Travel Surrey
Encyclopedia
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
which was originally a subsidiary of the National Express Group
National Express Group
National Express Group plc is a British transport group headquartered in Birmingham that operates bus, coach, rail and tram services in the UK, the US and Canada, Spain, Portugal and Morocco and long-distance coach routes across Europe...
. It was given its own brand name (changed from Travel London
Travel London
Travel London was a bus operator in London which was originally a subsidiary of the National Express Group. In May 2009 the company was sold to NedRailways, now called Abellio...
) from 1 September 2007. In May 2009, the company, along with Travel London, was sold to NedRailways
Abellio (transport company)
Abellio is a public transit operator in Germany which operates both bus and rail networks. The headquarters of the company are in Essen. Abellio Germany is part of the Abellio Group , the international expansion arm of the Nederlandse Spoorwegen.-History:Abellio was formed by the Essen public...
. In October 2009, it was rebranded as Abellio
Abellio (UK bus company)
Abellio London and Abellio Surrey operate buses in London and Surrey. They are part of the Abellio Group owned by the Nederlandse Spoorwegen.-History:...
.
History
In 2005, National Express Group bought the London bus operations of Tellings-Golden MillerTellings-Golden Miller
Tellings-Golden Miller , a subsidiary of Arriva, is a bus service and coach operator in the United Kingdom.-Golden Miller:Reputedly, Fred Varney began the Golden Miller company with the winnings from a bet made on the horse Golden Miller, which won the Cheltenham Gold Cup and the Grand National in...
, for their Travel London
Travel London
Travel London was a bus operator in London which was originally a subsidiary of the National Express Group. In May 2009 the company was sold to NedRailways, now called Abellio...
subsidiary. This deal came with TGM's Byfleet depot, and Travel London moved into Byfleet depot in June 2005. The legal company name was Travel London (West) Ltd, but trading as Travel London. All vehicles underwent a repaint programme and had the blue and white colours of TGM replaced with a livery of white with a red skirt. After a slow start and some changes in the management structure the business strengthened.
From 1 September 2007, Travel London rebranded the services from the Byfleet depot to Travel Surrey, to reflect the area served. After National Express took over, some of the Surrey County Council tender routes were lost or given up. However, many are now operated once again. An example of this is the 426/446 Woking - Staines service, which was operated by Flights Hallmark
Flights Hallmark
Flights Hallmark is a luxury coach and corporate cars business, which is part of the Rotala group. It is based in the English Midlands and has depots around the country, including one at Heathrow Airport.- History :...
, trading as Surrey Connect. However, Flights wound up their operation, so Travel Surrey took over the routes and some vehicles.
On 11 November 2007, National Express Group announced plans to re-brand their UK bus service companies under the National Express identity. The new name for Travel Surrey would have been National Express Surrey.
However, due to the global recession at the time, National Express Group were experiencing financial difficulties with their East Coast
National Express East Coast
National Express East Coast was a train operating company in the United Kingdom, running high speed passenger services on the East Coast Main Line between London and Scotland, as part of the East Coast passenger franchise...
Main Line franchise. Speculation mounted that they were looking to sell Travel London
Travel London
Travel London was a bus operator in London which was originally a subsidiary of the National Express Group. In May 2009 the company was sold to NedRailways, now called Abellio...
to reduce their debts.
On 21 May 2009, National Express Group agreed to sell Travel London to NedRailways, a subsidiary of NS Dutch Railways
Nederlandse Spoorwegen
Nederlandse Spoorwegen , or NS, is the principal passenger railway operator in the Netherlands.Its trains operate over the tracks of the Dutch national railinfrastructure, operated by ProRail, which was split off from NS in 2003...
, for a price of £32 million. The sale includes the 27 Surrey County Council routes, as well as the 39 routes run from the London depots. All vehicles and premises used were sold, and all staff will transferred to NedRailways.
Despite earlier saying the name would remain (as all other National Express operations had been rebranded), it was decided the Travel prefix of the name was still part of the large and pre-existing National Express brand structure. Thus, from 30 October 2009, along with Travel London, the company's trading name became Abellio
Abellio (UK bus company)
Abellio London and Abellio Surrey operate buses in London and Surrey. They are part of the Abellio Group owned by the Nederlandse Spoorwegen.-History:...
Surrey.
Garage
Travel Surrey had one depot, in ByfleetByfleet
Byfleet is an inland island village forming a suburb of Woking in Surrey, England. It is in the east of the borough between the River Wey and the River Mole, and is within the M25 motorway....
. It was in two parts, held 50 buses, and ran Surrey County Council bus routes 218, 400, 426, 438, 441, 446, 451, 461, 471, 472, 513, 514, 515, 515A, 555, 557, 564, 566, 567, 570, 571, 572, 574, 637, 662, 663, 690. The parts were at either end of the Wintersells Industrial Estate.
Branded routes
A number of services were branded with buses running in special colours, and continue to be so under Abellio.- 441 - Plane and Easy: This route is run between Heathrow Airport and Englefield GreenEnglefield GreenEnglefield Green is a large village in northern Surrey, England. It is home to Royal Holloway, University of London, the south eastern corner of Windsor Great Park and close to the towns of Egham, Windsor, Staines and Virginia Water...
via StainesStainesStaines is a Thames-side town in the Spelthorne borough of Surrey and Greater London Urban Area, as well as the London Commuter Belt of South East England. It is a suburban development within the western bounds of the M25 motorway and located 17 miles west south-west of Charing Cross in...
, and is supported by BAA. It received new buses in 2006, with grey swoops at the rear. - 426/446: These routes were branded with green swoops at the rear, it was notable in serving Thorpe ParkThorpe ParkThorpe Park is a theme park located in Chertsey, Surrey, England, UK. It was built in 1979 on the site of a gravel pit which was partially flooded, the intention of creating a water based theme for the park. The park's first large roller coaster, Colossus, was added in 2002...
, which was included in the branding. - 555/557: These routes were run with silver liveried buses, and were run with BAA support, between Heathrow central bus station and Walton-on-Thames railway station.