Boro'line London was a bus operator that operated bus services under contract to

London Regional Transport London Regional Transport (LRT) was the organisation responsible for most of the public transport network in London, England, between 1984 and 2000. In common with all London transport authorities from 1933 to 2000, the public name and operation ...

. It was owned by

Maidstone Borough Council Maidstone is the largest town in Kent, England, of which it is the county town. Maidstone is historically important and lies east-south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town, linking it with Rochester and the T ...

who already operated Boro'line Maidstone. It experienced initial rapid success, gaining and operating some of the first services to be contracted out in the

Bexleyheath Bexleyheath is a town in southeast London, England, in the London Borough of Bexley. It had a population of approximately 15,600 in 2021 and is southeast of Charing Cross. It is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in London ...

area of South East London. Later services reached

Greenwich Greenwich ( , , ) is an List of areas of London, area in south-east London, England, within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London, east-south-east of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime hi ...

, Stratford and

Euston station Euston railway station ( ; or London Euston) is a major London station group, central London railway terminus and Euston tube station, connected London Underground station managed by Network Rail in the London Borough of Camden. It is the sout ...

. However, the company quickly encountered problems, and on 17 February 1992 sold its London operations to Kentish Bus. Two days later, Boro'line was placed into

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal: the process of dealing with or controlling things or people. ** Administrative assistant, traditionally known as a se ...

History

Boro'line successfully tendered to operate several London bus routes, with the first contracts being won in 1987. In January 1988 Boro'line started its London operations with Bexley-based routes from a Bexley council site in

Crayford Crayford is a town and Wards of the United Kingdom, electoral ward in South London, South East London, England, within the London Borough of Bexley. It lies east of Bexleyheath and north west of Dartford. Crayford was in the Historic countie ...

. Another site in

later came into use for two Greenwich services working into Euston, Stratford and Lewisham.Countrybus website
Boro'line Leyland Lynx page
Route 188 history Contracts were won initially in competition with the London Buses low cost Bexleybus unit. Further routes in the area were gained after being given up by the poorly performing strike prone Bexleybus operation. Routes awarded were operated with a mixture of purposely ordered new buses, and second hand vehicles. The large orders were in marked contrast to the piecemeal fleet replacement in Maidstone. Boro'line's bright blue livery contrasted with the traditional red of London Buses in the centre of the capital. Additionally, while waiting for new deliveries of buses for its tenders, a motley crew of second hand buses were hired or bought to operate in the meantime, a large number being ex

Ipswich Buses Ipswich BusesCompanies House extract company no 2000058
Ips ...

Leyland Atlantean The Leyland Atlantean is a predominantly double-decker bus chassis manufactured by Leyland Motors between 1958 and 1986. Only 17 Atlantean chassis were bodied as single deck from new. It pioneered the design of rear-engined, front entrance ...

s, bringing more odd bus types and liveries to London.Countrybus website
Boro'line Leyland Olympian page

Routes

The following London bus routes had been operated by Boro'line: 108,

132 132 may refer to: * 132 (number), the natural number following 131 and preceding 133 *AD 132, a leap year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar * 132 BC, a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar * 132 (MBTA bus), a Massachusetts Bay Transportati ...

188 Year 188 (CLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known in the Roman Empire as the Year of the Consulship of Fuscianus and Silanus (or, less frequently, year 941 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomi ...

233 __NOTOC__ Year 233 ( CCXXXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Claudius and Paternus (or, less frequently, year 986 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination ...

, 272,

422 __NOTOC__ Year 422 ( CDXXII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Honorius and Theodosius (or, less frequently, year 1175 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denominati ...

and

492 Year 492 ( CDXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Anastasius and Rufus (or, less frequently, year 1245 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 492 for thi ...

. In 1990 Boro'line lost the tender for route 188 to

Selkent South East London & Kent Bus Company Limited, trading as Stagecoach London, is a bus company operating in central and south London and some parts of north-west Kent. The Selkent brand is a subsidiary of Stagecoach London and operates services und ...

due to performance issues.

Vehicles

The vehicle batches used in London were as follows: ;Double-deck buses *1989 built

Alexander Alexander () is a male name of Greek origin. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here ar ...

RV-bodied Volvo Citybuses *1976 built

AV-bodied Volvo Ailsa B55s (ex-Tayside) *1988 built

Optare Switch Mobility (Optare until 2020) is a British bus manufacturer based in Sherburn-in-Elmet, North Yorkshire. It is a subsidiary of Indian company Ashok Leyland. The company is responsible for the EV operations of the group with Ashok Leylan ...

-bodied

Leyland Olympian The Leyland Olympian is a 2-axle and 3-axle double-decker bus chassis that was manufactured by Leyland between 1980 and 1993. It was the last Leyland bus model in production. Construction The Olympian had the same chassis and running gear ...

s *1991 built Northern Counties-bodied

s *1988 built

RH-bodied Scania N112 ;Single-deck buses *1978 built

Leyland National The Leyland National is an integrally constructed British step-floor single-decker bus manufactured in large quantities between 1972 and 1985. It was developed as a joint project between two UK nationalised industries – the National Bus Com ...

s (ex

) *1989

Leyland Lynx The Leyland Lynx was a High-floor, step-entrance integral single-deck bus manufactured by Leyland Bus, Leyland in Workington, England between 1986 and 1992. After the takeover by Volvo Buses, Volvo, it was succeeded by the Volvo B10B. Backgrou ...

s *1991 built

s Upon sale of the London operations, all vehicles purchased specifically for London contracts passed to Kentish Bus.Talks continue on Maidstone sale
''Commercial Motor'' 27 February 1992 page 18 Some of the second hand vehicles used were moved to Maidstone. Ironically some of the London Lynxs later found their way into Maidstone & District colours and then passed into

Arriva Southern Counties Arriva Southern Counties Limited, trading as Arriva Southern Counties, is a bus operator in Kent, Essex, Hertfordshire, and Surrey in England. It is a subsidiary of Arriva UK Bus, which is part of the Arriva group owned by Deutsche Bahn. The ...

Kent and Sussex division.

References

{{Defunct British Bus Companies Former London bus operators Transport companies established in 1988 Transport companies disestablished in 1992 1988 establishments in England 1992 disestablishments in England