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Ensignbus
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An Ensign Optare Spectra at the London Bus Preservation Trust's Cobham bus museum in 2008.

FoundedVarious
HeadquartersPurfleet
Service areaEssex
Kent
Service typeBus
Routes13
FleetVolvo Olympian
Alexander Dennis Enviro400
Dennis Trident 2
Dennis Dart SLF
MCW Metrobus
Volvo B9TL
Volvo B5L Hybrid
Web site[1]
File:Ensignbus 464.JPG

An Ensign coach at the 2008 LBPT Cobham bus rally.

File:Ensign 164.jpg

An Ensign Alexander Royale bus at Showbus 2004.

Ensignbus is a Purfleet-based bus and coach dealer, open top bus tour operator and bus service operator. Ensignbus has collected 20 ex-London vehicles of various ages and conditions in a transport museum.

Ensignbus owns parts of the City Sightseeing worldwide sightseeing tour operator. Ensignbus sells used buses from several major UK operators, and boasts "the largest stock of used double-deck buses in the world, with anywhere from 100-500 buses in stock". Ensignbus also hires out an unusual range of buses from service buses, open top buses and vintage vehicles.

Ensignbus has twice previously been a former London tendered service operator, and developed London Pride Sightseeing. It retains a small bus service network centred on Lakeside Shopping Centre and Grays Bus station.

Origin[]

Template:Unref Ensignbus was formed in 1972, with a small number of bus contracts. It went on to establish commercial services in Essex, and providing buses for specialist contracts such as rail replacement and temporary hire. Ensignbus has a blue and silver livery, with buses carrying the Ensignbus company name.

Bus sales[]

Template:Unref The company came to prominence in the UK bus scene when London Transport decided to dispose of its unpopular and poor performing Daimler Fleetline DM and DMS class buses from 1979. Ensignbus was the only company willing to bid for all these buses as one batch, numbering over 2000 buses, as preferred by London Transport.

As the vehicles arrived, Ensignbus moved to new premises in Purfleet, which became known as the 'DMS graveyards'. While the sheer numbers involved meant several vehicles just rotted away, Ensign made a success of selling on many of these buses to operators around the country and abroad, with many ex-municipal companies and new operators requiring cheap re-inforcements for enhanced competition due to deregulation of bus services in 1986. The standard London specification (e.g. centre exit doors) was modified to various degrees to suit each buyer's needs, for regular bus work or open top tours.

During the London Pride operation Ensignbus continued selling buses in smaller numbers from a site in Rainham. With the sale of London Pride, Ensignbus moved to a new site in Purfleet, a short distance from the DMS graveyard, and accelerated its sales business. It however sold all the Leyland Olympians and hence Volvo Olympians, followed by the low-floor buses from various operators.

Open top tour operations[]

Template:Unref Ensignbus operated several open top tour buses in London. Originally the tour buses ran in their standard blue/silver livery, with buses frequently passing between the tours, services and hires allocations. Ensignbus later expanded this operation (see London Pride Sightseeing).

Through links gained through selling open top buses to other operators around the world, Ensignbus, through London Pride, expanded the concept to other cities setting up new tours.

Starting in 1998 with an operation in Seville, Ensignbus launched a global sightseeing bus brand City Sightseeing at the World Travel Market in 1999 along a worldwide franchise model, and proceeded to rapidly expand into several cities. In May 2002 City Sightseeing bought out its main rival Guide Friday.

London tendered services[]

File:RT bus JXC432 Silvertown Way Aug 08.JPG

Ensignbus' veteran RT624 (JXC432) seen on Silvertown Way in August 2008 on park and ride duty to/from the ExCeL exhibition centre

Also as a result of deregulation, Ensignbus expanded into tendered London Bus service market in east London. Starting from one or two routes, Ensignbus gained a network of routes, using several second hand vehicles and batches of new vehicles:

Ensignbus also inherited a batch of 1991-built Frontrunner South East sold to Ensign Bus Services in 1989.

In 1990 Ensignbus sold its London tendered bus services to Hong Kong company Citybus, which rebranded the operations as Ensign Citybus and then Capital Citybus (now part of First London).

Ensignbus briefly re-entered London tendered service, taking over some of its original routes from First Capital who had bought Capital Citybus, before once again selling its London services in December 1999, this time to Town and Country buses.[citation needed]

Current bus services[]

Ensignbus currently operate a number of routes in the Thurrock area, which are listed below.

Route Number Route
22 Aveley Usk Road - Derwent Parade - Belhus - Lakeside Shopping Centre - Grays - Stifford Clays
22A Aveley Usk Road - Derwent Parade - Belhus - Lakeside Shopping Centre - Grays - Tilbury
33 Lakeside Shopping Centre - Chafford Hundred - Grays
44 Lakeside Shopping Centre - Purfleet - Grays
66 Lakeside Shopping Centre - Grays - Tilbury
73 Lakeside Shopping Centre - Grays - Tilbury
81 Hutton, Essex - Shenfield - Brentwood
83 Lakeside Shopping Centre - Grays - Chadwell-St-Mary
X80 Chafford Hundred Station - Lakeside Shopping Centre - Bluewater Shopping Centre

See also[]

Notes[]

External links[]

Coordinates: 51°29′38″N 0°13′54″E / 51.49399°N 0.2317°E / 51.49399; 0.2317

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