The electricity works on Arterial Road, Thurrock have now been completed early and the road has now been fully re-opened.

All Routes will now run to normal line of route with immediate effect.

Due to Electricity works, Arterial Road between Thurrock Services Roundabout (West Thurrock Way) and Pilgrims Roundabout (Burghley Road) is scheduled to be closed between 07:00 - 18:00 on 31st July - 13th August. There will also be overnight closures on 3rd, 7th and 11th August.

This is expected to cause considerable traffic delays in the Lakeside area and all bus routes may be subject to delay. We will do our best to minimise any disruption and will have additional resources available at these times.

Routes 22, & (Brentwood) X81 will be diverted between Lakeside and Pilgrims Roundabout via Burgley Road and Fenner Road in both directions. Buses will not be able to serve Arterial Road Sainsbury's bus stop but will stop at all bus stops along Burghley Road.

Route 33 will be diverted bewtween Lakeside and Chafford Hundred Station via Fenner Road in both directions. Buses will not be able to serve Burghley Road or Arterial Road. See routes 22 for Burghley Road.

Route 44 & X80 will be diverted between Lakeside and the M25 J31 roundabout via Lakeside Retail Park OR the A13 in both directions and will not be able to stop at or near Thurrock Services.

Route 66 will be diverted between Lakeside and Grays via London Road. This is due to severe traffic delays of 45 mins + between Lakeside and Treacle Mine. Buses will not be able to serve, Arterial Road 'Harvester', Treacle Mine, Elizabeth Road or Hogg Lane. Customers along these parts of the route are advised to walk to the nearest route 33 bus stop. We apologise for any inconvenience.

There will be a follow up public meeting regarding route 81 (Hutton - Brentwood) on Tuesday, 27th July at Hutton, Poplars Lodge Hall from 7pm.

Paul Dickson, Customer Services Manager & Paul Ashman, Route Manager will be in attendance to talk about the past, present and future of route 81 and to answer any questions/ look at any suggestions raised.

All route 81 customers and members of the local community will be warmly welcomed.

We will be making some minor timing changes to route 81 to help further improve reliability. Due to customer requests, we will also introduce a later departure from Shenfield Station to Hutton

Monday to Friday changes:

- All journeys will depart Hutton, Wash Road & Hutton Drive ONE minute later and THREE minutes later from Shenfield Station towards Brentwood than at present.

- There will be a new 19:47 departure from Shenfield Station to Hutton which will additionally return to Shenfield Station (departing Hutton, Wash Road at 19:55)

- The current 19:26 Hutton - Brentwood journey will now terminate at Shenfield Station

Monday to Saturday changes:

- All journeys will leave Brentwood Station FOUR minutes later than at present

We would like to thank all of our route 81 customers for their support and positive feedback since we took over this service in May. It is hoped to have a public meeting in the very near future where we can seek more of your views on the service and look at any suggestions or outline any future plans for the service.

Please check back for further announcements.

We are sorry to advise that due to poor usage, Monday to Friday peak hours only route 55 (Aveley, Usk Road - Ockendon Station) will be withdrawn at the end of service on Friday, 2 July 2010.

We would like to thank any customers who have used this service.

We are pleased to announce that we will have a new range of season tickets which will cover all of our Thurrock routes* AND route X80 available for purchase on the bus from the above date.

These will be offered at a higher rate than the Thurrock only season tickets (which will remain the same).

The new 'X80+' season tickets will cost the following:

With the introduction of these new tickets, the 'Bluewater Transfer' ticket will be discontinued from the above date.

* Not Route X81 to Brentwood & Hutton

Due to Electricity works, Arterial Road between the Thurrock Services Roundabout (West Thurrock Way) and Pilgrims Roundabout (Burghley Road) is scheduled to be closed between 07:00 – 18:00 on Wednesday 9th, Thursday 10th, Friday 11th & Saturday 12th June.

This is expected to cause heavy traffic delays in the Lakeside area and all bus routes may be subject to delay. We will do our best to minimise any disruption and will have additional resources available at these times.

Routes 22, 66 & (Brentwood) X81 will be diverted between Lakeside and Pilgrims Roundabout via Burghley Road & Fenner Road in both directions. Buses will not be able to serve Arterial Road Sainsbury's bus stop but will stop at all bus stops along Burghley Road.

Route 33 will be diverted between Lakeside and Chafford Hundred Station via Fenner Road in both directions. Buses will not be able to serve Burghley Road or Arterial Road but routes 22 & 66 will serve bus stops on Burghley Road.

Route 44 will be diverted between Lakeside and the M25 J31 roundabout via the A13 in both directions and will not be able to stop near Thurrock Services.

Route X80 will be diverted between Lakeside and the Dartford Crossing via the A13 in both directions and will not be able to stop near Thurrock Services.

"With Dennis Tridents now coming out of service from London in plentiful numbers, Andy Izatt has been to Ensignbus to see what this low-floor double-decker has to offer used vehicle buyers looking to upgrade from step-entrance..."

