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White Bus Services

ADL Enviro200 MMC at Guildford Bus Station in January 2019.
Parent	Rowgate Group
Founded	1922 (as Republic Bus Company) 1930 (as White Bus Services)
Headquarters	Winkfield
Service area	Berkshire
Service type	Bus service
Destinations	Windsor, Woking, Guildford, Ascot, Staines, Frimley
Fleet	55 (Jan 2020)
Chief executive	Simon Rowland
Website	www.whitebus.co.uk

C.E. JEATT & SONS LIMITED, trading as White Bus Services (sometimes shortened to White Bus), is a bus operator based in Berkshire and runs bus and coach hire services within Windsor and Ascot. It is part of the Rowgate Group.

History

White Bus Services was founded by George Ackroyd in July 1922 in Winkfield as the Republic Bus Company, introducing a service linking Windsor and Ascot. Ackroyd ran the business until selling it to William Rule Jeatt in 1930, renaming it as White Bus Services. The company would continue to be run by the Jeatt family for over 80 years, passing down to Cecil Jeatt, then in 1972 to his son Doug Jeatt.

In 1932, a new service was introduced that skirted the edge of Windsor Great Park. By 1936 buses were running through the park itself and White Bus remains as the only operator to provide a public transport link into the park.

The private hire side of the business became a separate company in 1955, despite continuing to share the same site, operating as Winkfield Coaches. The two companies were re-amalgamated in 1990.

White Bus further expanded in 1987 when it acquired vehicles and contracted school services from A. Moore & Sons (trading as Imperial) in Windsor upon the company's closure. This, alongside the introduction of free school transport for eligible pupils, has led to White Bus developing a network of school services in Windsor, Ascot, Maidenhead and Wokingham.

In 2014, White Bus was awarded contracts to operate routes P1 and W1.

Acquisition by Rowgate Group

White Bus Services was sold to Fernhill Travel of Bracknell in November 2016, which is managed by Rowgate Group's chairman, Simon Rowland.

In 2017, following Abellio's departure from Surrey bus operations, White Bus were awarded contracts in the Staines area for routes 438, 566/567 and Sunday operations of routes 446 and 456. It also registered the Monday to Saturday service of the 446 commercially. Later, it commercially took over route 441 from Abellio in March 2018.

In September 2018, White Bus won more contracts from Surrey County Council, mainly in the Woking area, taking over routes 437, 462/463 and two morning journeys on route 81 from Arriva Guildford & West Surrey. It also took over routes 48 and 500 from Dickson Travel of Frimley Green. Five more Alexander Dennis Enviro200 MMCs joined the fleet, these being the 8.9m examples to Euro VI specification.

To celebrate their centenary anniversary, White Bus bought two 10.8 m variants of the same model which arrived in January 2020.

Services

As of January 2023, White Bus Services runs 19 public services. The majority of the routes would start at Staines, Windsor or Woking and would terminate elsewhere within Berkshire or Surrey.

Fleet

White Bus Services were known for its wide fleet of Bedford buses, the last of which finally departed in October 2008. From the 1990s until Rowgate's acquisition, White Bus' fleet consisted mainly of Optare buses. In the late 2010s, White Bus gradually replaced the Optare fleet with Alexander Dennis Enviro200s or new Enviro200 MMC buses.

The buses that are used for public routes are ADL and Optare products.

References

1. "C.E. JEATT & SONS LIMITED - Overview (free company information from Companies House)". find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
2. "White Bus | Bushub". www.bushub.co.uk. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
3. ^ "White Bus takes delivery of new Enviro200 models | Alexander Dennis". www.alexander-dennis.com. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
4. ^ Lyons, Mark (February 2021). "White Bus Services". BUSES. Key Publishing.
5. "Author pens the remarkable story". Windsor Express. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
6. ^ "Bus Zone - White Bus Services". www.buszone.co.uk. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
7. "How To Find Us". Windsor Great Park. Retrieved 29 January 2023.
8. "New Operator for Route 441 from 17th March 2018". Retrieved 29 January 2023.
9. "Abellio Surrey maintain a commercial toehold in Surrey" Buses issue 749 August 2017 page 7
10. Team, routeone (12 December 2018). "White Bus Services' five Mistral-supplied E200s". routeone. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
11. "Bus Services | White bus". www.whitebus.co.uk. Retrieved 29 January 2023.

External links

• Company Website

v t e Bus operators in South East England
Berkshire	Arriva the Shires Carousel Buses First Beeline Reading Buses Thames Travel Thames Valley Buses White Bus Services
Buckinghamshire	Arriva the Shires Arriva Southern Counties Carousel Buses First Beeline Stagecoach East Thames Valley Buses
East Sussex	The Big Lemon Brighton & Hove Metrobus Stagecoach South East
Hampshire	AMK Group Bluestar Damory First Hampshire & Dorset Salisbury Reds Stagecoach South Thames Valley Buses Unilink Xelabus
Isle of Wight	Southern Vectis
Kent	Arriva Southern Counties Chalkwell Coaches Go-Coach The Kings Ferry Metrobus Stagecoach South East
Oxfordshire	Arriva the Shires Oxford Bus Company Carousel Buses Thames Travel Stagecoach West Swindon's Bus Company Thames Valley Buses
Surrey	Arriva London London General Metrobus Safeguard Coaches Stagecoach South Sullivan Buses White Bus Services
West Sussex	Arriva Southern Counties Metrobus Stagecoach South
National	Megabus National Express

• Transport in Berkshire
• Bus operators in Berkshire