Eastbourne Buses was a

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...

operator running within the Borough of Eastbourne and into the surrounding area, including

Pevensey Pevensey ( ) is a village and civil parish in the Wealden district of East Sussex, England. The main village is located north-east of Eastbourne, one mile (1.6 km) inland from Pevensey Bay. The settlement of Pevensey Bay forms part ...

Hailsham Hailsham is a town, a civil parish and the administrative centre of the Wealden district of East Sussex, England.OS Explorer map Eastbourne and Beachy Head Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton B2 edition. Publishing Da ...

Tunbridge Wells Royal Tunbridge Wells is a town in Kent, England, southeast of central London. It lies close to the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the High Weald, whose sandstone geology is exemplified by the rock formation High Rocks. T ...

Uckfield Uckfield () is a town in the Wealden District of East Sussex in South East England. The town is on the River Uck, one of the tributaries of the River Ouse, on the southern edge of the Weald. Etymology 'Uckfield', first recorded in writing as ...

, and

East Grinstead East Grinstead is a town in West Sussex, England, near the East Sussex, Surrey, and Kent borders, south of London, northeast of Brighton, and northeast of the county town of Chichester. Situated in the extreme northeast of the county, the civ ...

, with a fleet of around 50 vehicles. Eastbourne Buses was sold to the

Stagecoach Group Stagecoach Group is a transport group based in Perth, Scotland. It operates buses, express coaches and a tram service in the United Kingdom. History Stagecoach was born out of deregulation of the British express coach market in the early ...

on 18 December 2008 for £3.7 million, beating Go-Ahead to the ownership.

History

Formed in April 1903, Eastbourne Buses claimed to be the first and oldest municipally owned motor bus operator in the world; the first bus service operated between Eastbourne railway station and Old Town. In 2007, the company was fined over £25,000 for two accidents involving employees, one of which was fatal. At the beginning of 2008, the traffic commissioner fined the company for failing to run services on time. June 2008 reports had announced Eastbourne Council's intention to sell its majority shareholding in the company.''Bus and Coach'' magazine - "Speculation on Eastbourne Buses future"
Accessed 20 June 2008

Sale to Stagecoach

In early November 2008, local press reports had indicated that the company was to be sold by the end of the year to either the

Go-Ahead Group The Go-Ahead Group plc is a passenger transport company based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, with operations in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Singapore, Norway and Germany. Formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange, in 2022 it was purchased ...

. The employees' trade union,

Unite Unite may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Albums * ''Unite'' (A Friend in London album), 2013 album by Danish band A Friend in London * ''Unite'' (Kool & the Gang album), 1993 * ''Unite'' (The O.C. Supertones album), 2005 Songs ...

, wrote to

Eastbourne Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. Eastbourne is immediately east of Beachy Head, the highest chalk sea cliff in Great Britain and part of the l ...

Borough Council to ask the Council to sell to the Go-Ahead Group, because of work conditions and a superior fleet. On 25 November 2008, it was announced that Stagecoach was the preferred bidder. On 18 December 2008, Stagecoach took control of the Birch Road Depot. It is not the first time Stagecoach have run services in Eastbourne. They had run services until late in 2000 before they were withdrawn. They still operate services to

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...

and Bexhill from Eastbourne. The sale has caused considerable controversy, with MPs criticising the secrecy surrounding the sale and blaming each other's parties for the state the Eastbourne Buses got into, the Liberal Democrats claiming the Conservatives "failed to support Eastbourne Buses". There has also been criticism of the low sale price for the company – revealed at £3.7 million, lower than the original report of 4 - and criticism of Stagecoach, one MP saying that the company has effectively been "given away for nothing". However, it was revealed that Go-Ahead had bid much lower at £2.85 million, so the council was forced to sell to Stagecoach, despite the union's calls. In April 2007 the company nearly had to close as it was unable to pay for fuel. At that stage it was inevitable that the company would soon have to be sold. In January 2009, rival company Cavendish Motor Services was also bought by the Stagecoach Group, making both companies one. The Eastbourne Buses name was discontinued on 8 March 2009, with operations rebranded as

Stagecoach in Eastbourne Stagecoach South East is the trading name of East Kent Road Car Company Limited, a bus operator based in Canterbury providing services in Kent and East Sussex in the south east of England. It is a subsidiary of Stagecoach Group. History Stage ...

, which is now under the East Sussex operations of Stagecoach UK Bus.

Routes

Eastbourne Buses operated a number of different service types, including local services around Eastbourne town, as well as long-distance routes.

Town services

Eastbourne Buses ran five in-town services.

Long-distance services

There were 3 long-distance services.

School services

There were 2 school services.

Fleet

The Eastbourne bus fleet comprised a number of different vehicle types, of both older and new vehicles. Twelve new vehicles joined the fleet in January 2009 as part of the Stagecoach takeover, the majority of which were Alexander Dennis Enviro200 Darts. Fleet before takeover: ;Single decker * 3

Dennis Dart SLF 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 ...

/Marshall * 3

Plaxton Plaxton is an English builder of bus and coach vehicle bodies based in Scarborough. Founded in 1907 by Frederick William Plaxton, it became a subsidiary of Alexander Dennis in May 2007. In 2019, the maker was acquired by Canadian bus manu ...

* 1

Caetano Caetano is a Portuguese given name and surname derived from Latin ''Caietanus''. It also appears in Lusophone place names named after Saint Cajetan (''São Caetano'' in Portuguese). People with the given name Caetano * Caetano Prósperi Calil, ...

* 8

DAF SB220 The DAF SB220 was a full-size single-decker bus chassis produced by DAF Bus International from 1985. Initially only built in left hand drive, in 1988 a right hand drive version was launched for the United Kingdom market. An articulated vers ...

/ Ikarus * 5

/ Northern Counties * 6 DAF SB120/

Wright Cadet The Wright Cadet was a low floor midibus body built on the DAF/VDL SB120 chassis by Wrightbus between 2000 and 2006. It was sold via VDL dealer Arriva Bus & Coach. Of the 681 produced, 366 were for Arriva subsidiaries including eight for its N ...

* 10

MAN A man is an adult male human. Prior to adulthood, a male human is referred to as a boy (a male child or adolescent). Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chromo ...

14.220/MCV Evolution ;Double decker * -

Leyland Atlantean The Leyland Atlantean is a predominantly double-decker bus chassis manufactured by Leyland Motors between 1958 and 1986. Only 17 Atlantean chassis were bodied as single deck from new. It pioneered the design of rear-engined, front entranc ...

* 2

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 ...

/Alexander * 1

DAF DB250 The VDL DB250 (originally the DAF DB250) was a twin-axle double-decker bus chassis manufactured by VDL Bus & Coach. DB250 The DAF DB250 was launched in October 1991 and originally only available with Optare Spectra bodywork with 260 built, mai ...

/Northern Counties * 6

Optare Spectra The Optare Spectra was a double-decker bus body built on the DAF (now VDL) DB250 chassis between 1991 and 2006. The vehicle was developed as a joint project between Optare and DAF; it was based on the designs of the successful MCW Metrobus, ...

* 4

Alexander ALX400 The Alexander ALX400 (later known as the TransBus ALX400 and the Alexander Dennis ALX400) was a 2-axle double-decker bus body built by Walter Alexander Coachbuilders (later by TransBus International/Alexander Dennis). It was one of the ALX-seri ...

Trivia

One of the company's buses featured in the 2008 film Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging.

References

External links

{{StagecoachGroup History of Eastbourne Former bus operators in East Sussex Former bus operators in West Sussex Former bus operators in Kent Stagecoach Group bus operators in England