Quality Line was a bus company based in

Epsom Epsom is a town in the borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, England, about south of central London. The town is first recorded as ''Ebesham'' in the 10th century and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain ...

, England. A subsidiary of the

RATP Group The RATP Group () is a French state-owned enterprise (Établissement public à caractère industriel et commercial, EPIC) that operates public transport systems primarily in Paris, France. Headquartered in Paris, it originally operated under th ...

, Quality Line operated bus services throughout the South West London and

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

area, with many under contract to

Transport for London Transport for London (TfL) is a local government body responsible for most of the transport network in London, United Kingdom. TfL is the successor organization of the London Passenger Transport Board, which was established in 1933, and His ...

. It ceased operations on 2 July 2021, with all remaining routes transferring to RATP's London United subsidiary.

History

In 1986, Epsom Coaches took advantage of the deregulation of the bus industry, and initially began operating hopper type services around the

area.History
Epsom Coaches In 1997, Epsom Buses expanded into the London Bus market initially winning the tenders for routes S1 and 413 which were operated with Optare MetroRiders later being replaced by

Plaxton Pointer The Plaxton Pointer (originally known as the Reeve Burgess Pointer, and later as the TransBus Pointer and Alexander Dennis Pointer) is a single-deck midibus body that was manufactured between 1991 and 2006, predominantly on the Dennis Dart chas ...

bodied

Dennis Dart The Dennis Dart is a Rear-engine design, rear-engined single-decker bus, single-decker midibus chassis that was introduced by Dennis Specialist Vehicles, Dennis of Guildford, England, in 1989, replacing the Dennis Domino. Initially built as a ...

s. Other London tenders were successfully tendered for including route 293. In 2003, Epsom Coaches rebranded its bus division as Quality Line and repainted its vehicles from their traditional cream and brown into all over red to comply with

contractual requirements. From July 2006 with the introduction of routes E15 and E16, Quality Line began to return to operating outside London with buses in their traditional cream and brown livery, however since the displacement of

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 ...

bodied Dennis Darts from route S1, buses outside London have been appearing in red once again. In late 2012 out of London buses were starting to appear in all over cream with burgundy flashes. Until May 2007, the whole fleet consisted of only single decker buses. Since June 2007, Quality Line have operated

Alexander Dennis Enviro400 The Alexander Dennis Enviro400 is a twin-axle low-floor double-decker bus that was built by the British bus manufacturer Alexander Dennis between 2005 and 2018. It replaced the Alexander ALX400 (from which the Enviro400 was developed). In 201 ...

double-deck vehicles on routes 406 and 418. A number of single decker

Alexander Dennis Enviro200 Dart The Alexander Dennis Enviro200 (previously known as the TransBus Enviro200) is a midibus that was manufactured by TransBus International and later Alexander Dennis between 2003 and 2018. The original TransBus Enviro200 design was innovative but ...

s were delivered at the same time. On 20 April 2012, Epsom Coaches was taken over by the

. On 12 October 2012, Quality Line took over the commercial operation of

Surrey County Council Surrey County Council is the county council for the non-metropolitan county of Surrey, England. The council is composed of 81 elected councillors, and in all but one election since 1974 the Conservative Party has held the majority. The leader ...

route 479 from Countryliner, who had gone into administration earlier in the week. On 15 October, a service registration by Sunray Travel was accepted by the

Traffic Commissioner The Traffic Commissioners for Great Britain are responsible for the licensing and regulation of the operators of heavy goods vehicles, buses and coaches, and the registration of local bus services in Great Britain (as opposed to the entire Unit ...

, while Quality Line's was not, so it ceased operating the route on 16 October 2012. On 3 December 2016, the company took over route 413. It was previously operated by Go-Ahead London. The company purchased nine Citaro K buses for the route. In June 2017 as part of a restructure of RATP's operations, Epsom Coaches ceased trading while the remaining operations continued under the Quality Line brand. It was brought under the same management as RATP's other London operations, London United and

London Sovereign London Sovereign is a bus operator brand under London Sovereign Limited, trading as First Bus, which operates bus services in Greater London. It is a subsidiary of First Bus London and operates bus services under contract to Transport for London ...

. On 24 April 2020, routes 406, 418 and

465 __NOTOC__ Year 465 ( CDLXV) was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Hermenericus and Basiliscus (or, less frequently, year 1218 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denominat ...

were transferred to London United's Tolworth garage. In January 2021, RATP announced that it was to close Quality Line. On 19 June 2021, routes 293, 404,

467 __NOTOC__ Year 467 (Roman numerals, CDLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Pusaeus and Iohannes (consul 467), Iohannes (or, less frequently, year 1220 '' ...

and 470 were transferred to London United. On 2 July 2021, All Quality Line operations ceased after remaining routes 413, 463 and S1 passed to

Go-Ahead London Go-Ahead London is a major bus operator in Greater London. The name first appeared in August 2008, before which the company had traded under separate names and brands. It is currently (as of April 2025) the largest bus operator in Greater Londo ...

at the end of their contracts.Routes to go to Go-Ahead when RATP leaves Epsom ''Buses'' issue 791 February 2021 page 8

References

External links

Epsom Coaches
{{RATP Group Former bus operators in Surrey Former London bus operators RATP Group Transport companies established in 1986 Transport companies disestablished in 2021 Transport in Epsom and Ewell Transport in Surrey 1986 establishments in England 2021 disestablishments in England