Fleet	fleet list
Operator	Stagecoach Group
Website	www.cavendishmotorservices.co.uk

Cavendish Motor Services was a bus operator running within the Borough of Eastbourne and the surrounding area such as Polegate and Hailsham. It was the sister company of Renown Coaches of Bexhill. The buses ran in a distinctive green and cream livery, similar to the pre-1968 Southdown Motor Services livery.

In January 2009, Cavendish Motor Services were sold to the Stagecoach Group, along with rival bus company Eastbourne Buses. The launch of a combined network branded as Stagecoach in Eastbourne was delayed following a lengthy enquiry by the Competition Commission, which finally permitted this in October 2009.^[1] Cavendish's parent company, Renown Coaches, has retained its separate identity and ownership.

History

Cavendish Motor Services started operations on 13 March 2006.

Initially they ran just two routes:^[2]

• route 10 from Eastbourne Old Town (bottom of Central Avenue) to The Crumbles ASDA via the Town Centre and Seaside
• route 11 from Eastbourne Old Town to Hailsham Town Centre via the Town Centre, Seaside and Stone Cross.

Gradually more routes were added to their network, and routes which initially only ran on weekdays were expanded to run on Saturdays as well (Cavendish never operated services on Sundays). On 5 September 2008, service 9 which had run between Sainsbury's in Hampden Park, Eastbourne's District General Hospital, Cherry Garden Road, the Town Centre and Meads was withdrawn.^[3] The route was replaced by re-routing service 10 between Hill Road and Old Town, and providing a new service 20 from Meads to Langney from Monday 8 September.^[3] However, on 1 December 2008, service 9 was re-instated between Meads and the Hospital, but running between the Town Centre and the hospital via a different route.^[4]

Sale to Stagecoach

In January 2009, Cavendish Motor Services was sold to Stagecoach Group. This came a month after the group bought rival bus company Eastbourne Buses. Because of this, tickets for either company were accepted on both sets of services, but not on the Stagecoach-branded Hastings buses. The sum Stagecoach paid for the company has not been revealed.^[5]

Stagecoach later announced 40 job losses.^[6]

Fares

Since starting operations, the normal fares on Cavendish services were set lower than those of their main rival, Eastbourne Buses: initially at an introductory £1 fare,^[2] although that was quickly increased to £1.30. This difference was maintained in subsequent fare rises.^[7]

Services

Cavendish worked with their parent company Renown Coaches to run services to Hailsham and Seaford via Polegate. Some routes were in direct competition with parts of the Eastbourne Buses network: in at least two cases services withdrawn by Eastbourne Buses were partially re-instated by the firm,^[8][9] which has given them some additional public support.^[10][4]

See also

• List of bus operators of the United Kingdom
• Renown Coaches
• Eastbourne Buses

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cavendish Motor Services.

Bus companies operating in South East England Berkshire Arriva Shires & Essex Bath Bus Company Courtney Buses First Berkshire & The Thames Valley Fleet Buzz Reading Buses Newbury Buses Stagecoach in Hampshire Thamesdown Transport Thames Travel The Green Bus White Bus Services Wilts & Dorset Buckinghamshire Arriva Shires & Essex Carousel Buses First Berkshire & The Thames Valley Stagecoach East East Sussex Arriva Southern Counties Bath Bus Company Brighton & Hove Compass Travel Cuckmere Buses Metrobus Renown Coaches Southdown PSV Stagecoach South East Stagecoach in Hastings Stagecoach in Eastbourne The Sussex Bus Hampshire AMK Group Bluestar Brijan Tours Damory Emsworth & District First Hampshire & Dorset Fleet Buzz Reading Transport Newbury Buses Reading Buses Stagecoach South Stagecoach in Hampshire Stagecoach in Hants & Surrey Stagecoach in Portsmouth Stagecoach in the South Downs Uni-link Wilts & Dorset Xelabus Hertfordshire Arriva Shires & Essex Arriva London Centrebus Excel Passenger Logistics Metroline SM Coaches Stagecoach East Sullivan Buses Uno Isle of Wight Southern Vectis Island Breezers Kent Arriva Southern Counties The Kings Ferry Metrobus Nu-Venture Stagecoach South East (Stagecoach in East Kent) Sullivan Buses Southdown PSV Oxfordshire Arriva Shires & Essex Oxford Bus Company Reading Transport Newbury Buses Reading Buses Stagecoach Oxfordshire (Oxford Tube) Thamesdown Transport Thames Travel Surrey Abellio Surrey Arriva Guildford & West Surrey Arriva London Atbus Compass Travel Countywide Travel Epsom Coaches (Quality Line) First Berkshire & The Thames Valley Fleet Buzz London General Metrobus Safeguard Coaches Southdown PSV Stagecoach South Stagecoach in Hampshire Stagecoach in Hants & Surrey Sullivan Buses The Green Bus Transdev London West Sussex Arriva Southern Counties Arriva Guildford & West Surrey New Enterprise Coaches Brighton & Hove Compass Travel Emsworth & District Tellings-Golden Miller Minerva Accord Metrobus Southdown PSV Stagecoach South Stagecoach in Hampshire Stagecoach in Hants & Surrey The Big Lemon The Sussex Bus National Megabus National Express

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