Click the image to read more..

Ensignbus were pleased to be chosen by the England Twenty20 cricket team to transport them on 24th May 2010 from Lords Cricket Ground to 10 Downing Street to meet the new Prime Minister, David Cameron as part of the celebrations for winning the Twenty20 World Cup. They hired one of our closed top double deck Volvo Olympian buses, P426 UUG which was given an 'allover wrap' in an appropriate England 20/20 scheme.

Wayne Holland was the lucky driver again (see Chelsea FC Bus Hire) - he seems to get all the best jobs!

Hover over the images to enlarge them.

We were extremely happy to have Chelsea FC book two open top buses with us for a Victory Parade through their local area on Sunday 16th May 2010. This was the second time that we had done a job for them (the last was in May 2006 for their victory parade after winning the Premiership). This time was even more special as they had won 'the double' (The Premiership and the FA Cup).

The two open top buses used were Volvo B7L/ Ayats EU05 VBO (from CS Windsor) & Volvo Olympian P493 MBY (from Ensignbus fleet) driven by Wayne Holland and Laurie Bourne respectively. Wayne was also lucky enough to have driven the lead bus last time too! Both buses were given an 'allover wrap' in an appropriate Chelsea FC scheme.

The booking was made direct from Chelsea FC to Nick Pirie, Ensignbus Assistant Commercial Manager.

Hover over the images to enlarge them.

An article about the company has now been published in the trade magazine
'Bus & Coach Buyer', click on the image to read.

Ensignbus are pleased to announce the introduction of yet another new route

Route 55 will be a Monday to Friday peak hours only service between Aveley, Usk Road and Ockendon Station

Buses will run one way from Aveley, Usk Road to Ockendon Station via Aveley High Street & Belhus during the A.M peak and will return the same way in the P.M peak

With the recent introduction of London's Oyster card system at Ockendon Station, we hope to give customers a quick alternative to travelling via Upminster

More information including the full timetable will be available soon

Ensign bus will operate the following service over the Easter period:

Good Friday, 2 April:

ENHANCED SUNDAY SERVICES. Buses will run every 30 minutes to a special timetable on routes 22 & 73c. There will be additional Buses from Lakeside as follows: Route 22 (to Aveley, Usk Rd), extra departures at 18:25 & 19:25. Route 73c (to Tilbury), extra departures at 19:26 & 19:56

BANK HOLIDAY SERVICE on route X80


Saturday, 3 April:

SATURDAY SERVICE


Easter Sunday, 4 April:

NO SERVICE


Easter Monday, 5 April:

SUNDAY SERVICE. There will be additional Buses from Lakeside as follows: Route 22 (to Aveley, Usk Rd), extra departures at 18:25 & 19:25. Route 73c (to Tilbury), extra departure at 19:26.
Route X80 WILL NOT RUN


We wish all of our customers a Happy Easter!

Following much local news coverage in the Brentwood area about the plight of route 81/82 bus passengers after the current operator decided to axe the services, Ensignbus are pleased to announce that a registration has been put in with the appropriate authorities to operate a new 81 bus route which, subject to acceptance will start on Tuesday, 4th May 2010.

The new 81 will operate between Brentwood Station and Hutton, Wash Road via the existing 81 route. This service will run Monday to Saturday to a much improved timetable. There will be earlier journeys and a slightly later journey. Buses will run every 20 minutes during Mon-Fri peak hours and every 30 minutes during the off peak and on Saturdays.

Low floor single deck buses will operate the route at all times and will greatly benefit those who have trouble getting onto step entrance buses like the ones currently used.

Travellers on the route will also have the chance to go to Lakeside Shopping Centre, Thurrock as there will be one special journey there in the morning and one back in the afternoon on Mondays to Fridays.

Ensignbus Customer Services Manager, Paul Dickson says "we look forward to serving the people of Brentwood, Shenfield & Hutton and providing them with the sort of service they are longing for".

The route 81 timetable is now available to download. Please click here for more information.

Most Single & Return fares across all of our routes will be changed from the above date. Some of these will increase by an average of 10p - 20p.

At the same time, some of our fare stages will be revised to make things simpler. If paying by cash, please ensure that you tell the driver your exact destination.

We are sorry to have to increase some of our fares but have been left with no option due to the continual rise in fuel costs. Please note that our last full scale fare revision was around the start of 2008!

There will be no changes to our Season ticket or Student Saver ticket prices.

Due to roadworks & temporary traffic lights along London Road, West Thurrock, the above routes will be subject to unavoidable delays.

It may be necessary at times to divert route 83 between Grays & Lakeside (in both directions) via Arterial Road. When this happens, customers may use route 73 and change where necessary. We will do our best to minimise any disruption where we can.

We are sorry for any inconvenience but would like to stress that the numerous sets of roadworks are beyond our control.