Arriva Southern CountiesCompanies House extract company no 2031405
Arriva Southern Counties Limited formerly Invictaway Limited formerly Einkorn Limited is a bus operator in

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ...

, East Sussex,

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

Hemel Hempstead Hemel Hempstead () is a town in the Dacorum district in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of London, which is part of the Greater London Urban Area. The population at the 2011 census was 97,500. Developed after the Second World War as a new ...

, and

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

in England. It is a subsidiary of

Arriva UK Bus Arriva UK Bus is a major bus operator in the United Kingdom based in Sunderland, England. It is a subsidiary of Arriva which runs transport services across Europe, which has been a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn since 2010. Arriva UK Bus operates ...

History

In November 1986, the National Bus Company sold Maidstone & District in a management buyout to Einkorn Limited. In June 1988, New Enterprise Coaches of

Tonbridge Tonbridge ( ) is a market town in Kent, England, on the River Medway, north of Royal Tunbridge Wells, south west of Maidstone and south east of London. In the administrative borough of Tonbridge and Malling, it had an estimated populat ...

was purchased, followed in December 1991 by four buses and their associated Kent County Council services from

Shearings Shearings (legally Shearings Travel Limited) is a coach tour operator, part of the Leger Shearings Group, based in the United Kingdom. The tour operator brand specialises in holidays including escorted tours, unescorted tours, short breaks, se ...

, and in June 1992

Boro'line Maidstone Boro'line Maidstone, previously Maidstone Borough Council Transport was a municipal bus operator in Maidstone and the surrounding villages. Maidstone Borough Council Transport was formed in 1974 from Maidstone Corporation Transport following l ...

.History - South East
Arriva In 1990,

British Bus British Bus was a bus group in the United Kingdom. It was sold to the Cowie Group in August 1996. History British Bus was founded in November 1992 when the Drawlane Transport Group split its bus interests from its National Express in the lead ...

purchased the

Cranleigh Cranleigh is a village and civil parish, about southeast of Guildford in Surrey, England. It lies on a minor road east of the A281, which links Guildford with Horsham. It is in the north-west corner of the Weald, a large remnant forest, the m ...

Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, around southwest of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The name "Guildf ...

and Woking based operations of

Alder Valley Alder Valley was a bus operator in South East England. National Bus Company era Alder Valley was formed when National Bus Company (NBC) subsidiaries Aldershot & District Traction (A&D) and Thames Valley Traction (TV) merged on 1 January ...

followed in 1993 by Colchester Borough Transport and Southend Transport. In April 1995, Einkorn was sold to British Bus, which had purchased Kentish Bus in July 1994 and Londonlinks in 1988. In August 1995, Einkorn was renamed

Invictaway Invictaway was an express commuter coach service from Kent to London in the 1980s and 1990s, and was also a holding company for the emerging Arriva group. As a legal entity of the Maidstone & District Motor Services, Maidstone & District bus com ...

. Invictaway was previously the name of the Maidstone & District commuter services to London, which were renamed Green Line at the same time. In July 1996, British Bus was taken over by the

Cowie Group Arriva plc is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Sunderland, England.London & Country (also owned by British Bus) to it. The subsidiary operating companies therefore became: *Maidstone & District: **Mainly became Arriva Kent & Sussex **Medway area became Arriva Medway Towns *Kentish Bus: **Mainly became Arriva Kent Thameside **Partly became Arriva Kent & Sussex *London & Country: **Became Arriva Guildford & West Surrey *LondonLinks: **Became Arriva Croydon & North Surrey Current operations in the South East area are: *

Arriva Guildford & West Surrey Arriva Guildford & West Surrey was a bus operator based in Guildford, England. It was a subsidiary of Arriva. The company operated services in West Sussex and Surrey, as part of the Arriva Southern Counties division. Services that were run wer ...

*Arriva Kent & Sussex *

Arriva Kent Thameside Arriva Kent Thameside is a bus operator based in North-West Kent, England. It is a subsidiary of Arriva. The company operates services in Northfleet, Gravesend & Dartford as part of the Arriva Southern Counties division from their Northfleet ...

