East Thames Buses

East Thames Buses

Wright Eclipse Gemini bodied Volvo B7TL on route 1 in April 2007
Parent	Transport for London
Founded	1999
Defunct	2009
Service area	Greater London
Service type	Bus services
Routes	11
Fleet	Volvo B7TL DAF SB120 Scania OmniTown

East Thames Buses was a bus operator in London. It was a subsidiary of Transport for London. In 2009 it was sold to the Go-Ahead Group.

History

East Thames Buses was formed in 1999 to take over the services operated by the failed Harris Bus.^[1] It was then retained as an accredited operator to operate services in the event of their contracted operator being unable to do so. In August 2002 it was called in to operate routes 42 and 185 following the collapse of London Easylink.^[2]

On 3 October 2009 Transport for London sold East Thames Buses to the Go-Ahead Group who incorporated it into its London General.^[3]

Garages

When it was formed, East Thames Buses operated from the former London Forest and Kentish Bus Ash Grove Bus Garage and Harris's Belvedere Garage. On 13 October 2005 Ash Grove was vacated and operations transferred to Mandela Way, Southwark.

Mandela Way - West (MA)

East Lancs Myllennium bodied Scania N94UB on route 42 in June 2009

Plaxton President bodied Volvo B7TL on route 185 in December 2006

Mandela Way opened in late 2005 following the relocation from the existing base at Ash Grove. It had a Peak Vehicle Requirement of 53 buses and operated London bus routes 1, 42 and 185. When MA (Mandela Way - West) closed on 30 April 2010 it operated the following types of buses:

• Volvo B7TL 10m/Plaxton President (VP - Route 185, occasionally used on route 1)
• Volvo B7TL 10.6m/Wright Eclipse Gemini (VWL - Normally route 1)
• Scania N94UB 10.7m/East Lancs Myllennium (ELS - Route 42)
• Dennis Dart/Plaxton Pointers (on loan from London General)

Following on from Ash Grove's role, Mandela Way serviced the East Thames Buses fleet. In the last few months of East Thames Operation, route 1 moved next door to Mandela Way - East (MW) (the original London General depot) but were still maintained by the East Thames engineers.

Most of the routes once operated by Mandela Way - West were reallocated to London Central's & London General's other garages. The only exception was route 393 which has put back out to tender shortly after East Thames Buses took over the running of route 201 and moved to Mandela Way.

Belvedere (BV)

Belvedere garage was leased by Harris Bus in 1998 to house its operations that moved from Crayford. Harris Bus went into receivership in December 1999, and its routes and garage were taken over by East Thames Buses.

This garage has a peak vehicle requirement of 15 buses and operates routes 180 and part of 669 and N1. On 22 January 2011 route 244 transferred from London Central's Bexleyheath garage. Belvedere has always been classed as a satellite garage from an engineering point of view with very little routine maintenance ever taking place there, however limited engineering facilities existed at up until its parent garage changing to Bexleyheath.

Belvedere garage currently runs the following models:

• Volvo B7TL 10.6m/Wright Eclipse Gemini (VWL - Routes 180, N1)

Belvedere have operated the following routes.

• 1/N1 – some trips still run from BV (Belvedere), the main crux of the service has transferred over to MW (Mandela Way - East).
• 53 = Extras to supplement the service operated by Selkent PD (Plumstead) whilst the hole in Blackheath was being repaired
• 108/N108 = Now operated by NX (New Cross)
• 132 = Now operated by BX (Bexleyheath)
• 180 = still run from BV (Belvedere)
• 185 = Now run from Q (Camberwell)
• 201 = During the initial takeover of the route, 50% of the trips were run from BV (Belvedere)
• 661 = Now Operated by BX
• 669 = 1 Bus still operates from BV, the other operates from BX
• L1, L1X, L2, L3 – Harris Bus operated Lakeside trips from Orpington, Bexleyheath, Swanley and Gravesend respectively but all of these routes were withdrawn by the time East Thames Buses took over. The Welling L4 was never scheduled to run from BV (Belvedere).

See also

• List of bus operators of the United Kingdom

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to East Thames Buses.

• TfL buses
• London Bus Routes Zenfolio

Go-Ahead Group United Kingdom bus companies Anglian Bus Brighton & Hove Carousel Buses Go-Ahead London Blue Triangle Docklands Buses London Central London General Go North East Go South Coast Bluestar Marchwood Motorways Uni-link Damory Coaches Southern Vectis Wilts & Dorset More Salisbury Reds Tourist Group Hedingham Chambers Konectbus Metrobus Oxford Bus Company Plymouth Citybus Thames Travel United Kingdom railway companies (as Govia) Govia Thameslink Railway including Thameslink and Great Northern London Midland Southeastern Southern including Gatwick Express Defunct UK operations Aviance UK East Thames Buses Meteor Parking Solent Blue Line Thames Trains Thameslink (Govia)

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