Stagecoach London

Stagecoach London (known until 2010 as East London Bus Group), is a bus company which principally operates services in the UK capital city of London, under contract to the London Buses arm of Transport for London. It was formed in 1989 as a subsidiary of London Buses. The company was privatised in 1994 and acquired by the Stagecoach Group, but sold to Macquarie Group in June 2006. It was reacquired by Stagecoach on 15 October 2010 and renamed as Stagecoach London.

History
Stagecoach London was created from East London Bus & Coach Company Ltd and South East London & Kent Bus Company Ltd. Both companies were acquired by the Stagecoach Group from state-owned London Buses when its subsidiaries were privatised. Legally these companies still exist, and Stagecoach London's buses carried legal lettering for either one or other of these companies.

Both the buses involved in the 7 July 2005 London Bombings, Trident 17758 and 21 July 2005 London Bombings, Trident 17762 belonged to Stagecoach London, both garaged at Stratford Garage (SD) now closed as part of the Olympic Park redevelopment and replaced by a new Garage in Stephenson Street, West Ham (WH).



On 23 June 2006 the Stagecoach Group agreed to sell its London operations to the Macquarie Group. Stagecoach gave permission to use the Stagecoach London name for a limited time. Quickly the fleets both turned all-over red again, and were given back their old logos, albeit in lower-case lettering rather than capitals. The parent company became known as East London Bus Group.

On 15 October 2010, the Stagecoach Group announced that is was re-acquiring the business from Macquarie for a sum of nearly £59 million, which represents a significant profit for Stagecoach since it sold the company to Macquarie for £263.6 million in June 2006.

Operation
Stagecoach London operates London contracted services under the brands East London, Selkent and Thameside, but these brands tended to be overwhelmed by the much stronger London Buses brand. There also used to be a coaching operation under the brand East London Coaches which ceased operation in February 2007 and a Travelshop which closed in March 2009 that was based at the Company's Ilford Head Office. The Office is now at the new West Ham Garage in Stephenson Street, Canning Town, London E16.