*Arriva Medway Towns * Arriva Southend Many reorganisations of Arriva operations in

South East England South East England is one of the nine official regions of England at the ITL 1 statistical regions of England, first level of International Territorial Level, ITL for Statistics, statistical purposes. It consists of the counties of england, ...

have followed since and today the company also controls Arriva Guildford & West Surrey, Arriva West Sussex, and Arriva Southend. The Croydon & North Surrey subsidiary was largely transferred to

Arriva London Arriva London is a major bus company operating services in Greater London. It is a subsidiary of Arriva UK Bus and operates services under contract to Transport for London. It was formed in 1998 from a fusion of previously separate Arriva s ...

. In 2001, the Crawley depot and operations were sold to Metrobus and the depot in

Merstham Merstham is a town in the borough of Reigate and Banstead in Surrey, England. It lies 25 miles south of Charing Cross and 2 miles south of the Greater London border. Part of the North Downs Way runs along the northern boundary of the town. Mers ...

was closed. In August 2004,

Arriva Colchester Arriva ColchesterCompanies House extract company no 3506989
...

was sold to

Tellings-Golden Miller Tellings-Golden Miller is a charter coach operator in England. It was a subsidiary of Arriva twice previously, but once again has returned to family ownership. The company is now a subsidiary of Falcon Coaches based in Byfleet, Surrey. History ...

, although with the December 2007, sale of Tellings-Golden Miller, Colchester is once again owned by Arriva, albeit not under the control of Arriva Southern Counties. In October 2009, the Horsham depot and routes were sold to Metrobus with 19 buses.Go-Ahead to acquire Arriva's Horsham Bus
''Bus & Coach Professional'' 3 September 2009 In March 2015, Network Colchester and Network Harlow operations were taken over from

, who at the time was an Arriva subsidiary. Both operation companies were rebranded

Arriva Colchester Arriva ColchesterCompanies House extract company no 3506989
...

and Arriva Harlow respectively. The

Medway Towns Medway is a unitary authority district and conurbation in Kent, South East England. It had a population of 278,016 in 2019. The unitary authority was formed in 1998 when Rochester-upon-Medway amalgamated with the Borough of Gillingham to f ...

network was upgraded in a £10 million investment marketed as Operation Overdrive. In April 2021, Arriva announced the Sheerness depot would close in July 2021, with routes 360, 361 and 367 being withdrawn and re-tendered by Kent County Council. All three routes transferred to

Chalkwell Coaches Chalkwell Coaches is a bus and coach tour operator in Sittingbourne, Kent. History Chalkwell Coaches was founded in 1931 by Harry Eglington as Island Luxury Coaches. In April 1931 a short lived Sheerness to Stoke Newington service began. Dur ...

on Monday 12 July 2021. In October 2021, Arriva announced that routes 306 and 308 from Northfleet depot would be withdrawn. These services were taken over by Redroute Buses on 1 November 2021. In October 2021, Arriva announced it was planning to close the

depot and cease operations in Surrey from 18 December 2021. From that date, 6 routes will be taken over by

Stagecoach South Stagecoach South is a bus operator providing services in South East England. It is a subsidiary of Stagecoach. It operates services in Hampshire, Surrey, and Sussex with some routes extending into Brighton and Wiltshire. It operates 487 buses fr ...

, with routes 36/37 being replaced by a new route 6 and an extension to the existing Route 1. Route A was withdrawn without replacement from 14 November 2021. The depot was leased to Stagecoach South.Surprise tenant for Arriva's Guildford depot ''Buses'' issue 806 May 2022 page 14

Services

Park & Ride

Until February 2022, Arriva Southern Counties operated the Maidstone

park & ride A park and ride, also known as incentive parking or a commuter lot, is a parking lot with public transport connections that allows commuters and other people heading to city centres to leave their vehicles and transfer to a bus, rail system (rap ...

under contract to

Maidstone Borough Council Maidstone is the largest town in Kent, England, of which it is the county town. Maidstone is historically important and lies 32 miles (51 km) east-south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town, linking it wit ...

