Metroline is a bus company operating services in

Greater London Greater may refer to: *Greatness Greatness is a concept of a state of superiority affecting a person or object in a particular place or area. Greatness can also be attributed to individuals who possess a natural ability to be better than al ...

and south

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 gov ...

. It is a subsidiary of

ComfortDelGro Corporation ComfortDelGro Corporation is a multi-national land transport company listed on the Singapore Exchange, operating about 35,000 vehicles in seven countries. It was formed on 29 March 2003 through a merger of Singapore-based land transport compa ...

and operates services under contract to Transport for London. As at March 2021, the fleet consisted of 1,532 buses, making it the third largest London Buses operator. Operations are split between two registered companies, Metroline Travel Limited and Metroline West Limited.

Company history

Metroline Routemaster bus route 98 Oxford Street 16 April 2003

On 1 April 1989, London Buses was divided into 11 separate business units, one of which was Metroline. As part of the

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 ...

, Metroline was sold in October 1994 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 o ...

worth £20 million. In July 1998, it purchased MTL London and in March 2000 was sold to

ComfortDelGro ComfortDelGro Corporation is a multi-national land transport company listed on the Singapore Exchange, operating about 35,000 vehicles in seven countries. It was formed on 29 March 2003 through a merger of Singapore-based land transport compa ...

. In August 2004 ComfortDelGro purchased

Thorpes Thorpes was an English bus operator. It operated services under contract to Transport for London. History Thorpes was a coach operator that diversified into operating bus services under contract to Transport for London in the 1990s. Their St ...

and in November 2004

Armchair Passenger Transport Armchair Passenger Transport was a bus and coach charter operator in London. History Armchair Passenger Transport was established as a coach operator in November 1960, being sold to EH Mundy in 1974. In June 1990 it became a London Regional Tra ...

with seven routes and 86 buses. The coach business of Armchair was absorbed into

-owned Westbus UK in 2006. Thorpes and Armchair initially retained their existing names before being rebranded to Metroline in January 2007. When privatised, Metroline adopted a livery of red with a dark blue skirt. This was briefly changed to light blue in the mid 2000s before the dark blue was reinstated. In June 2009, Metroline adopted an all red scheme to comply with Transport for London requirements. In 2014, a blue, white and red livery was introduced on buses dedicated to non-Transport for London services. On 22 June 2013, Metroline purchased

First London First London was a bus company operating services in east and west Greater London, England. It was a subsidiary of FirstGroup and operated buses under contract to Transport for London. It was formed in the late 1990s through the acquisition o ...

Alperton Alperton () is an area of north west London, England, within the London Borough of Brent. It forms the southern part of the town of Wembley and is west north-west of Charing Cross. It includes a handful of high-rise and many mid-rise buildings ...

Greenford Greenford () is a suburb in the London Borough of Ealing in west London, England, lying west from Charing Cross. It has a population of 46,787 inhabitants, or 62,126 with the inclusion of Perivale. Greenford is served by Greenford Station (L ...

Hayes Hayes may refer to: * Hayes (surname), including a list of people with the name ** Rutherford B. Hayes, 19th president of the United States * Hayes (given name) Businesses * Hayes Brake, an American designer and manufacturer of disc brakes * Hay ...

Uxbridge Uxbridge () is a suburban town in west London and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Hillingdon. Situated west-northwest of Charing Cross, it is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. Uxb ...

and

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 ...

depots with 494 buses. On 10 September 2021,

depot closed to make way for redevelopment, with a Farewell Open Day being held the following day. A major fire broke out at

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 ...

garage on 22 May 2022, destroying six buses but resulting in no injuries. Drivers were able to move the majority of the garage's buses away from the fire. Two of the buses destroyed were Optare MetroDecker EVs, also in service with

Go-Ahead London Go-Ahead London is the trading name used collectively for the London bus operations of the Go-Ahead Group. The name first appeared in August 2008, before which the company had traded under separate names and brands. It is currently (as of 2021 ...

and

Tower Transit A tower is a tall structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting structures. Towers are specific ...

, causing a nationwide recall of the type.

References

External links

* {{ComfortDelGro ComfortDelGro companies London bus operators Transport companies established in 1989 1989 establishments in England

Company history

See also

References

External links