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| Parent | London Regional Transport; at time of inauguration, thenTransport for London |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1999; 26 years ago (1999) |
| Defunct | 2009; 16 years ago (2009) |
| Service area | Greater London |
| Service type | Bus services |
| Routes | 11 |
| Fleet | Volvo B7TL DAF SB120 Scania OmniTown |
East Thames Buses was the trading name of London Buses Limited, an arms length subsidiary ofTransport for London. In 2009, it was sold toGo-Ahead London.
East Thames Buses was formed in 1999 to take over the services operated by the failedHarris Bus.[1] It was then retained as an accredited operator to operate services in the event of their contracted operator being unable to do so. In August 2002 it was called in to operate routes42 and185 following the collapse ofLondon Easylink.[2]
On 3 October 2009 Transport for London sold East Thames Buses toGo-Ahead London.[3]
When it was formed, East Thames Buses operated from the formerLondon Forest andKentish BusAsh Grove bus garage and Harris'sBelvedere Garage. On 13 October 2005 Ash Grove was vacated and operations transferred to Mandela Way,Southwark.
Mandela Way - West opened in late 2005 following the relocation from the existing base at Ash Grove. It had a Peak Vehicle Requirement of 53 buses and operated London bus routes1,42 and185. When Mandela Way - West (MA) garage closed on 30 April 2010 it operated the following types of buses:
Following on from Ash Grove's role, Mandela Way serviced the East Thames Buses fleet. In the last few months of East Thames Buses operation, route 1 moved next door to Mandela Way (MW) (the original London General depot) but were still maintained by the East Thames engineers.
Most of the routes once operated by Mandela Way - West were reallocated toLondon Central's &London General's other garages. The only exception wasroute 393 which has put back out to tender shortly after East Thames Buses took over the running ofroute 201 and moved to Mandela Way.
Belvedere garage was leased by Harris Bus in 1998 to house its operations that moved fromCrayford. Harris Bus went into receivership in December 1999, and its routes and garage were taken over by East Thames Buses.
This garage has a peak vehicle requirement of 15 buses and operatesroutes 180 and part of669 andN1. On 22 January 2011route 244 transferred from London Central's Bexleyheath garage. Belvedere has always been classed as a satellite garage from an engineering point of view with very little routine maintenance ever taking place there, however limited engineering facilities existed at up until its parent garage changing to Bexleyheath.
Belvedere is now closed.
Belvedere garage ran the following models:
