White Bus Services

White Bus Services, is a bus and coach company based in Winkfield, Berkshire, England. Founded in 1930, it operates a bus service between Ascot and Windsor under the Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead Borough Bus name, as well as services to schools in the Windsor, Maidenhead and Wokingham areas. The company also provides coaches for private hire, which can be seen across London and the south of England.

History
White Bus Services was created in December 1930 when the current owners grandfather William Rule Jeatt, who owned the village forge in Winkfield entered into an agreement to purchase the service between Windsor Castle and Sunninghill for £100.00 from a Mr George Francis Ackroyd and a bus, a Republic model 10F, 20 seat vehicle registered MO 5816, for £50.00 from a Mr Fredrick George Brown. The service had previously been operated under the name Republic Bus Service. Mr Jeatt's son, Cecil Edouard Jeatt, had been employed by Mr Brown to drive the bus prior to the Jeatt's taking over. The company commenced operations from North Street Garage in Winkfield which is still the companys office and main operating centre to this day.

The Windsor to Ascot bus service
The original route, which operated 7 days a week, started at Windsor Castle and exited the town via the hospital and Clewer Green, it carried on up St Leonard's Hill and then past North Street Garage, on through Cranbourne, to Lovel Hill and Brookside, along Fernbank Road and then via London Road to Ascot where it served both the Horse & Groom public house and the railway station, continuing on through South Ascot to Sunninghill where the service terminated.

In 1936 White Bus Services altered its route so as not to compete with other operators. The new route started from the same point at Windsor Castle and then entered Windsor Great Park at Queen Anne's Gate, travelling via Woodside, Cheapside and terminating at Sunninghill, journeys now took 40 minutes to reach Sunninghill as opposed to 48 minutes on the previous route. From here the route continued to the Windmill public house on the A30 London Road at Windlesham where it then turned right along the A30 to its new terminus at Bagshot Square, a journey of 54 minutes at a fare of 1/7d.

During the early 1940s the Windsor terminus was moved from outside the castle to the Great Western Railways Windsor Central Station where it remained until April 1992 when the station forecourt was closed for redevelopment. At this time the terminus was moved opposite the Theatre Royal, the route then exiting the town via Peascod Street. The terminus remained here for a number of years until Peascod Street was closed for pedestrianisation, at which time buses entering Windsor terminated opposite the Parish Church and departed from Lower Peascod Street, as they do now.

By the middle of 1968 the service had been cut back from Bagshot to Sunninghill, the Bagshot section of the route becoming less used as the years passed, also by this time the Sunday operations had ceased. September 1982 saw an extension of the route from Sunninghill to Ascot via South Ascot thus the White Bus Services once again served Ascot Railway Station and the Horse & Groom after an absence of 46 years. The current timetable sees 8 journeys from Windsor to Ascot (weekdays) and 6 on Saturdays, Ascot to Windsor sees 7 journeys (weekdays) and 6 on Saturdays, with two short workings, one commencing and one terminating at Fernhill (weekdays) and one commencing at Fernhill on Saturdays.

Vehicles
The original vehicle purchased in December 1930 from Mr Brown was a Republic model 10F 20 seat bus, registered MO 5816 which was to stay with White Bus Services for a fairly short time, being sold in July 1931. Its replacement was purchased in October 1931 in the shape of a REO Pullman Junior registered FG 3768 with a passenger capacity of 16. No notes are available as to what vehicle operated for the company between July and October 1931.

In 1934 Mr Jeatt purchased his first new, as opposed to second hand, bus, namely a 20 seat Dennis Ace registered JB 4838, it proved to be a very successful purchase and a second Ace was added in July 1936, this was registered JB9468. These vehicles were commonly known in the trade as 'Pigs' due to their 'snout' like bonnet.

