Ealing Community Transport
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Ealing Community Transport (ECT) is one of many operators of London Buses.
Company history
Ealing Community Transport was established in the 1970s to serve the small towns on the outskirts of Ealing. Due to a lack of revenue the service was shut down in the late 1990s.In April 2003 ECT was restarted and won the tender to operate Transport for London route 195 (Ealing Hospital - Charville Lane) from First Group, using a fleet of new 10.2m low-floor, dual-door Caetano Nimbus-bodied Dennis Darts, replacing First's short, single-door Marshall-bodied Darts. Not only was the vehicle capacity increased at this time, the frequency was enhanced to provide a 12-minute service throughout the day (20 mins evenings and Sundays). The increased frequency has been popular with passengers and loadings have increased[[Citing sources citation needed]].
During the early 2000s it decreased its frequency and is now only every 15 minutes. ECT has experienced problems with vandalism and arson attacks on its buses, and came third last in the best contractor survey. Initial problems with window etching were quickly addressed and ECT Bus has also been involved in Operation Eyesore in west London, in conjunction with Met Police and TfL, where front-page images on local papers identified local vandals, leading to a number of convictions. Performance of the route has been exemplary in terms of operated mileage (before traffic causes) and, despite operating through Southall, an area renowned for its challenging traffic environment, reliability is extremely good - at April 2006, ECT Bus is in second position in TfL's league table for smaller operators. The current bus fleet for the 195 contract stands at 14 vehicles.
Garages
ECT operate one garage in Greenford, which runs London bus route 195. The Greenford bus depot is part of a local council depot and was first used in 1993 as a midibus base. The opening of Greenford garage led to the closure of Hanwell, and in 1995 the garage was operating 110 midibuses. The standard fare of vehicles in the late 1990's were Renualt/Wright midibus', and Marshall minibuses but unfortunately both types had a bad reputation and did not last long. In recent years the allocation has been much diverse, ranging from Marshall bodied darts to Dennis Trident Plaxton vehicles. In late 2003 Ealing Community Transport moved into the depot with their first London route - 195 using garage code EY.Bus types in use
- Dennis Dart SLF/Caetano Nimbus
See also
| Companies operating buses under contract to London Buses |
|---|
|
Armchair |
Arriva London |
Arriva Shires & Essex |
Arriva Southern Counties |
Blue Triangle |
CT Plus Docklands Buses | Ealing Community Transport | East Thames Buses | First London | London Central London General | London Sovereign | London United | Metrobus | Metroline | NCP-Challenger Quality Line | Stagecoach London | Sullivan Buses | Thorpes | Travel London | Uno |
| Also, see London's Bus Garages for operating codes. |
External links
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