Tower Transit

Tower Transit Operations Limited,[2] which traded as Tower Transit, was a bus company operating in East and West London. They were a subsidiary of the Kelsian Group and operated services under contract to Transport for London. In December 2021, Tower Transit's West London operations were transferred to RATP Dev Transit London. In June 2022, their remaining operations were sold to Stagecoach London.[3]

This article is about the former London bus operator. For the Singapore operator, see Tower Transit Singapore.

Tower Transit
A Tower Transit Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 bodied Volvo B9TL on route 262 in June 2022
ParentTransit Systems
Founded22 June 2013 (2013-06-22)
Defunct25 June 2022 (2022-06-25)
HeadquartersLea Interchange
151 Ruckholt Road
London
E10 5PB[1]
Service areaGreater London
Service typeBus operator
Routes26 (May 2015)
Depots3
Fleet437 (May 2015)
Websitewww.towertransit.co.uk

History
A single decker bus on Tower Transit route 488
Alexander Dennis Enviro200 on route 488 in Homerton in June 2022
A single decker bus on Tower Transit route 236 surrounded by greenery.
A Wright StreetLite DF on route 236 in Highbury in June 2022
Alexander Dennis Enviro400 on route 23 at Charing Cross in February 2014

In June 2013, Transit Systems purchased First London's Atlas Road (Park Royal), Lea Interchange (Leyton) and Westbourne Park garages with 24 London bus routes and 412 buses.[4][5][6][7] Also included were contracts to operate three routes (425, N550 and N551) that had yet to commence.[8][9][10]

In October 2014, Tower Transit purchased Impact Group[11] which operated 130 small buses for local authorities and schools out of depots in Ealing and Croydon.[12] This was sold in August 2018 to HCT Group.[13][14]

Tower Transit was included in the purchase of Transit Systems by SeaLink Travel Group in January 2020.[15]

In September 2021, SeaLink Travel Group and the RATP Group announced that their respective West London bus operations (including London United, London Sovereign and Tower Transit's Westbourne Park garage) would merge into a new joint venture called RATP Dev Transit London, with RATP Dev having an 87.5% shareholding and Tower Transit 12.5%.[16] The incorporation of the joint venture was finalised on 11 December 2021.[17] Tower Transit's Lea Interchange garage, located in East London, was not part of the joint venture and remained unaffected.[16][18]

In May 2022, it was announced that Tower Transit's remaining East London operations would be sold to Stagecoach London.[19][20] The acquisition was finalised on 25 June 2022 and these services are now operated by Stagecoach under the Lea Interchange Bus Company Limited legal entity.[21][22][23]

Garages

Atlas Road (AS)

On 1 October 2011 this garage opened when part of Westbourne Park garage was closed to make way for Elizabeth line construction works, with the operation of routes 28, 31, 328, N28, and N31 transferred. Atlas Road operated as an outstation for Westbourne Park, so buses are seen on Atlas Road routes and vice versa. With the completion of Crossrail works, all routes returned to Westbourne Park in June 2017 with Atlas Road retained as a maintenance centre.[24] It closed in October 2017, being taken over by London United.[25]

Lea Interchange (LI)

As at September 2023, Lea Interchange garage operated routes 58, 135, 236, 262, 276, 308, 339, 473, 488, 678, D8 and W14.[26]

The garage opened in 2007 to replace the Waterden Road, Stratford garage that closed as part of the development of the Olympic Park for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Waterden Road was opened in 1996 after a number of tender wins.

Lea Interchange began operating route 69 on 30 April 2016. CT Plus took over operation of route 26 and route N26 on 25 June 2016. London General took over operation of the route 212 and route 444 on 7 March 2020 and Docklands Buses took over the 69 on 1 May 2021. On 25 June 2022, the garage and its operations was acquired by Stagecoach London.[19]

Westbourne Park (X)

Westbourne Park garage operated routes 13, 23, 28, 218, 295, 414, 452, C3 and N97[27]

Westbourne Park Garage was part of the reconstruction programme undertaken by London Transport in the early 1980s. As was common practice at the time, the new garage replaced two older garages - the small and inadequate Middle Row (X), and the larger former trolley bus garage at Stonebridge (SE). The new garage, which opened in 1981 in Great Western Road, is of unusual design in that it is built beneath the elevated A40 Westway, the roof of the garage being profiled to match the concrete flyover. Originally, the garage allocation consisted of AEC Routemasters, and a small number of Daimler Fleetlines to B20 "quiet" specification for route 18. These were supplemented in 1983 by a number of Leyland Titans for comparative trials. A new 180 metre bus parking area was built on a raised platform over railway lines as part of the Crossrail project opening in 2017.[28][29][30]

Metroline took over the operation of route 295 on 31 October 2015.[31] On 5 March 2016, Westbourne Park took over the operation of route N97 from London United.[32] On 3 October 2020, Westbourne Park depot also took over the operation of route C3 from Abellio London. On 1 May 2021, routes 28 and N28 transferred to London United, with route 328 transferring to Metroline.