Over the years a number of different chassis makes were in use with the company until 1970 when it turned to Bedford's and remained faithful to the marque until 2008 when the last one departed the fleet. The first new Bedford was purchased in October 1972 in the shape of LJB 403L, a dual purpose 45 seat Duple Viceroy bodied YRQ, this was to be followed in September 1974 by SNK 255N, a Willowbrook 002 Expressway, this also had a dual purpose 45 seat body and was again mounted on a Bedford YRQ chassis. August 1979 saw the final new Bedford enter the fleet, this being a Duple Dominant bodied 45 seat bus registered HRO 958V, the chassis this was mounted on was a YLQ, this bus remained in the fleet until October 2003. The last second hand purchase of a Bedford vehicle was in August 2001, this being a YNV chassis with air suspension, and fitted with a Van Hool Alizee body carrying 53 passengers, this remained with White Bus Services for only a short time, being sold on for further use in April 2005.

April 2003 saw the entry into service of two Optare Delta / DAF SB220 buses, S158 JUA, a 49 seat bus which had previously operated with Speedlink Airport Services at London's Heathrow Airport and R89 GNW, a 53 seat bus which had been re-imported from Ireland where it had operated at Dublin Airport. The Delta's made a big difference for passengers boarding in that they only had one step up onto the platform into the bus rather than the 3 steps that the Bedford buses had. These two buses were joined by a further one of the same make in January 2004, this being P131 RWR another 49 seat bus, this one had served at Luton Airport.

The Delta's all remained in front line service on the 01 route until the service went to 'Super Low Floor' buses in December 2007. Again staying with the Optare brand the compnany now employed two Tempo's on the 01, the first being YJ01 EGD, an ex Optare demonstrator with 46 seats, fitted with an MAN engine and a ZF gearbox. The second of the pair is YJ57 EHV, with 47 seats, this has a Mercedes-Benz engine coupled to an Allison gearbox which was an Optare stock vehicle. Although the Tempo's are the main performers on the route, the Delta's can still be seen on occasions providing cover when the Tempo's are off the road for maintenance.

The coach fleet had been made up of Bedford vehicles until two MAN coaches with Berkhof Excellence 1000L bodies were purchased from Hodge's Coaches of Sandhurst in 2003, these 53 seaters proved to be a very good buy, with their powerful engines making light work of hills and motorway work, a real change from the more sedate pace of a less powerful Bedford engine.

An Irisbus with a Beulas body entered the fleet in April 2005 but it stay was to be a short one with White Bus, departing in September of the same year. It had a passenger capacity of 49 thus meaning it could not cover some of the work that the MAN's could, the specification on this coach was very high, including climate control, a 6 disc CD player, 2 screen TV system, toilet, coffee machine, fridge, freezer, demountable tables, a drivers bunk and an on board hoovering system, a far cry from the days of coaches with forced air ventilation and a long-wave radio / cassette player!

Dennis Javelin's started to enter the fleet in 2005 in the shape of ex Ministry of Defence Wadham Stringer Vanguard II bodied buses, this was at the time when a large quantity of these vehicles had become available and were converted to 70 seaters for use on school services, these were followed by Javelin GX, the coach version of the chassis with its higher rated engine, this was fitted with a Berkhof Excellence 1000L body the same as the MAN's, but would prove no match for their mighty engines when performing together. A further 2 Javelin's with Vanguard II bodies and 2 more GX models, this time with Berkhof Radial bodies were to enter the fleet over the following 2 years.

When the need to replace the MAN's came about in 2008, 2 Volvo B7R's with Plaxton Profile 53 seat bodies were purchased, these were followed in January 2011 by a further pair with 57 seats, a fifth Volvo joining in October 2011, this one being a 70 seat school bus.

Two 55 registered Alexander Dennis Enviro 300 school buses arrived from Courtney Coaches, these both having 60 seats. A third bus of the same type was added in October 2011 which had previously been in use in Sussex.

Fare Collection
In the early days Bell Punch tickets were used, with fare collection being undertaken by a conductor, in the early 1970s Setright ticket machines were in use but by this time the fares were collected by the driver, these machines remained in use until the mid-1990s when electronic ticketing technology appeared in the form of Wayfarer Saver ticket machines, which in turn gave way to Wayfarer III machines in 2010, these were necessary after the National Concessionary Fare scheme was rolled out across England and the need for accurate passenger data became apparent.