London Pride Sightseeing was an open top sightseeing bus operator in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

History

In 1983, the state owned London Transport ceased operating their ''Round London Sightseeing Tour'' operation as the market was opened up to competition by the government. This had been run since March 1973. A number of companies established private tour bus companies in London. In 1984, Emmerheath Ltd., one such private operator, established the ''Grand Guided Tour of London'' as London Pride Sightseeing, with a white/pink/orange livery, a small operation with 10 buses and operating from one stop. In 1985 London Pride merged with

Ensignbus Ensignbus is a bus and coach operator and bus dealer based in Purfleet, Essex. History Ensignbus was formed in 1972 by Peter Newman, who remains involved today as chairman and his sons Ross and Steve as directors. Ensignbus commenced with a ...

, who had also started their own tour operation, with Emmerheath buses being repainted into Ensignbus standard blue/silver, with London Pride markings. Ensign had a competitive advantage with its ready supply of Fleetlines being disposed of early by London Transport into its sales business. As part of this, Ensign had developed expertise in half and full open-top conversion of these vehicles. Ensignbus had earlier operated brand-new DMS-class Fleetlines under contract on the ''Round London Sightseeing Tour''.Ians Bus Stop DMS class page
/ref> Ensign went on to develop London Pride with the open-top vehicles, multiple stops, 24-hour operation and tickets, shuttle buses, different routes and attraction tie-ins. It also introduced the use of high capacity tri-axle coach vehicle on open-top operation, such as the

MCW Metroliner The MCW Metroliner was a coach built by Metro Cammell Weymann (MCW) in the 1980s. The Metroliner was available as a standard single-deck coach, or the more numerous and striking tri-axle double-deck coach. The Metroliner saw service in the UK ...

. After the sale of the Ensign's London tendered routes to

Capital Citybus Capital Citybus was a bus operator in London operating services under contract to London Regional Transport. History Capital Citybus was established on 29 December 1990, with the purchase of the London tendered bus services of Ensignbus by the ...

, London Pride gained a dedicated plum/silver version of Ensignbus livery, and prominent ''This is an official London Sightseeing bus'' markings. From 1985, and into the 1990s, most of the other tour operators in London either ceased trading, or sold out to Ensign (Culture Bus, Ebdon's, London Tour Co, London Hop on Hop off Ltd and Cityrama), leaving only London Pride and

The Big Bus Company Big Bus Tours (formerly ''Les Cars Rouges'' and ''The Big Bus Company''), is the largest operator of open top bus sightseeing tours founded in May 2011 after "Les Cars Rouges" and the "Big Bus Company" merged. The company operates in 23 citie ...

in the market. In 1998, the expanded London Pride operation was sold by Ensign to a private consortium. Following London Pride, Ensign went on to produce the

City Sightseeing City Sightseeing is an open-top, sightseeing tour bus operator. It provides tour bus services in more than 130 cities around the world. As City Sightseeing has grown and expanded, the company now also provides boat tours, sightseeing trai ...

global franchise model, starting tours around the world. After London Pride's new owners failed to grow the business, it was sold back to Ensignbus in November 2000. Ensign proceeded to transform London Pride into a City Sightseeing operation. In March 2001, Ensign sold this London City Sightseeing operation to

Arriva Arriva plc is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Sunderland, England.The Original Tour Tootbus London, formerly The Original Tour is a London bus tour operator using open-top double-decker buses. It also holds the franchise to run City Sightseeing's London tour. Based in Wandsworth, it is a subsidiary of RATP Dev. History T ...

.The Original Tour
About Us page, November 2007

History

References

See also