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White Bus Services

From Wikipedia - Reading time: 8 min
Not to be confused with Wightbus or Wrightbus.

White Bus Services
Alexander Dennis Enviro200 MMC at Guildford bus station in January 2019
ParentRowgate Group
Founded
  • 1922 (as Republic Bus Company)
  • 1930 (as White Bus Services)
HeadquartersWinkfield
Service areaBerkshire
Service typeBus service
DestinationsWindsor, Woking, Guildford, Ascot, Staines, Frimley
Fleet55 (Jan 2020)
Chief executiveSimon Rowland
Websitewww.whitebus.co.uk

C.E. Jeatt & Sons Limited,[1] trading as White Bus Services (sometimes shortened to White Bus), is a bus operator based in Berkshire and runs bus and coach hire services within Windsor and Ascot.[2][3] It is part of the Rowgate Group.

History

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White Bus Services Bedford YLQ/Duple at Showbus in 2004
White Bus Services Optare Tempo at Wisley Airfield in 2009

White Bus Services was founded by George Ackroyd in July 1922 in Winkfield as the Republic Bus Company, introducing a service linking Windsor and Ascot.[4] Ackroyd ran the business until selling it to William Rule Jeatt in 1930, renaming it as White Bus Services. The company would continue to be run by the Jeatt family for over 80 years, passing down to Cecil Jeatt, then in 1972 to his son Doug Jeatt.[5][6]

In 1932, a new service was introduced that skirted the edge of Windsor Great Park. By 1936 buses were running through the park itself and White Bus remains as the only operator to provide a public transport link into the park.[4][7]

The private hire side of the business became a separate company in 1955, despite continuing to share the same site, operating as Winkfield Coaches. The two companies were re-amalgamated in 1990.[6]

White Bus further expanded in 1987 when it acquired vehicles and contracted school services from A. Moore & Sons (trading as Imperial) in Windsor upon the company's closure.[6] This, alongside the introduction of free school transport for eligible pupils, has led to White Bus developing a network of school services in Windsor, Ascot, Maidenhead and Wokingham.[4]

In 2014, White Bus was awarded contracts to operate routes P1 and W1.[4]

Acquisition by Rowgate Group

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White Bus Services was sold to Fernhill Travel of Bracknell in November 2016, which is managed by Rowgate Group's chairman, Simon Rowland.[3]

In 2017, following Abellio's departure from Surrey bus operations, White Bus were awarded contracts in the Staines area for routes 438, 566/567 and Sunday operations of routes 446 and 456. It also registered the Monday to Saturday service of the 446 commercially.[4] Later, it commercially took over route 441 from Abellio in March 2018.[8][9]

In September 2018, White Bus won more contracts from Surrey County Council, mainly in the Woking area, taking over routes 437, 462/463 and two morning journeys on route 81 from Arriva Guildford & West Surrey. It also took over routes 48 and 500 from Dickson Travel of Frimley Green. Five more Alexander Dennis Enviro200 MMCs joined the fleet, these being the 8.9m examples to Euro VI specification.[4][10] To celebrate their centenary anniversary, White Bus bought two 10.8 m variants of the same model which arrived in January 2020.[3]

In December 2022, White Bus announced they would not be participating in the government's £2 fixed price bus fare scheme.[11]

In June 2023, the company was taken to an Employment Tribunal over the unlawful and unfair dismissal of a former employee. The former employee won the case in January 2024.[12][13]

Since August 2023, there were a number of route changes and additions to White Bus such as route 458 (running between Staines and Kingston upon Thames) from Diamond South East,[14] December 2023 with route 446 extended from Staines to Ashford Hospital, Heathrow Airport and Hatton Cross tube station, alongside an increased frequency to half-hourly throughout the core Woking-Staines section,[15] and September 2024 with another service from Diamond South East, route 555 (running between Heathrow Airport to Whiteley Village).[16]

Services

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As of January 2023, White Bus Services runs 19 public services. The majority of the routes would start at Staines, Windsor or Woking and would terminate elsewhere within Berkshire or Surrey.[17]

The Bus Services they run as of August 31st 2024 are:

01: Windsor - Ascot. 48: Woking - Frimley Park Hospital. 73: Chobham - Woking. 81: Woking - Woking (Morning service). 438: Staines - Royal Estate. 441: Staines - Englefield Green. 441A: Staines - Royal Holloway University. 446: Hatton Cross - Woking (via Terminal 4, Ashford and Staines) 456: Woking - Addlestone. 458: Staines - Kingston. 462: Woking - Guildford. 463: Woking - Guildford. 500: Staines - Frimley Park Hospital. 555: Heathrow CBS - Whitley Village. 566: Staines - Virginia Water. 567: Staines - Virginia Water. P1: Windsor Park & Ride. W1: Windsor - Dedworth. X94: Ascot - Frimley Park Hospital.

Fleet

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White Bus Services were known for its wide fleet of Bedford buses, the last of which finally departed in October 2008.[6] From the 1990s until Rowgate's acquisition, White Bus' fleet consisted mainly of Optare buses. In the late 2010s, White Bus gradually replaced the Optare fleet with Alexander Dennis Enviro200s or new Enviro200 MMC buses. In 2023 the company acquired 9 Volvo B8RLE MCV eVoRa vehicles to operate routes 458 and 446. In 2024, 2 additional Volvo B8RLE MCV eVoRas were acquired for route 555 and above routes.

The buses that are used for public routes are ADL, Volvo and Optare products.[citation needed]

References

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  1. ^ Companies House extract company no 1184445 C.E. Jeatt & Sons Limited
  2. ^ "White Bus | Bushub". www.bushub.co.uk. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  3. ^ a b c "White Bus takes delivery of new Enviro200 models | Alexander Dennis". www.alexander-dennis.com. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Lyons, Mark (February 2021). "White Bus Services". BUSES. Key Publishing.
  5. ^ "Author pens the remarkable story". Windsor Express. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  6. ^ a b c d "Bus Zone - White Bus Services". www.buszone.co.uk. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  7. ^ "How To Find Us". Windsor Great Park. Retrieved 29 January 2023.
  8. ^ "New Operator for Route 441 from 17th March 2018". Archived from the original on 29 August 2018. Retrieved 29 January 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  9. ^ "Abellio Surrey maintain a commercial toehold in Surrey" Buses issue 749 August 2017 page 7
  10. ^ Team, routeone (12 December 2018). "White Bus Services' five Mistral-supplied E200s". routeone. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  11. ^ "£2 Single Fare Cap Scheme". 29 December 2022. Retrieved 30 November 2023.
  12. ^ Lettice Bromovsky (12 January 2024). "Bus company manager wrongly sacked after filming colleague's Morecambe and Wise striptease". The Telegraph. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
  13. ^ "Mr G Lovejoy v Rowgate Group Ltd and CE Jeatt & Sons Ltd: 3323008/2021". GOV.UK. 31 August 2023. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
  14. ^ Lyons, Mark (September 2023). "Operator changes for cross-border services". BUSES. Key Publishing.
  15. ^ "Changes to 446 from 4 December". White Bus. 5 November 2023. Retrieved 20 December 2023.
  16. ^ "555 takes off with White Bus | White Bus". www.whitebus.co.uk. Retrieved 1 September 2024.
  17. ^ "Bus Services | White bus". www.whitebus.co.uk. Archived from the original on 29 January 2023. Retrieved 29 January 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
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