Kentish Bus

AEC Routemaster withroute 19 branding in July 1993
Parent	National Bus Company (1986-88) Proudmutual (1988-94) British Bus (1994-96) Cowie Group
Founded	7 September 1986
Headquarters	Northfleet
Service area	Kent Greater London
Service type	Bus operator
Depots	4
Fleet	169

Kentish Bus^[1] was a bus operator inSouth East England andLondon. It was formed from the split ofLondon Country Bus Services in 1986 asLondon Country South East (LCSE) and operated a fleet of around 170 buses from four garages, with its headquarters located inNorthfleet, subsequently rebranding toKentish Bus in 1987. Its former garages and operations now form part ofArriva Southern Counties andArriva London.

In the run-up toderegulation,London Country Bus Services was broken into four smaller companies on 7 September 1986.^[2][3]

London Country South East was the smallest of the four, with just 169 buses and garages inDartford,Dunton Green,Northfleet andSwanley, with someLondon Regional Transport contracts operated from the former National Travel garages inVictoria andCatford, with the head office in an office in Dartford.

Bill Gunning, the former Traffic Manager of London Country Bus Services, became the new company's managing director. The company was renamed Kentish Bus & Coach in April 1987, and a new maroon and cream livery, loosely based on the colours of the erstwhile Colchester Corporation Transport, replaced the former London Country green.^[3][4] The head office was relocated toNorthfleet.

On 15 March 1988, Kentish Bus was sold to Proudmutual Limited,^[5] themanagement buyout who already ownedNorthumbria Motor Services.^{[6][7][8][9][10]}

The company expanded its London operations significantly with a series of contract wins and acquisitions. The largest win was of London routes22A,22B and55, taken fromLondon Forest on 20 January 1990 with 43 new dual-doorNorthern Counties bodiedLeyland Olympians were bought to operate the routes.^[11] Outside of London, the competing operations of Northfleet-based Mini Metro were taken over in January 1990.^[12]

In February 1992, Kentish Bus purchased seven contracted routes and 50 vehicles fromBoro'line.^[13][14] These were initially operated from the former Boro'line garage inCrayford; the majority later moved to Dartford, although some also operated from the former London ForestAsh Grove garage, which was also used for routes22A, 22B and55.^[3]

In early 1993, Kentish Bus gained work in the south-east London and ordered 65 new buses to cover the workings; this took the fleet size to 352, more than double its size in 1986.^[3] One of the routes gained wasroute 19, for which the company leased refurbishedAEC Routemasters fromLondon Regional Transport. Kentish Bus was the first operator other than a formerLondon Buses subsidiary, to win a contract for a Routemaster operated route, and introduced its maroon and cream livery in place of London red.^[15][16]

By August 1993, Kentish Bus had become the largest independent operator of London contracts.^[15] Further expansion came in November 1993, when two London contracts and six minor commercial routes, along with 23 buses, were taken over from Transcity Buses.^[3]

In July 1994, the fast-expandingBritish Bus group purchased Proudmutual. British Bus already owned neighbouring operatorLondon & Country (successor toLondon Country South West), and in January 1995 London & Country's contracted operations atCroydon,Walworth andDunton Green garages were split into a new company, Londonlinks, which was run from Kentish Bus' Northfleet garage.^[17]

WhenMaidstone & District was also acquired by British Bus in April 1995, the three companies were put under the control of a single holding company,Invictaway, which was based at Maidstone & District's head office inMaidstone.^[17][18] A new livery of green and yellow was also introduced to Kentish Bus.^[17]

On 1 August 1996, British Bus was purchased by theCowie Group in a deal which brought three of the four segments ofLondon Country Bus Services back under common ownership.^[8][19][20]

In November 1997, the Cowie Group was rebranded asArriva.^[21] With that, the bus operations were rationalised as follows:

• Arriva Group bus operators in England
• Former London bus operators
• 1986 establishments in England
• Former bus operators in Kent

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