East Kent Road Car Company

This article is about the original bus operating company. For the new bus company, see Stagecoach in East Kent.

CFN 104, A preserved East Kent Road Car Company Leyland Tiger PS1/Park Royal.

The East Kent Road Car Company Ltd was a bus company formed in 1916 and based in Canterbury, Kent. The company operated bus and coach services in Kent. In 1993 it was one of the first companies to be acquired by the Stagecoach Group, which eventually rebranded the operation as Stagecoach in East Kent, and made it part of the Stagecoach South East bus division.

East Kent serves the area after which it was named and at one time also served part of East Sussex, operations in Rye and Hastings passing to Maidstone & District Motor Services Ltd in return for that company's Ashford interests. Since acquisition by the Stagecoach Group, the company has made some radical alterations to its traditional route network, linking some services into long distance circulars.

History

Formation

East Kent Road Car Company Limited was officially formed on 11 August 1916. It was an amalgamation of Deal & District Motor Services, Wacher & Co (Herne Bay), Margate Canterbury & District), Ramsgate Motor Coaches, and Folkestone & District. The new company began trading on 1 September 1916. From 1928, the Southern Railway became a significant shareholder in the company. From 1929, an arrangement was made with the British Post Office where letter boxes would be installed on some vehicles. Moving into the 1930s saw the take overs of the tramways of Dover and Thanet, trams were quickly replaced with motor buses.

During the Second World War, East Kent vehicles were regular targets for enemy aircraft and the long range guns across The Channel on the French coast before the fall of France. To try to combat this, the cream-coloured roofs of the buses were repainted grey to help make them less visible. The company experienced many losses during this time, especially at Dover where the garage suffered a direct hit in 1942, killing several staff. Lots of the vehicles had been loaned or contracted away, some stationed in the Midlands; coupled with those written off by enemy action, it led to severe shortages. This was alleviated somewhat with the delivery of 10 Guy Arabs with utility Park Royal bodywork.

Post-war

After the war, orders were placed for 50 Leyland Tiger PS1 coaches and 60 Dennis Lancet single decker service buses. These arrived between 1946 and 1949. In September 1946, East Kent ordered 50 Leyland Titan PD1As with Leyland bodywork. These were delivered in 1947 and 1948. East Kent was one of many operators to use rebodied buses as a way to extend their service life. Prewar Leyland Titans went to ECW for this treatment whilst 28 Leyland Titan TD5s were rebuilt as coaches by Beadle at Dartford. The company began to standardise on Guy Arabs for double decker buses and AEC Reliances for single deckers and coaches although Dennises and Leylands were also acquired. In the mid-1950s, two of the company's bus stations were rebuilt, Folkestone and Canterbury - both surviving today in refurbished form.

In the late 1950s, East Kent launched its first open top bus service with some of the wartime Guys converted. Painted in the reverse cream and red livery, they operated out of Thanet garage. Later Herne Bay, Dover and Folkestone also operated open top vehicles. Around this time the first AEC Regent Vs arrived. These were delivered to Thanet and were bodied by Park Royal to a full front, front entrance design and arrived in 1959. Later AEC Regents reverted to the half cab layout but all were bodied by Park Royal and many would survive into the late 1970s and early 1980s. AEC also became the main supplier of single deck buses and coaches too with batches of BET style bodied Reliances entering the fleet as well as Park Royal, Plaxton and Duple bodied coaches.

National Bus Company

East Kent was taken over by the National Bus Company on 1 January 1969, during this time the company's first rear engined double deckers arrived. These were 20 Daimler Fleetlines with Park Royal bodywork for Thanet garage. These were also the Company's first OMO (one man operated) double deckers. Later on some AEC Regents were also converted to OMO to reduce the cost of having 2 crew on each bus but these tended to be used only at peak hours. In 1971 the last buses were delivered in the traditional maroon and cream livery, these were 12 AEC Swifts with Alexander bodywork. Leyland Nationals started to enter the fleet in the 1970s bringing with them the National Bus Company standard livery of Poppy Red and white. In the mid-1970s the Bristol VRT entered the fleet, the first batch having 14'6" ECW bodywork. Later batches had rare Willowbrook bodies before the final batch reverted to the standard 13'8" ECW body, by that time the NBC's standard vehicle. These cleared the last of the AEC Regents from normal passenger service in the early 1980s although some had a swan song on the park and ride for the Open Golf and Sandwich, whilst others were used on contracts and for driver training.

Deregulation

On Sunday 26 October 1986, all the bus companies were deregulated. East Kent management entered into negotiations with the NBC sales team in October 1986 and following some hot competition from a French bidder, the company was sold to the management team on 5 March 1987. The NBC 'double arrow' was quickly removed from the vehicles to be replaced by a red EK in a white box. A new livery was introduced of cherry red and cream but it would take several years to completely remove all the NBC livery. Minibuses had entered the fleet in a big way, cutting a dash in bold yellow 'Minilink' livery. These vehicles were used to boost ailing passenger numbers by serving estates not accessible to larger vehicles and offering a better frequency of service. Also to help cover a new route network introduced, 12 Leyland Atlanteans from Northern General arrived. These were later replaced by more Atlanteans from Greater Manchester Transport. The Company's first new double deckers for nearly 7 years arrived in the form of 10 MCW Metrobuses. Meanwhile, 2 new MCW Hi-Liner coaches were purchased for the coaching fleet. More Metrobuses arrived the following year some fitted with coach seating. Later when MCW ceased production the Company turned to once again to Leyland for new buses, these being Olympians with Northern Counties bodywork.

