Quality Line was a bus company based in

Epsom Epsom is the principal town of the Borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, England, about south of central London. The town is first recorded as ''Ebesham'' in the 10th century and its name probably derives from that of a Saxon landowner. The ...

, England. A subsidiary of the

RATP Group RATP may refer to: Transportation: * RATP Group, or ', a public transport operator based in Paris, France * RATP Iași (), a transit operator responsible for public transportation in Iași, Romania * RATP Ploiești (), a transit operator responsi ...

, Quality Line operated bus services throughout the

South West London South West London may refer to several things related to London, England: *SW postcode area *South West (London sub region) (2008–2011), a regional planning designation *Western part of South London *South West (London Assembly constituency) (fro ...

and

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. ...

area, with many under contract to Transport for London. It ceased operations on 2 July 2021, with all remaining routes transferring to RATP's London United subsidiary.

History

In 1986

Epsom Coaches Epsom Coaches was an English bus and coach operator based in the town of Epsom, Surrey. Formed in 1920, it closed in June 2017 after a corporate restructure. History The coach business was established by Herbert Roderick Richmond in 1920

took advantage of the deregulation of the bus industry, and initially began operating hopper type services around the

area.History
Epsom Coaches In 1997, Epsom Buses expanded into the London Bus market initially winning the tenders for routes S1 and

413 __NOTOC__ Year 413 ( CDXIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Herclianus and Lucius (or, less frequently, year 1166 ...

which were operated with

Optare MetroRider The Optare MetroRider was a midibus manufactured by Optare between 1989 and 2000. History Optare based the original design on the MCW Metrorider after it bought the rights from Metro Cammell Weymann after the latter decided to cease production. ...

s later being replaced by

Plaxton Pointer The Plaxton Pointer (originally known as the Reeve Burgess Pointer, and later as the TransBus Pointer and Alexander Dennis Pointer) was a single-decker bus body manufactured during the 1990s by Reeve Burgess, Plaxton and latterly built by Alexa ...

bodied

Dennis Dart The Dennis Dart is a rear-engined single-decker midibus chassis that was introduced by Dennis Specialist Vehicles of Guildford, England in 1989, replacing the Dennis Domino. Initially built as a high-floor design, In 1996 the low-floor second ...

s. Other London tenders were successfully tendered for including route 293. In 2003, Epsom Coaches rebranded its bus division as Quality Line and repainted its vehicles from their traditional cream and brown into all over red to comply with Transport for London contractual requirements. From July 2006 with the introduction of routes E15 and E16, Quality Line began to return to operating outside London with buses in their traditional cream and brown livery, however since the displacement of

Alexander Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...

bodied Dennis Darts from route S1, buses outside London have been appearing in red once again. In late 2012 out of London buses were starting to appear in all over cream with burgundy flashes. Until May 2007 the whole fleet consisted of only single decker buses. Since June 2007 Quality Line have operated

Alexander Dennis Enviro400 The Alexander Dennis Enviro400 is a twin-axle low-floor bus, low-floor double-decker bus that was built by the United Kingdom, British bus manufacturer Alexander Dennis between 2005 and 2018. It replaced the Alexander ALX400, Dennis Trident 2, ...

double-deck vehicles on routes

406 __NOTOC__ Year 406 ( CDVI) was a common 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 Arcadius and Probus (or, less frequently, year 1159 '' Ab ...

and

418 __NOTOC__ Year 418 ( CDXVIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Honorius and Theodosius (or, less frequently, year 11 ...

. A number of single decker

Alexander Dennis Enviro200 Dart The Alexander Dennis Enviro200 (previously known as the TransBus Enviro200) is a midibus that was manufactured by TransBus International and later Alexander Dennis between 2003 and 2018. The original TransBus Enviro200 design was innovative but ...

s were delivered at the same time. On 20 April 2012 Epsom Coaches was taken over by the

. On 12 October 2012, Quality Line took over the commercial operation of

Surrey County Council Surrey County Council is the county council administering certain services in the non-metropolitan county of Surrey in England. The council is composed of 81 elected councillors, and in all but one election since 1965 the Conservative Party has ...

route 479 from

Countryliner Countryliner was a bus and coach operator, based in Uckfield, England. It ran over fifty bus services, mainly operating in Sussex and Kent with some operations into Hampshire. On 8 October 2012, it was placed in administration. It continued oth ...

, who had gone into administration earlier in the week. On 15 October a service registration by Sunray Travel was accepted by the

Traffic Commissioner The Traffic Commissioners for Great Britain are responsible for the licensing and regulation of the operators of heavy goods vehicles, buses and coaches, and the registration of local bus services in Great Britain. History The Road Traffic Ac ...

, while Quality Line's was not, so it ceased operating the route on 16 October 2012. On 3 December 2016, the company took over route 413. It was previously operated by Go-Ahead London. The company purchased nine Citaro K buses for the route. In June 2017 as part of a restructure of RATP's operations, Epsom Coaches ceased trading while the remaining operations continued under the Quality Line brand. It was brought under the same management as RATP's other London operations, London United and

London Sovereign London Sovereign is a bus company in North London. It is a subsidiary of RATP Dev Transit London and operates buses under contract to Transport for London. Company history London Sovereign can trace its roots back to independent Borehamwood ...

. On 24 April 2020, routes

and

465 __NOTOC__ Year 465 ( CDLXV) 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 Hermenericus and Basiliscus (or, less frequently, year 12 ...

were transferred to London United's Tolworth garage. in January 2021, RATP announced that it was to close Quality Line. On 19 June 2021 routes

293 __NOTOC__ Year 293 ( CCXCIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. In the Roman Empire, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Diocletian and Maximian (or, less frequently, ...

404 404 may refer to: * 404 (number) * AD 404 * 404 BC * HTTP 404, the HTTP error response status for "Not Found" Cars * Peugeot 404 * Bristol 404, produced in the 1950s * Unimog 404 Highways * A404(M) motorway, in England * Ontario Highway 40 ...

467 __NOTOC__ Year 467 ( CDLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar, the 467th Year of the Common Era ( CE) and Anno Domini ( AD) designations, the 467th year of the 1st millennium, t ...

and

470 __NOTOC__ Year 470 ( CDLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Severus and Iordanes (or, less frequently, year 1223 '' ...

were transferred to London United. On 2 July 2021, All Quality Line Operations ceased after remaining routes 413,

463 Year 463 ( CDLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Basilius and Vivianus (or, less frequently, year 1216 '' Ab urbe ...

and S1 passed to

London General London General is a bus company operating in Greater London. It is a subsidiary of the Go-Ahead Group and operates services under contract to Transport for London. The company is named after the London General Omnibus Company, the principal ...

at the end of their contracts.Routes to go to Go-Ahead when RATP leaves Epsom ''Buses'' issue 791 February 2021 page 8

References

External links

Epsom Coaches
{{RATP Group Former bus operators in Surrey Former London bus operators RATP Group Transport companies established in 1986 Transport companies disestablished in 2021 Transport in Epsom and Ewell Transport in Surrey 1986 establishments in England 2021 disestablishments in England