London Country Bus Services was a bus company that operated in South East England from 1970 until 1986, when it was split up and later sold as part of the bus deregulation programme.
History
Formation
London Country Bus Services Ltd was incorporated on 9 October 1968 as a subsidiary of the nationalised Transport Holding Company in anticipation of the Transport Act 1969, which on 1 January 1970 transferred London Transport's green Country Area buses and Green Line cross-London express coaches to the National Bus Company, at the same time as the red Central Area buses passed from the London Transport Board to the Greater London Council. The company had a nominal share capital of £100 of which only £2 was paid up. The original subscribers were J D Tattersall and E M Walker, both employees of the Transport Holding Company. The company's paid up capital remained the same throughout its existence. Staff who were employed before 1 January 1970 retained free travel throughout the original London Transport area. This arrangement continues today, with free pass wording changed to account for bus deregulation. London Country's territory was likened to a circle around London with a hole in the middle, operating in Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent, Surrey and Sussex. The company was NBC's biggest subsidiary, starting life with 1,267 buses and coaches. The fleet was very elderly, being mainly 484 AEC Regent III RT double-deckers and 413 AEC Regal RF single-deckers, with eight Daimler Fleetlines, three Leyland Atlanteans, 209 AEC Routemasters, 14 AEC Reliances and 109 AEC Merlins.
New vehicles
Steps were taken to reduce the age of the fleet, and NBC quickly ordered 90 Park Royal bodied Leyland Atlanteans. In 1970/71 London Transport's last Country order, for 138 AEC Swifts, was delivered. The Atlantean soon became London Country's standard bus, and by 1980 there were 293 in the fleet. Most were bodied by Park Royal, with some by Roe to the same design and 30 Metro-Cammell bodied Atlanteans, diverted from a Midland Red order. There were also 11 Leyland-engined, Godstone-based Daimler Fleetlines diverted from Western Welsh, becoming the first NBC-ordered buses in the fleet, just before the Atlanteans. The only other London Country double-deckers in the 1970s were 15 Bristol VRTs, rare highbridge Eastern Coach Works bodied examples. These were allocated to Grays garage in 1977 but were quickly moved on. There was also activity in the single-decker fleet. Some of the AEC Regal IV RFs had been refurbished in the 1960s, with twin headlights, curved windscreens, new side mouldings and improved interiors, mainly allocated to Green Line services. There were 14 Willowbrook bodied AEC Reliances at Hertford garage, which had been bought by London Transport in 1965. By 1975 they were on bus work, which some thought was idiosyncratic when vehicles twice as old were still on Green Line work. The Green Line services were largely operated by AEC Routemaster coaches and AEC Regal IV RFs. NBC ordered 90 AEC Reliances with 45-seat Park Royal bodies, which were originally in Green Line two-tone green but were quickly repainted in NBC local coach livery. For the orbital route 725 between Windsor and Gravesend, 15 Alexander W bodied AEC Swifts were purchased, but were soon demoted to Gravesend local services.
Standard fleets
In 1972, the Leyland National, NBC and British Leyland's joint project, became the standard in most NBC fleets. London Country bought over 500 examples, the world's largest fleet. They mainly replaced RFs, RTs and Routemasters. Some RFs were kept in areas where smaller, lighter vehicles were needed, until NBC decided on its smaller standard bus, the Bristol LH. London Country bought its first examples of the type in 1973, with more batches bought up until 1977. Throughout the 1980s NBC had had large numbers of double-deck Leyland Olympians delivered. From 1982 until 1984 these were purchased with Roe bodies, but from 1985 they had Eastern Coach Works bodies to the same style. London Country operated 75.
The end
under the Transport Act 1985, resulted in the company being divided into smaller divisions and sold off. London Country was split into four on 7 September 1986:
The central workshops were sold as Gatwick Engineering. These companies were privatised during 1988, among the last of the bus privatisations - London Country Bus Ltd was the last of all its subsidiaries to be disposed of by the National Bus Company. The purchasers were
London Country North West: sold 5 January 1988 to a management buyout further sold on to Luton & District Transport in 1990, now part of Arriva Shires & Essex.
London Country South West: sold 19 February 1988 to Drawlane Limited, which became the British Bus group, itself sold to the Cowie Group in 1996, and now part of Arriva Guildford & West Surrey, although many routes passed to other companies, notably Metrobus and what is now Abellio Surrey
