Essex Airlink is the brand given to two

airport bus An airport bus, or airport shuttle bus or airport shuttle is a bus used to transport people to and from, or within airports. These vehicles will usually be equipped with larger luggage space, and incorporate special branding. They are also comm ...

services run by

First Essex First Essex is a bus company operating services in the county of Essex. It is a subsidiary of FirstGroup. History First Essex arose from an amalgamation of Eastern National and Thamesway Buses. First Essex was originally part of the Eas ...

. The brand was relaunched at

Stansted Airport London Stansted Airport is a tertiary international airport serving London, England, United Kingdom. It is located near Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex, England, northeast of Central London. London Stansted serves over 160 destinations acros ...

, England, on 17 February 2020. There are two routes, X10 and X30, which start their journey in Basildon bus station and Southend Travel Centre respectively. The two routes meet on the A130 and then follow the same route from there to Chelmsford where the route then splits with daytime X30 journeys traveling via Broomfield Road and serving Broomfield Hospital before compared to the X10, and night-time X30 journeys, taking a faster route to Stansted.

X10

Route X10 began operation in July 2016 using Volvo 7900 Hybrids temporarily taken from

's 100 service. It runs from Basildon to Stansted via

Wickford Wickford is a town and civil parish in the south of the English county of Essex, with a population of 33,486. Located approximately 30 miles (50 km) east of London, it is within the Borough of Basildon along with the original town of Basil ...

Chelmsford Chelmsford () is a city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Southend-on-Sea and Colchester. It is located north-east of London a ...

, and Barnston. It is currently operated by five

Alexander Dennis Enviro200 MMC The Alexander Dennis Enviro200 MMC (sold as the Alexander Dennis Enviro200) is a single-decker city bus produced by Alexander Dennis since 2014, as the successor to the Enviro200 midibus and Enviro300 full-size bus. The first Enviro200 MMC ...

s that were launched in November 2016 along with another seven for the X30. Route X10 buses used to carry "From Here to Air" branding. Two buses have since been repainted into the new Essex Airlink livery with branding for the X10 destinations. Basildon and Wickford had a previous service to

, the X40. The service began in May 2009 but was withdrawn in February 2010 due to low usage.

X30

Route X30 is both busier and longer than the X10. Until the recent introduction of the new

Alexander Dennis Enviro400 MMC The Alexander Dennis Enviro400 MMC (sold as the Alexander Dennis Enviro400) is a low-floor bus, low-floor double-decker bus produced by the British bus manufacturer Alexander Dennis since 2014, replacing the Alexander Dennis Enviro400. The Envi ...

bodied

Scania N250UD The Scania N series is a line of low-floor bus chassis with straight-up, transversely mounted Euro IV or newer engine at the rear, built by Scania since 2006, replacing the Scania N94. It is available as the N UB (N230UB, N270UB, N280UB) two-ax ...

double deck buses in February 2020, journeys were frequently overcrowded with passengers having to stand for part or the whole of their journey. To help with the overcrowding, First introduced two

Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 The Wright Eclipse Gemini is a Low-floor bus, low-floor double-decker bus body that was built by Wrightbus since 2001, based on the single-deck Wright Eclipse design. The second-generation Eclipse Gemini 2 was launched in 2009, followed by the ...

bodied

Volvo B9TL The Volvo B9TL is a low-floor double-decker bus built by Volvo from 2002 until 2018. It superseded the Volvo Super Olympian and the Volvo B7TL. The 2-axle version has been superseded by the Volvo B5TL in 2014 and the 3-axle version has been sup ...

buses in 2018, which were used on certain journeys, notably the 06:00 and 06:50 departures from Southend and the 16:45 and 17:47 departures from Chelmsford which suffered from some of the worst overcrowding. They were used alongside the

buses delivered in 2016 in X30 "From Pier to Air" branding. The new buses introduced in February 2020 feature leather seats, free WiFi, USB and wireless charging, table and solo seating, luggage racks, and next stop audio visual announcements. They are the only buses other than the Alexander Dennis Enviro200 MMCs used on the

Chelmsford Park and Ride Chelmsford Park and Ride is a park and ride bus service operated by Vectare on behalf of Essex County Council. Two routes are operated serving two park and ride sites in Sandon and Chelmer Valley. The service was previously operated by First Ess ...

to feature next stop audio visual announcements in Essex. The luggage rack is monitored by CCTV which is shown on display on the top deck so that the passengers can still see their luggage from the top deck. The X30 has existed as other routes in the past. During 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 ...

the X30 was diverted along Broomfield Road during the day time to serve Broomfield Hospital. This route change is still in operation. From 10 October 2022, the frequency of the section between Southend and Rayleigh was increased from hourly to half-hourly.

Fleet

Current fleet

Previous fleet

References

{{reflist Airport bus services Basildon (town) Bus routes in England Transport in Southend-on-Sea Transport in the City of Chelmsford 2020 establishments in England