London Coaches was a former bus and coach operator operating open top tourist services 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 ...

and commuter services from

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 ...

to London.

History

London Coaches originated from the London Transport Tours and Charters division. In January 1986 London Transport revamped the division and formed the Original London Transport Sightseeing Tour brand, to operate a fleet of 50 modified

open Open or OPEN may refer to: Music * Open (band), Australian pop/rock band * The Open (band), English indie rock band * ''Open'' (Blues Image album), 1969 * ''Open'' (Gotthard album), 1999 * ''Open'' (Cowboy Junkies album), 2001 * ''Open'' (YF ...

and closed topped

AEC Routemaster The AEC Routemaster is a Front-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout, front-engined double-decker bus that was designed by London Transport Executive, London Transport and built by the Associated Equipment Company (AEC) and Park Royal Vehicles. The ...

buses, on sightseeing tours of London. In April 1988 London Coaches commenced operating a service from

New Ash Green New Ash Green is a village in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, England. It is located 8 miles south west of Gravesend. History Building of the village began in 1967, with Span as the developer and Eric Lyons as the designer. The architectural des ...

to London following the collapse of Bexleyheath Transport. This resulted in some buses being outstationed at Kentish Bus'

Dartford Dartford is the principal town in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, England. It is located south-east of Central London and is situated adjacent to the London Borough of Bexley to its west. To its north, across the Thames estuary, is Thurrock in ...

depot, this moved in 1989 to

Northfleet Northfleet is a town in the borough of Gravesham in Kent, England. It is located immediately west of Gravesend, and on the border with the Borough of Dartford. Northfleet has its own railway station on the North Kent Line, just east of Ebbsfl ...

. The business unit was based originally at

Battersea Battersea is a large district in south London, part of the London Borough of Wandsworth, England. It is centred southwest of Charing Cross and extends along the south bank of the River Thames. It includes the Battersea Park. History Batter ...

garage, before moving to

Wandsworth Wandsworth Town () is a district of south London, within the London Borough of Wandsworth southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan The London Plan is the statutory spatial development strategy for the Gre ...

garage in October 1988. In April 1989 in preparation for

privatisation of London bus services The privatisation of London bus services was the process of the transfer of operation of buses in London from public bodies to private companies. For half a century, operation of London bus services for public transport was under the direct co ...

, London Buses was separated into different business units and London Coaches was formed with a fleet of 85 buses. London Coaches was the first of the operating units to be sold in May 1992 to a

management buyout A management buyout (MBO) is a form of acquisition in which a company's existing managers acquire a large part, or all, of the company, whether from a parent company or individual. Management-, and/or leveraged buyout became noted phenomena of 1 ...

headed by Pat Waterman with 111 vehicles. Upon privatisation the Pullmans Group Limited was formed and traded as London Coaches. London Coaches post privatisation was forced to drop the "Transport" in its Original London Sightseeing Tour core business element. London Coaches Limited was split into two operating unit when it opened London Coaches (Kent) Limited, in

. London Coaches (Kent) had all its commuter coach services transferred from Wandsworth garage, when in 1993 London Coaches tendered to operate bus routes under contract to

London Regional Transport London Regional Transport (LRT) was the organisation responsible for most of the public transport network in London, England, between 1984 and 2000. In common with all London transport authorities from 1933 to 2000, the public name and operatio ...

. In December 1993 London Coaches won the contract to run the

route 52 The following highways are numbered 52: Australia * Kings Highway (Australia) * Isis Highway ( Childers to Ban Ban Springs) - Queensland State Route 52 (Wide Bay–Burnett Region) * Gillies Highway - Queensland State Route 52 (Far North Queensl ...

. After a lot of logistical, vehicle and staffing problems, in July 1994 London Coaches purchased Atlas Bus & Coach Company and transferred the route to Atlas's

Willesden Junction Willesden Junction is a railway station in Harlesden, north-west London, UK. It is served by both London Overground and London Underground services. History The station developed on three contiguous sites: the West Coast Main Line (WCML) st ...

garage. In November 1994, Atlas Bus & Coach Company was sold to

Metroline Metroline is a bus company operating services in Greater London and south Hertfordshire. It is a subsidiary of ComfortDelGro Corporation and operates services under contract to Transport for London. As at March 2021, the fleet consisted of 1,5 ...

along with route 52/N52. In January 1994 seven former express 3-axle

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 ...

s were purchased and converted to open top configuration. In March 1997

Blue Triangle Blue Triangle is a bus company operating services in East London. It is a subsidiary of the Go-Ahead Group and operates most services under contract to Transport for London. It is the operator of the East London Transit service. History ...

's open top business was purchased. Route 726 was transferred from London Coaches at Wandsworth, to London Coaches (Kent) at

. Upon retendering in December 1997 it passed to

Capital Logistics Capital Logistics was a bus and coach operator in London. History Capital Logistics was formed in August 1997 following the merger of Whyte's Airport Services and Capital Coaches the previous April. It operated a variety of coach and contract ...

. The company continued to operate The Original London Sightseeing Tour, trading as

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 ...

until December 1997, when it was sold to

Arriva Arriva plc is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Sunderland, England.Licences Revoked Without a Public Inquiry
Traffic Commissioner for the South Eastern and Metropolitan Traffic Area April 2003

London Coaches Training

London Coaches had its own training section that operated from Wandsworth garage offering PCV and HGV training.

References

{{Reflist, 2 Former London bus operators