Arriva Southern Counties Kent operations

Arriva Kent & Sussex and Arriva Medway Towns are the direct successors of The Maidstone & District Motor Services Limited, which was formed in 1911 from the Maidstone, Chatham, Gravesend & District Motor Services of W.F. French, who had acquired those interests from Hall, Dartford in 1910. These included a Maidstone-Chatham service first inaugurated by A.W. Austen’s Commercial Motor Company in 1908, passing to Hall in 1909.

3181(P181 LKL) - A large batch of Plaxton Pointer-bodied Dennis Dart SLFs were delivered to M&D in 1997 in the modernised cream and dark green Maidstone & District livery, but that proved to be short-lived, as it soon gave way to Arriva livery. 3181 is seen in Tunbridge Wells in the spring of 1998. (photo - Derek Jones)

3224 - Representing the classic BET-style single-decker of the late 1950s and early 1960s, M&D SO224 (YKR 224), a Beadle-bodied AEC Reliance, was new in 1957 and renumbered S224 in 1961 and 3224 in 1968. After withdrawal in 1971 it stayed in Kent with various non-PSV owners including farms in the Maidstone area before being rescued for preservation. It is seen participating in a rally and running day in the Sevenoaks area on 6th August 1995. (photo - Derek Jones)

Competing operators were gradually acquired by Maidstone & District over the next three decades. Several of these, including Chatham & District, Autocar Services of Tunbridge Wells, Gravesend & Northfleet and Hastings & District, operated as subsidiaries of M&D for various periods. M&D were obliged to surrender their interests in Metropolitan Kent to the London Passenger Transport Board in July 1933, and further operations passed to LPTB in 1935 when Green Line services were co-ordinated. Although these events took place some seventy-five years ago, they are essentially the reason why the Club does not cover buses in north-west Kent to the same level of detail, as LOTS (the main enthusiasts group covering London Transport and its successors, which include Arriva Kent Thameside) has provided this service to its own members since 1964.

Having become part of the National Bus Company on 1st January 1969, M&D took over East Kent’s operations at Hastings in September 1969. Further rationalisation in 1973 led to M&D taking over East Kent workings at Rye and Faversham, whilst East Kent absorbed M&D work at Ashford. At Gravesend , London Country Bus Services took over local routes in 1978 which were thereby moved to their Northfleet garage.

From the mid-1970s, there was an increasing amount of joint management with East Kent , until the companies were separated again by the National Bus Company on 22nd May 1983. On the same day, Hastings area operations passed to a new Hastings & District company, which later became part of the Stagecoach fold as described separately.

5314 - One of a batch of nine East Lancs-bodied Dennis Dominators acquired from East Staffordshire District Council in 1985, 5314 (PRE 38W) was photographed on a local service in the Medway Towns in June 1987. (photo - Derek Jones)

5608 - One of the last Weymann-bodied Atlanteans from the sizeable UKM batch of 1963 to survive with M&D, 5608 is seen on 8th March 1983, in the year before its withdrawal, turning into Chatham Rail Station. (photo - Derek Jones)

Maidstone & District was privatised on 7th November 1986 to a management-led team through the holding company of Einkorn Limited. Einkorn purchased New Enterprise Coaches (Tonbridge) Limited on 22nd June 1988, with their network of local bus services, contracts, private hire and excursions. This has continued as a low-cost operation based at Tonbridge, with some vehicles now outstationed at Copthorne in West Sussex for EasyBus duties. A new livery was introduced for coaches in the New Enterprise fleet during the spring of 2002. New Enterprise now control all remaining coach work within the group.

In June 1992, M&D purchased the residual assets of Boro’line Maidstone with their depot at Armstrong Road . During the 1990s, local bus operations of Shearings (at Tunbridge Wells), Bygone Buses, Grey-Green (in the Medway Towns), Mercury Passenger Services, Wealden PSV, Turner’s of Maidstone and Fuggles of Benenden were all absorbed.

5767 - Representing the complex history of some of the older vehicles in the Arriva fleet, 5767 (H767 EKJ) is a Northern Counties-bodied Olympian that was new to Boro'line Maidstone in 1991, passing to Kentish Bus after Boro'line failed in 1992, but eventually finding its way to Arriva Medway Towns, and seen in Sheerness on 8th August 2007. (photo - Derek Jones)

Arriva Kent Thameside has its roots in the formation of the London Passenger Transport Board in 1933, whose country area absorbed former Maidstone & District coverage in north-west Kent . This passed to London Country Bus Services in the ownership of the National Bus Company in January 1970, then to London Country (South East) on 8th September 1986, which in turn was renamed Kentish Bus and Coach Company on 26th April 1987.

Ownership passed to Proudmutual on 15th March 1988, leading to a period of association with Northumbria Motor Services which continued until July 1994 when the company was sold to British Bus. For many years following deregulation in October 1986, the company operated a high proportion of London Transport contract work, including routes absorbed from Boro’line Maidstone in February 1992. This diminished in the second half of the 1990s, and the core operation became based on commercial routes in north-west Kent . The Kent-based operations of Londonlinks, formed in January 1995 as an offshoot of London & Country, were also controlled until February 1996. Amongst notable acquisitions were the Gravesend operations of Metrobus in January 1990 and Transcity, Sidcup in October 1993.

On 14th April 1995 the Einkorn group was purchased by British Bus, who from October 1995 brought the management of Maidstone & District, Kentish Bus, New Enterprise and (for a few months) Londonlinks under the common control of Invictaway Limited at Maidstone. In July 1996 the Cowie Group plc completed the purchase of the British Bus group. Their bus operations were renamed Arriva Passenger Services from 1st January 1998 and from 2nd April 1998 Invictaway was renamed as Arriva Southern Counties, which now acts as a centralised management group controlling the four local subsidiaries, as well as those at Guildford and West Surrey (including services in the Horsham area of West Sussex) and at Southend (including services in the Grays and Thurrock area of Essex).

In April 2001 the Medway and Swale operations of Arriva Kent & Sussex were transferred to a new sister company named Arriva Medway Towns Ltd. From October 1997 vehicles have received the Arriva livery of aquamarine with stone relief, first piloted on two Maidstone & District vehicles on behalf of the group.

The Head Office of all four operators is at Invicta House, Armstrong Road , Maidstone .

Arriva Kent & Sussex operates from Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells (together with an outstation at Tenterden), under operator licence PK0000208 with authority for 180 vehicles.

Arrive Medway Towns operates from Gillingham and Sheerness under operator licence PK0003562 with authority for 140 vehicles.

Arriva Kent Thameside operates from Dartford and Northfleet under operator licence PK0001285 with authority for 167 vehicles, many of which carry the red version of Arriva livery for use on TfL contracts within Greater London.

New Enterprise operates from Tonbridge and Copthorne under licence PK0000536 with authority for 50 vehicles