The Westbourne Park garage was transferred to RATP Dev Transit London on 11 December 2021.

Fleet

As at May 2015, the fleet consisted of 437 buses.[33]

References
  1. "Tower Transit Limited". Companies House. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
  2. Companies House extract company no 8314506 Tower Transit Operations Limited
  3. "Stagecoach strikes £20m deal to snap up Kelsian's 150 buses in east London". CityAM. 27 May 2022. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
  4. "FirstGroup Announces Sale of Eight London Bus Depots". FirstGroup. 9 April 2013. Retrieved 23 June 2013.
  5. "Tower Transit announces First Group partial acquisition". Transit Systems. 9 April 2013. Archived from the original on 22 June 2013. Retrieved 23 June 2013.
  6. "Date set for Aussie takeover of London bus routes". Australasian Bus & Coach. 14 June 2013. Retrieved 23 June 2013.
  7. Hurst, Brian (12 June 2013). "Redland company takes wheel of London's big red buses". Brisbane Times. Retrieved 23 June 2013.
  8. Bus tender results Route 425 Transport for London 25 October 2012
  9. Bus tender results Route N550 Transport for London 25 October 2012
  10. Bus tender results Route N551 Transport for London 25 October 2012
  11. Companies House extract company no 4464220 Impact Group Limited
  12. Tower Transit expands with Impact Archived 2 November 2014 at the Wayback Machine Bus & Coach Professional 31 October 2014
  13. Impact acquired by HCT Group Coach & Bus Week issue 1355 15 August 2018 page 7
  14. HCT Group purchases Impact as it grows again Route One 15 August 2018
  15. Major Australian merger Buses issue 777 December 2019 page 18
  16. "SeaLink Enters Binding Joint Venture Agreement for West London Bus Operations". 22 September 2021. Retrieved 22 September 2021.
  17. "Joint Venture Completion - RATP Dev Transit London Ltd". 13 December 2021. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
  18. "RATP Dev UK and Tower Transit announce new joint venture in West London". RATP Dev. 23 September 2021.
  19. Willems, Michiel (27 May 2022). "Stagecoach strikes £20m deal to snap up Kelsian's 150 buses in east London". City AM. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
  20. "Stagecoach to acquire Tower Transit Lea Interchange operation". Route One. 27 May 2022. Archived from the original on 28 May 2022. Retrieved 28 May 2022.
  21. "Sale Completion East London Bus Operation and Finance Update". Australian Securities Exchange. Kelsian. 27 June 2022. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
  22. "Stagecoach welcomes Tower Transit team to its London operations". Stagecoach. 27 June 2022. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
  23. "LEA INTERCHANGE BUS COMPANY LIMITED filing history - Find and update company information - GOV.UK". find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
  24. Fleet News Buses issue 750 September 2017 page 78
  25. Atlas Road changes hands, Belvedere is vacated Buses issue 753 December 2017 page 24
  26. Carr, Ken (May 2015). The London Bus Guide (5 ed.). Boreham: Visions International Entertainment. p. 116. ISBN 978-0-9931735-3-0.
  27. "Tower Transit - Bus Garage Locations". Archived from the original on 11 August 2017. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
  28. Planning Application Greater London Authority 18 July 2012
  29. MacLennan, Peter. "Crossrail Awards Padington New Yard Contract". Crossrail UK. Crossrail UK. Retrieved 1 November 2014.
  30. Tower Transit completes Westbourne Park extension Route One 31 October 2017
  31. Tender News Bus Talk issue 34 June 2015
  32. Two routes to change operators in March Buses issue 726 September 2015 page 18
  33. Carr, Ken (May 2015). The London Bus Guide (5 ed.). Boreham: Visions International Entertainment. p. 42. ISBN 978-0-9931735-3-0.

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