Imperial Buses

Imperial Buses is a small bus company located in Rainham, London who operate services in Essex, Greater London and Thurrock.

Routes

They mostly operate school buses and rail replacement services but also operate some routes around Essex. They have a private hire business, with vintage Routemasters and RTs. The vintage buses are seen at bus rallies, on television advertisements and on special days usually around Christmas on their H1 route.

In September, the company is set to operate the Brentwood and Stondon Massey/Blackmore local services 71, 72 and 261 previously operated by Clintona Minicoaches.

{| class="wikitable"
Route Number
Route
-
32
Chelmsford "Bus Station" to Ongar "Two Brewers" via Blackmore
-
71/72
Stondon Massey to Brentwood via Pilgrims Hatch
-
261
Blackmore to Brentwood via Doddinghurst
-
268
Blackmore to Grays via Brentwood
-
269
Brentwood to Grays "Bus Station" via Brentwood
-
H1
Loughton Station to Harlow "Edinburgh Way" via Debden, Epping, North Weald

Imperial Buses also operate many school buses across Essex and Thurrock, as well as being a frequent contributor to local rail replacement services.

Imperial Bus Company, purchased Travel with Hunny during September 2007, however the two companies divided again in January 2008. Both companies are now separate, and are in no way connected.

Routes previously operated

Many routes were previously operated by Imperial Buses. The 502 from Loughton to Romford via Debden, Abridge, Havering-atte-Bower and Collier Row was operated for a while, before being taken over by Blue Triangle of Rainham who only operated the route for a few months, before the route was discontinued.

Imperial also began the number 10 route, which operated from Loughton to Passingford Bridge via Debden and Abridge, surprisingly the route was operated by double deckers even when only a few people were ever using the route. Route 10 was later taken over by Trustline using smaller buses. The route has now been replaced by route 541 (Loughton to Epping via Debden, Abridge, Theydon Bois) operated by Arriva Shires & Essex.

For about a year, they operated the Loughton and Debden local routes 214, 215, 219, 220 using Plaxton Beavers until Arriva Shires & Essex took over. The routes have since been replaced by routes 542, 543 and 541.

Also, they operated route 46 (Ongar to Chelmsford), until Arriva Shires & Essex took over.

Bus types in use

*MCW Metrobus Mk1
*MCW Metrobus Mk2
*Leyland National
*Leyland Olympian
*Leyland Titan
*Dennis Dart/Plaxton Pointer
*Dennis Dart/Northern Counties Paladin
*Dennis Dart/Marshall Capital
*RT
*AEC Routemaster

ee also

*List of bus routes in Essex
*Regal Busways
*Essex CC Route H1

External links

* [http://www.imperialbus.co.uk/ Imperial Bus Company]
* [http://routeh1.com/News.html route H1 website]
* [http://www.essexcc.gov.uk/vip8/ecc/ECCWebsite/dis/hom.jsp Essex County Council]
* [http://www.traveline.org.uk/index.htm Traveline]