Sullivan Buses is a bus company based in

South Mimms South Mimms is a village and civil parish in the Hertsmere district of Hertfordshire in the East of England. It is a small settlement located near to the junction of the M25 motorway with the A1(M) motorway and is perhaps more widely known because ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

, England. Founded in 1998, it operates local bus services in and around Hertfordshire and north

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 ...

including school services, rail replacement bus services in and near London, bus links 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. ...

to and from

Thorpe Park Thorpe Park Resort, commonly known as Thorpe Park, is an amusement park located in the village of Thorpe between the towns of Chertsey and Staines-upon-Thames in Surrey, England, southwest of Central London. It is operated by Merlin Entertai ...

and vehicle hire for television programmes.

History

Sullivan Buses was founded in 1998 by former

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent ceremonial counties of England, counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and He ...

manager Dean Sullivan.Competition Commission - Summary of hearing with Sullivan Buses Ltd on 30 September 2004
Competition Commission Sullivan Buses operates public and school bus routes in

and

North London North London is the northern part of London, England, north of the River Thames. It extends from Clerkenwell and Finsbury, on the edge of the City of London financial district, to Greater London's boundary with Hertfordshire. The term ''nort ...

. Rail replacement work, particularly on the London Underground, is also operated. In 2004, this work contributed to two-thirds of the company's turnover of £3 million. Sullivan Buses vehicles frequently appear in film and television broadcasts and advertisements, partially because of the company location's proximity to the

Elstree Studios Elstree Studios is a generic term which can refer to several current and demolished British film studios and television studios based in or around the town of Borehamwood and village of Elstree in Hertfordshire, England. Production studios ha ...

. By August 2007, 20 different buses had been used in over 30 productions. In January 2005, Sullivan Buses purchased Southlands Travel, located at

Pollhill Pollhill is a hamlet in the parish of Harrietsham near the town of Maidstone in 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 ...

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 ...

, but this operation ceased in February 2007, with some of the routes passing to Griffin Bus, who operated initially from Pollhill before moving to

Longfield Longfield is a village in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, England. It is located 6 miles south east of Dartford and the same distance south-west of Gravesend. History The place in Kent is recorded as ''Langanfelda'' in the Saxon Charters of ...

. In May 2011 Griffin Bus ceased operations and their routes were transferred over to other operators. Due to increased traffic congestion, HCC-controlled route B3 was revised with additional running time and made significant changes to timings to meet train arrivals and departures from July 2012. Starting from September 2012, Sullivan Buses won TfL tenders for school routes 628, 653, 683 and 688 from Arriva London North. This came after the company also won the tender for route 298. Sullivan Buses won the TfL tender on route W9 and retained route 298 in 2016, both acquiring brand-new

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 ...

buses as a result. From 1 September 2018, Sullivan Buses axed a section of commercial route 398 between

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 ...

and

Borehamwood Borehamwood (, historically also Boreham Wood) is a town in southern Hertfordshire, England, from Charing Cross. Borehamwood has a population of 31,074, and is within the London commuter belt. The town's film and TV studios are commonly known ...

. To minimise inconvenience, route 306 improved its evening frequencies to every 15 minutes. In May 2021, it was announced Sullivan Buses would take over the TfL tender for route 549 from 12 March 2022. In February 2022, Sullivan Buses announced the takeover of route 84 between

Potters Bar Potters Bar is a town in Hertfordshire, England,in the historic County of Middlesex Hertsmere Borough Council – Community Strategy First Review (PDF) north of central London. In 2011, it had a population of 21,882. In 2022 the population was ...

and

St Albans St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major ...

, following

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 ...

's decision to withdraw from the route. The effects will take place from 2 April 2022.

Depot

South Mimms (SM)

As at November 2020, South Mimms operated London routes

217 Year 217 (Roman numerals, CCXVII) 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 Praesens and Extricatus (or, less frequently, yea ...

, 298,

299 __NOTOC__ Year 299 (Roman numerals, CCXCIX) 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, l ...

, 327, 389, 399,

549 __NOTOC__ Year 549 (Roman numerals, DXLIX) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 549 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domi ...

603 __NOTOC__ Year 603 ( DCIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 603 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era ...

, 605,

606 __NOTOC__ Year 606 ( DCVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 606 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar er ...

617 __NOTOC__ Year 617 ( DCXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 617 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar e ...

626 __NOTOC__ Year 626 ( DCXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 626 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar e ...

, 628,

629 __NOTOC__ Year 629 ( DCXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 629 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era ...

, 640,

653 __NOTOC__ Year 653 ( DCLIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 653 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era ...

683 __NOTOC__ Year 683 (Roman numerals, DCLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 683 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno ...

688 __NOTOC__ Year 688 ( DCLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 688 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar ...

and W9. As at December 2021, it also operated 19 other routes either operated under contract to

Hertfordshire County Council Hertfordshire County Council is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Hertfordshire, in England, the United Kingdom. After the 2021 election, it consists of 78 councillors, and is controlled by the Conservative Party, ...

or commercially.

North Mymms

Sullivan Buses operate a maintenance facility based at North Mymms providing services to all of Sullivan's fleet.Sullivanbuses.co.uk

Staines

Sullivan operate a small garage based in Staines to maintain their

fleet.

Fleet

The fleet initially was built up with ex Transport for London

Leyland Olympian The Leyland Olympian was a 2-axle and 3-axle double-decker bus chassis manufactured by Leyland between 1980 and 1993. It was the last Leyland bus model in production. Construction The Olympian had the same chassis and running gear as t ...

s, Leyland Titans,

MCW Metrobus The MCW Metrobus is a two and three-axle double-decker bus manufactured by Metro Cammell Weymann (MCW) between 1977 and 1989, with over 4,000 built. The original MkI was superseded by the MkII which had a symmetrical windscreen with an arched ...

es and

Volvo Olympian The Volvo Olympian was a rear-engined 2-axle and 3-axle double decker bus chassis manufactured by Volvo at its Irvine, Scotland factory. The first was built in 1992 and entered production in March 1993, replacing the Leyland Olympian. History ...

s. As at November 2020, the fleet consisted of 111 buses, including an

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 ...

heritage vehicle and a driver training vehicle.Bus Fleet
Sullivan Buses

References

External links

Company website
{{Bus companies in South East England Bus operators in Hertfordshire Bus operators in Surrey Companies based in Hertsmere Transport companies established in 1998 1998 establishments in England