. The service linked Maidstone Town Centre with two park & ride sites, one on London Road and one on Willington Street. The service was withdrawn in February 2022 due to reduced passenger numbers as a result of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

Arriva Sapphire

Arriva Southern Counties currently operate four

Sapphire Sapphire is a precious gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum, consisting of aluminium oxide () with trace amounts of elements such as iron, titanium, chromium, vanadium, or magnesium. The name sapphire is derived via the Latin "sa ...

routes in

and

on the following services:

Fastrack

Arriva Southern Counties are one of the companies who operate the Fastrack busway scheme in the

Thames Gateway Thames Gateway is a term applied to an area around the Thames Estuary in the context of discourse around regeneration and further urbanisation. The term was first coined by the UK government and applies to an area of land stretching east from ...

area of Kent on behalf of Kent County Council and

Prologis Prologis, Inc. is a real estate investment trust headquartered in San Francisco, California that invests in logistics facilities. The company was formed through the merger of AMB Property Corporation and Prologis in June 2011, which made Prologi ...

. Arriva Southern Counties currently operate two of the three Fastrack services: * Route A runs from Dartford to Bluewater via Temple Hill, The Bridge and * Route B runs from Temple Hill to Gravesend via Dartford,

Darent Valley Hospital Darent Valley Hospital is a 478-bed, acute district general hospital in Dartford, Kent, England. The hospital has an Emergency Department. The hospital is managed by the Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust. History The hospital, which was built to ...

, Bluewater, Greenhithe and

Ebbsfleet Valley Ebbsfleet Valley is a new town and redevelopment area in Kent, South East England, and part of the Thames Gateway, southwest of Gravesend. Development is coordinated by the Ebbsfleet Development Corporation. It is named after the valley of t ...

Since November 2007, Route B has connected with the

Eurostar Eurostar is an international high-speed rail service connecting the United Kingdom with France, Belgium and the Netherlands. Most Eurostar trains travel through the Channel Tunnel between the United Kingdom and France, owned and operate ...

Ebbsfleet International railway station Ebbsfleet International railway station is in Ebbsfleet Valley, Kent, east of London, England, near Dartford and the Bluewater shopping centre to the west and Gravesend to the east. The station, part of the Thames Gateway urban regeneration pr ...

, and Eurostar passengers are permitted free travel on the service. On 11 February 2008, Arriva began trialling their mobile "m-ticket" system on the Fastrack Network before rolling the system out on all Southern Counties services.

Depots

Current Depots

The locations of Arriva Southern Counties' depots and the divisions which operate them are:

Former Depots

Former depots of Arriva Southern Counties were: Dartford and Grays garages were the only Arriva Southern Counties depots which did not have commercial services and only handled services operated under contract to Transport for London with all buses painted in red Arriva livery. Commercial routes previously operated from Dartford depot before it became an all Transport for London depot were transferred to Northfleet. Grays depot switched to all Transport for London services after Arriva Southend withdrew both commercial routes 373 and 383 in the Grays area, partially replacing them by extending route 5 from

Southend-on-Sea Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authority area with borough status in southeastern Essex, England. It lies on the north side of the Thames Estuary, east of central London. It is bordered ...

. Routes 44 and 150, the remaining services in the Grays area, are operated under contract to

Thurrock Council Thurrock Borough Council, usually known as simply Thurrock Council, is the local authority for the borough of Thurrock in Essex, England. Since 1997, Thurrock has been a unitary authority, combining the functions of a non-metropolitan county wit ...

. The buses used for these routes were transferred to Southend. As at September 2014, Dartford garage operated London routes

160 Year 160 ( CLX) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Atilius and Vibius (or, less frequently, year 913 '' Ab urbe condita''). ...

, 428, 492,

B12 Vitamin B12, also known as cobalamin, is a water-soluble vitamin involved in metabolism. It is one of eight B vitamins. It is required by animals, which use it as a cofactor in DNA synthesis, in both fatty acid and amino acid metabolism. It ...

, B13 and B15. Grays garage operated London routes 66, 346, 370, 375 and

499 __NOTOC__ Year 499 (Roman numerals, CDXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Iohannes without colleague (or, less frequ ...

. As part of a decision to consolidate all of Arriva's Transport for London routes, Dartford and Grays garages transferred to

on 1 January 2016.

Fleet

As at December 2013 the fleet consisted of 900 buses and coaches. As at September 2014, 113 buses were dedicated to the Transport for London services.

References

External links

Company website
{{Bus companies in South East England 1986 establishments in England Southern Counties British companies established in 1986 Bus operators in Kent Transport companies established in 1986 Transport in Kent Transport in Southend-on-Sea Transport in Surrey Transport in Thurrock