On Saturday the 21st of September 2013, Metrobus decided to host some open days to celebrate their 30 anniversary. Therefore, me and my friend Jeevan decided to cover the open days, which were at Croydon in Surrey, Crawley in West Sussex, and Orpington in Kent. Metrobus started out back in 1983 as a small operator running local routes around Orpington, Bromley, Forestdale and Croydon but soon expanded to coaches as well as buses. It wasn't until 1986/7 when they started to pick up LRT contracts. In 1986, Route 61 was awarded to Metrobus using existing double deck buses. Route 261 soon followed in 1987, this route has been run by Metrobus ever since, although this will soon pass to Stagecoach' Bromley garage with new E40D. This will make it the longest running contract with a private operator before privatisation of London's bus services. The 1990's saw many acquisitions and saw the company acquire local coach operators Southland Coaches, RB Coaches and Jason's Coaches. Metrobus has since stopped running coaches, to focus on buses. In 2001, Metrobus purchased Arriva's Crawley operation. In 2003, Metrobus started running services on the Fastway Guided Busway. The company continues to be successful, and has since won an award for best bus depot. I would also like to give a HUGE thanks to all the staff at Metrobus for making the open days brilliant. They were well organized, and it would be good if they held some again in the near future. PS: My Mum, has won a free Metrovoyager ticket on their Facebook page, and I'm hoping that she'll let me come to explore it with her.
Latest bus orders for Metrobus:
10 Enviro 200 for the Crawley operation
18 B7RLE/Eclipse Gemini for the Fastway operation.
I hope you enjoyed reading this post.
