E was for Ensignbus

Thursday 9th March 2023

Sorry, East Midlands Railway you were going to be my E, but as today is a rather special occasion, being the very last day of an independently owned Ensignbus before midnight’s takeover by First Bus, I thought it only appropriate to mark this historic occasion with a special feature.

I blogged about the Company as recently as last July marking its 50th anniversary year and what we now know will be its last under current ownership.

The Newman family, that’s Dad Peter (below) and sons Steve and Ross, have been at the helm throughout the last five decades making the business and its values synonymous with their own.

That’s why it was always a pleasure to travel on the Ensignbus network of routes across Thurrock just as it was to meet up and chat with the family. The former would always provide a quality operation with passenger considerations being top priority while the latter always demonstrated their only mission was to give passengers the best possible service.

That’s why it worked so well. The family lived and breathed Ensignbus. They always went that extra mile to ensure the best possible service was provided. Lost mileage was an anathema to them despite operating in one of the most challenging areas for unpredictable traffic congestion whenever the Dartford Crossing had a problem sending M25 traffic on to consequential gridlocked local roads.

The Newmans would always say their route X80 between Lakeside and Bluewater might well get unavoidably disrupted during such periods but they’d never leave passengers stranded and would always run a last bus whatever time that might end up being and, if necessary, diverted on a lengthy detour via the Blackwall Tunnel.

This was so typical of their approach to bus operation. The same ethos saw them provide rail replacement buses at a moments notice for emergencies on the railway all over the south east. At one time I’d often see the familiar blue and grey Ensignbus livery coming to the rescue of a blocked Brighton Main Line even before local bus and coach companies could muster up any resources. That was in the days before they arranged a tie up with c2c in Essex.

There are hundreds of bus companies that have benefitted from fleet replacements thanks to the Newmans’ extensive bus dealership and refurbishment business. Gaining tenders at the last minute? No problem, just get yourself down to Purfleet and you’d know the Newmans would be able to fit you up with suitable vehicles at minimal notice. And they’d take surplus vehicles off your hands at a fair price too.

Peter, Steve and Ross would always be going above and beyond as I found out personally in October 2021 when I and friends/colleagues undertook our 50th Anniversary Tour of London Country’s operating area ending in Tilbury which I just happened to mention to Ross who then organised for Peter and Steve to be on hand to meet us with a splendid green RT with special blinds from their heritage fleet and take us in fine style on our very last journey of the trip.

An absolutely typically kind and thoughtful gesture of a kind and generous family all the more so as Ross organised it despite being on holiday at the time.

Back in the days of London Country and the early period of its successors leading to Arriva you’d never think of Grays as being a particularly lucrative area to run a bus network with modern buses regularly replaced with new vehicles.

Ensignbus has made it so by dedication, relentless attention to detail and all the things we know passengers value: helpful pleasant drivers, smart clean well maintained buses, a simple easy to understand network with regular frequencies, excellent marketing and publicity (including a printed map and timetable book available on board buses), an information point at Lakeside bus station and a reliable quality service.

In inheriting all this at Ensignbus, First Essex has a golden opportunity to change its existing ways of working and culture to that of its award winning acquisition. Let’s hope it will be that way round rather than the disastrous approach Stagecoach took to its acquisition of Norfolk Green in 2013 when it quickly annihilated the brand and all it stood for and all too quickly lost all the goodwill it had purchased, and the entire business it bought.

It would be unthinkable for that to happen here.

Let’s hope E always will be for Ensignbus.

The company’s amazing collection of preserved vehicles is in safe hands – they’re staying with the Newmans……

…. and I hope they take the myriad of awards with them. They’re all so well deserved.

Good luck to Peter, Steve and Ross in retirement and thanks for all you’ve done.

Roger French

Previous AtoZ blogs: Avanti West Coast, Blackpool Transport, Chiltern Railways, Delaine Buses

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