1991 saw East Kent celebrate 75 years of service and MCW Metrobus 7755 (E755UKR) was repainted in the traditional livery. In the summer of 1993 the management sold out to a bid from the Perth-based transport group, Stagecoach Group. The coaching side of the business was soon sold off by Stagecoach as was 2 garages and part of Westwood (Thanet) garage for redevelopment. The then standard Stagecoach livery began to creep into the East Kent. Eventually the maroon and cream was replaced by the original Stagecoach corporate colours of white with orange, red and blue stripes. Despite this Stagecoach invested heavily in new vehicles and upgrading routes. East Kent also gained the contract for operating the Canterbury Park and Ride around this time, a service they still operated until late 2008 when they lost it to Kent Top Travel.

During 2002 Canterbury bus station was given a makeover and in 2004 Folkestone bus station was refurbished too. Low-floor buses on branded routes have become a big part of Stagecoach's business plans. It has also introduced a new livery and the company now trades as Stagecoach in East Kent, although the legal lettering remains unchanged. Today, branded routes such as The Loop, The Diamond, The Triangle, The Link, The Stars and The Heart operate in every major town in the area with low-floor, easy-access buses. The old East Kent habit of referring to the buses as cars still survives.

Footnotes

References

Neale, R.F.A. (1978). East Kent Road Car Company Limited. Part II ( 2 ) 1943 To 1978. P. S. V. Circle and The Omnibus Society, U. K.
Woodworth, Frank (1991). East Kent: A History of East Kent Road Car Company Ltd. Harrow Weald, UK: Capital Transport. ISBN 978-1-8541-4132-3.
East Kent Road Car Company Ltd, Illustrated Fleet History 1916-1978.
East Kent Road Car Company Limited: Jubilee 1916-1966 ; A Brief History of the Company's Development. East Kent Road Car Company. 1966.

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Bus companies operating in South East England

Berkshire	Arriva Shires & Essex Bath Bus Company Courtney Buses First Berkshire & The Thames Valley Fleet Buzz Reading Buses Stagecoach in Hampshire Thamesdown Transport Thames Travel The Green Bus White Bus Services Wilts & Dorset

Buckinghamshire	Arriva Shires & Essex Carousel Buses First Berkshire & The Thames Valley Stagecoach East

East Sussex	Arriva Southern Counties Bath Bus Company Brighton & Hove Compass Travel Cuckmere Buses Metrobus Renown Coaches Southdown PSV Stagecoach South East Stagecoach in Hastings Stagecoach in Eastbourne The Sussex Bus

Hampshire	AMK Group Bluestar Damory Emsworth & District First Hampshire & Dorset Fleet Buzz Reading Buses Stagecoach South Stagecoach in Hampshire Stagecoach in Hants & Surrey Stagecoach in Portsmouth Stagecoach in the South Downs Uni-link Wilts & Dorset Xelabus

Isle of Wight	Southern Vectis Island Breezers

Kent	Arriva Southern Counties The Kings Ferry Metrobus Nu-Venture Stagecoach South East (Stagecoach in East Kent) Sullivan Buses Southdown PSV

Oxfordshire	Arriva Shires & Essex Oxford Bus Company Reading Buses Stagecoach Oxfordshire (Oxford Tube) Thamesdown Transport Thames Travel

Surrey	Abellio Surrey Arriva Guildford & West Surrey Arriva London Atbus Compass Travel Countywide Travel Epsom Coaches (Quality Line) First Berkshire & The Thames Valley Fleet Buzz London General Metrobus Safeguard Coaches Southdown PSV Stagecoach South Stagecoach in Hampshire Stagecoach in Hants & Surrey Sullivan Buses The Green Bus Transdev London

West Sussex	Arriva Southern Counties Arriva Guildford & West Surrey New Enterprise Coaches Brighton & Hove Compass Travel Emsworth & District Tellings-Golden Miller Minerva Accord Metrobus Southdown PSV Stagecoach South Stagecoach in Hampshire Stagecoach in Hants & Surrey The Big Lemon The Sussex Bus

National	Megabus National Express

Former bus companies of the United Kingdom

National

England

Former bus companies operating in England

North West England	Birkenhead Transport Blackburn Transport Blue Bus and Coach Services Bluebird Bus and Coach Bu-Val Buses ChesterBus Citibus Tours Crosville Motor Services Finglands Coachways First Chester & The Wirral Glenvale Transport GM Buses Lancashire United Transport JPT 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

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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 Truronian 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 Invictaway Kent Top Travel Maidstone & District 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 Islwyn Borough Transport National Welsh Omnibus Services Padarn Bus Red & White Services Rhondda Transport Company South Wales Transport Western Welsh

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