Ensignbus was the main provider of extra buses during the recent 48 hour tube strike in London. With London’s bus network having to take the strain of far less trains additional vehicles obviously need to be drafted in. Some 266 extra buses were eventually sourced of which over 100 came from Ensign and its sub contractors. Vehicles came from far and wide and meant that with 7,961 buses on the road it broke the record for the most ever buses running in London, and boy were they needed and busy!
 
Amongst our regular blue and silver fleet were some 40 vintage vehicles that returned to the road to help London get about. The oldest vehicle out was our RT8 which dates from 1940 whilst many other RT and Routemaster types dating from the 1940’s 50’s and 60’s were also out in large numbers. We assisted on routes 2, 8, 15, 25, 26,29, 38, 91, 205, 257, RV1 carrying thousands of passengers, many of whom commented the best thing about the strike was the chance to ride home on a classic!

For the second year in succession Ensignbus was proud to receive the customer services award at the Thurrock Business Awards.

Against some tough competition we prevailed on the back of the level of detail and precision we go to particularly on our wedding and private hire business, where detail and quality of vehicle restorations and presentations were also commented upon.

We are pleased to advise that Family Day tickets will be available on the bus for our Thurrock area routes from the above date

These can be used for 2 Adults & 2 Children OR 1 Adult & 3 Children.  The ticket is only valid if the Family group stay together whilst using it (it cannot be used for journeys by individuals)

Family Day tickets are available at any time during Weekends or Bank Holidays.  Also available during School Holidays from 9.30am on Mondays to Fridays

Family Day ticket prices:
Thurrock £11.00
Thurrock + X80 £15.00

For the first time since the early 1950's, Leyland Cub C4 was on revenue-earning duty for the Chelsea Flower Show in May.

Show sponsors, M&G Investments, were looking for something eye-catching as a principal attraction for the show and they chose C4 to meet that need.

The bus windows were vinyl-wrapped with M&G publicity and the bus was to be seen around the show throughout the week.

On the first day, C4 was inside the grounds of the Royal Hospital for Press Day and really did cause a stir. Many visitors were impressed with the vehicle and expressed their delight at seeing her. Many others came aboard to admire the quality of restoration and some to reminisce. One gentleman recalled travelling to school on a Cub. His mother took him to school at the age of 5 for the first day and from then onwards, he was expected to manage the journey on his own. As C4 operated in the southern Country Area of London Transport, there is a strong possibility that he actually travelled on our bus. He alighted completely entranced!

For the remainder of the week, C4 made occasional journeys into the City of London to provide transport for M&G staff and then spent most of the remaining time travelling around the Sloane Square area providing mobile publicity for the show or parked up near the Royal Hospital to allow the public to admire the vehicle. So many appreciative comments were passed that it was impossible to keep count!

Ensignbus provided a successful Park & Ride service for the invited guests when the new site was launched by no other than Sir David Attenborough. He told the crowd "It has been brought about by you all, led by Essex Wildlife Trust. What a joy, what an achievement.”

It is Essex Wildlife Trust’s biggest-ever project, restoring Mucking Landfill to recreate a range of fantastic wild habitats. The 120-acre site will eventually expand to cover 845 acres and sits on top of a ‘pie-crust’, which caps 50 years of waste from six London boroughs, up to 30 metres deep.

This former landfill site now attracts rare bees, birds and reptiles and provides a wonderful haven, through a network of paths and cycle routes, for people to enjoy.

More than 1,500 invitees were spellbound by Sir David’s opening speech, in which he hailed Thurrock Thameside Nature Park as a “miracle”. There were hundreds of local people present: everyone who had donated to the appeal to raise funds for the project was invited to attend the day and 500 tickets were distributed via a ballot of local residents.

More about Thurrock Thameside Nature Park

Essex Wildlife Trust's website

Thurrock Business awards celebrated business success at the Civic Hall, Blackshots on Friday 8th March.

Ensignbus were shortlisted for three of the awards: Environmental Awareness, Excellent Customer Service and Logistics & Distribution.

Local bus company Ensignbus is celebrating winning one of the Bus Oscars by securing one of the top accolades at the UK Bus Awards. The company won the award for Top Independent Operator before an audience of over 700 industry movers and shakers at a glittering ceremony at the London Hilton on Park Lane having been chosen by the judges from over 270 entries.

The lunchtime ceremony was hosted by BBC News Presenter Jane Hill and the Keynote Address was given by Norman Baker MP - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Transport; Anthony Smith, Chief Executive, Passenger Focus presented the Awards.

Ensignbus also featured jointly with First Essex Buses as runner-up in the Eureka! Award for Marketing Initiatives for the popular CollegeBUS scheme that runs between the Thurrock-based colleges and outlying areas throughout Essex.

The award comes hot on the heels of Ensignbus having just invested heavily in and now operating, Essex’s very first diesel-electric hybrid buses that offer fuel and emission savings of nearly 40%. The judges comments reflected reliability figures amongst the best in the country and innovations that had led to bus usage growth in an area that had previously not had a sustainable network of services. Peter Newman, Chairman of Ensignbus commented “We are a local company, not some huge multi-national serving our local community, so it’s a great achievement to be voted the UK’s top Independent operator and is a great reflection on all the work every member of the team puts in. We operate in a challenging environment both economically and particularly operationally being based around two of Europe’s busiest shopping centres, Europe’s busiest motorway and a key trunk road into and out of London.”

“In this year when we are celebrating our 40th anniversary as a company, have just put state-of-the-art vehicles into service, it was great to celebrate such an award with so many of our staff present there on the day.”

Congratulating the successful finalists, UK Bus Awards chairman John Owen commented: “Our winners today cover the wide range of disciplines involved in the bus industry. Our aim is to recognise and reward projects and organisations that are really pushing the boundaries in terms of innovation, marketing and technology. But, crucially, to focus on the people and the partnerships that keep the wheels turning, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”

“We still live in challenging economic times, yet the bus industry has continued to innovate and invest for the future. The record number of entries for this year is testament to the commitment continually to raise the bar in terms of service quality in this, the Awards' 17th year,” he continued.

Friday November 9 saw Ensign display and demonstrate its first five Hybrids to invited guests at its Purfleet depot before they entered service the following day on its Thurrock Network, a sixth identical vehicle is set to enter service within the next two weeks. The vehicles, Volvo B5H's with Wrights Gemini II bodies were part funded by the second round of Green Bus Funding and followed a Volvo Wrights Hybrid demonstrator having been trialled last year.

The vehicles will be used primarily on the busy and expanded route 22, which operates from Aveley via Lakeside and Grays to Stifford Clays. In a break away from more usual 'green' branding for hybrid vehicles all carry route advertising for the 'Electric Blue 22' service. The route has seen 100% growth over the past three years and it is hoped the new, more comfortable and cleaner buses will continue this trend of switch to bus use.

Commenting on the launch, Peter Newman, Chairman of Ensignbus said. 'We are delighted to be able to add the first Hybrids in Essex to our fleet where we believe the enhanced ride quality, lower emissions and better fuel economy will allow us to continue to expand the network we have built up throughout Thurrock by providing a modern, clean and reliable fleet'

We now have a new type of season ticket available that can be used on any of our services at any time - the 'All Network ticket'

Just like our other season tickets, these can be purchased from the driver

The prices of these are:

Child: Day: £4.00        7-day: £20        4 weekly: £55
Adult: Day: £7.00        7-day: £30        4 weekly: £90