Eastbourne Buses

End of the road for the world's first municipal bus operator.

The take over of Eastbourne Buses by Stagecoach in December 2008 marks the end of 105 years of municipal bus operations in this seaside resort. Stagecoach are expected to operate Eastbourne services under the Hastings management at Silverhill.

The arrival of the London Brighton and South Coast Railway in 1849 enabled two of the principal landowners to develop Eastbourne. Within 20 years of the railway station opening Eastbourne's population rose from 3,500 to 10,000. In 1883 the Borough of Eastbourne was established and twenty years later the Borough Council created the world's first municipal motor bus operation between the railway station and Old Town. By 1903 the population had grown to 43,000 and spread inland to the newly laid out Hampden Park. Over the 105 years of municipal bus operation the town has doubled in size.

Eastbourne councillors were strongly opposed to the establishment of a tramway, with unsightly overhead wires so, having obtained an Act of Parliament to operate motor buses within the borough and up to one mile beyond the town boundary, on April 14th 1903 they inaugurated a service from the Railway Station to Old Town with a 14 seat Milnes Daimler motor bus. In 1904 the first double decker appeared, a 34 seat Milnes-Daimler. This was soon followed by Clarkson steam buses and open top De Dion Bouton buses. After World War I Leyland became the dominant supplier of buses to Eastbourne. After World War II AEC shared the supply of buses to Eastbourne with Leyland and East Lancs became the preferred body builder. The livery of blue and primrose remained unchanged until the 1960s when a cream with blue relief livery appeared. However buses returned to blue in latter years. In 1968 Eastbourne was one of the last operators in Britain to be supplied with rear open platform buses. In recent times Dennis and DAF have predominated although Eastbourne did also have the distinction of being the only Britsih municipal operator to buy Ikarus buses from Hungary

Eastbourne introduced route numbers in 1940 but showed little enthusiasm to make them intelligible to anyone who did no have local knowledge. For many years Eastbourne buses operated within the town while Southdown provided out of town services. In 2000 Southdown's successor Stagecoach, closed its Eastbourne operations and thereafter Eastbourne Buses expanded to East Grinstead and Tunbridge Wells. In recent years fines from the Traffic Commissioner and HSE indicated that all was far from well with Eastbourne Buses. The appearance of Renown-Cavendish (established in 2006 by former Eastbourne general manager, the late David Howard) on town routes with buses wearing the old Southdown Livery , including a Routemaster, made the quick sale to Stagecoach by the newly elected Lib Dem council in 2008 unsurprising although many had expected neighbouring Brighton and Hove company to have bought the ailing Eastbourne operation.

A quiet evening scene taken in the now pedestrianised Terminus Road of AEC Regent III no 42 one of a batch of eight buses delivered in 1951 with Bruce bodies built to East Lancs specification. This bus has now spent longer in preservation than it did with Eastbourne Corporation (June 1971)

AEC Regent V no 66 delivered in May 1963. The body was rebuilt by East Lancs in 1965 after the bus had crashed into the corner of Lambs Inn, Old Town. It pulls away from the bus stop opposite Eastbourne station still with Southern Railway enamel signs declaring trains to "Worthing etc" (June 1971)

AEC Regent V no 68 another bus from the 1963 batch in the cream livery popular in the 1970s pulls away from the "Corporation Town Bus Stops" outside Eastbourne station. (June 1972)

Outside the railway station with a canopy declaring it to be "Eastbourne Corporation Bus Station - Town Services" is Leyalnd Titan PD2A/30 no 71 and one of the unsuccessful Leyland Panthers both delivered in 1966. On the other side of the road is AEC Regent No 67. Both double deckers have East Lancs H60R bodies. (June 1974)

Outside the railway station one man operation has arrived in the form of a Leyland Panther requesting passengers offer exact fare ( no doubt to keep boarding time down) and Leyland Atlantean no 21 (June 1974)

[Eastbourne Buses face a competitor]

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