London Pride Sightseeing

London Pride Sightseeing
Founded	March 1973
Service area	Greater London
Fleet	MCW Metroliner

London Pride Sightseeing was an open top sightseeing bus operator in London.

History

In 1983, the state owned London Transport ceased operating their Round London Sightseeing Tour operation as the market was opened up to competition by the government. This had been run since March 1973.

A number of companies established private tour bus companies in London. In 1984, Emmerheath Ltd., one such private operator, established the Grand Guided Tour of London as London Pride Sightseeing, with a white/pink/orange livery, a small operation with 10 buses and operating from one stop.

In 1985 London Pride merged with Ensignbus, who had also started their own tour operation, with Emmerheath buses being repainted into Ensignbus standard blue/silver, with London Pride markings.

Ensign had a competitive advantage with its ready supply of Fleetlines being disposed of early by London Transport into its sales business. As part of this, Ensign had developed expertise in half and full open-top conversion of these vehicles. Ensignbus had, ironically, earlier operated brand-new DMS-class Fleetlines under contract on the Round London Sightseeing Tour.^[1]

Ensign went on to develop London Pride with the open-top vehicles, multiple stops, 24-hour operation and tickets, shuttle buses, different routes and attraction tie-ins. It also introduced the use of high capacity tri-axle coach vehicle on open-top operation, such as the MCW Metroliner.

After the sale of the Ensign's London tendered routes to Capital Citybus, London Pride gained a dedicated plum/silver version of Ensignbus livery, and prominent This is an official London Sightseeing bus markings.

From 1985, and into the 1990s, most of the other tour operators in London either ceased trading, or sold out to Ensign (Culture Bus, Ebdon's, London Tour Co, London Hop on Hop off Ltd and Cityrama), leaving only London Pride and The Big Bus Company in the market.

In 1998, the expanded London Pride operation was sold by Ensign to a private consortium. Following London Pride, Ensign went on to produce the City Sightseeing global franchise model, starting tours around the world. After London Pride's new owners failed to grow the business, it was sold back to Ensignbus in November 2000.^[2] Ensign proceeded to transform London Pride into a City Sightseeing operation. In March 2001, Ensign sold this London City Sightseeing operation to Arriva along the franchise operator model, with Ensign retaining vehicles, property and engineering staff to further develop the brand elsewhere. Arriva merged it into their London tour operator The Original Tour.^[3]

References

↑ Ians Bus Stop DMS class page
↑ Guide Friday news release
↑ The Original Tour About Us page, November 2007

Former bus companies operating in England
North West England	Birkenhead Transport Blackburn Transport Blue Bus & Coach Services Bluebird Bus & Coach Bu-Val Buses ChesterBus Citibus Tours Crosville Motor Services Finglands Coachways First Chester & The Wirral GHA Coaches Glenvale Transport GM Buses John Fishwick & Sons JPT Lancashire United Transport Maynes Bus Maytree Travel MTL North Western Road Car Company (1923) North Western Road Car Company (1986) Pennine Blue Red & White Services Ribble Motor Services Speedwellbus Transdev Northern Blue UK North Yelloway Motor Services
North East England	Black Prince Buses BrightBus Busways Travel Services Durham Travel Services Geldards Coaches Jolly Bus Mexborough and Swinton Traction Company Northern General Transport Company OK Motor Services Samuel Ledgard South Yorkshire Transport Tates Travel United Automobile Services Venture Transport West Riding Automobile Company West Yorkshire Road Car Company Yorkshire Rider Yorkshire Terrier Yorkshire Traction
Midlands	A2Z Travel Barton Transport Birmingham City Transport Birmingham Motor Traction Chase Coaches First Northampton Glossopdale Bus Company Go West Midlands Ludlows North Birmingham Busways People's Express Premiere Travel Probus Management South Notts Bus Company Stevensons of Uttoxeter Travel Merry Hill Travel Your Bus Wesley Coaches Zak's Buses
Eastern England	Eastern National Omnibus Company MK Metro TWH Bus & Coach
South West England	Badgerline Bristol Omnibus Company Devon General Greyhound Motors Great Western Railway Hants & Dorset Motor Services Shamrock Buses Southern National Sureline Trathens Travel Services Truronian WebberBus Western Greyhound Western National
South East England	Alder Valley Aldershot & District Traction Badger Vectis Boro'line Maidstone Brijan Tours Bygone Buses Cavendish Motor Services Centra City Clipper Countryliner East Kent Road Car Company Epsom Coaches Invictaway Kent Top Travel Maidstone & District Motor Services Maidstone Corporation Transport Marchwood Motorways Moss Motor Tours Portsmouth Corporation Transport Shamrock Buses Southampton Citybus Southdown Motor Services Thames Transit Thames Valley Traction Tillingbourne Bus Company Velvet Yellow Bus Services
Greater London	Bexleybus Birch Brothers Boro'line London Capital Citybus Capital Logistics Connex East Thames Buses First London Grey-Green Harris Bus Imperial Buses London Buslines London Country Bus Services London Country North East London Country North West London Country South East London Country South West London Easylink London Electrobus Company London Forest London Pride Sightseeing London Traveller MTL NSL Buses Thorpes Travel London Travel Surrey Westlink

Scotland

Former bus companies operating in Scotland
Scottish Bus Group	Central Scottish Clydeside Scottish Eastern Scottish Highland Scottish Kelvin Central Buses Kelvin Scottish Lowland Scottish Midland Scottish Northern Scottish Western Scottish
Other operators	Arriva Scotland West A1 Service Dart Buses First Stop Travel Gibson's of Moffat McKindless Munro's of Jedburgh Oban and District Scottish Motor Traction Strathclyde Buses Western SMT

Wales

Former bus companies operating in Wales
Companies	Crosville Motor Services GHA Coaches Islwyn Borough Transport National Welsh Omnibus Services Padarn Bus Red & White Services Rhondda Transport Company South Wales Transport Western Welsh

Bus operators in London
London	Abellio London Arriva Arriva London Arriva Shires & Essex Arriva Southern Counties Big Bus Tours CT Plus Go-Ahead London Blue Triangle Docklands Buses London Central London General Golden Tours Metroline RATP Group London Sovereign London United Quality Line The Original Tour Redwing Coaches Stagecoach London East London Selkent Thameside Sullivan Buses Tower Transit Uno
National	Megabus National Express
London Transport portal

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London Pride Sightseeing

History

References

See also