Cavendish Motor Services

A Cavendish Motor Services Dennis Dart SLF in Eastbourne on route 11, shortly before Stagecoach Group acquired the company.
Slogan The Lighthouse Line
Parent Stagecoach Group
Founded 2006
Defunct 2009
Headquarters Polegate & Eastbourne
Locale East Sussex
Service area Eastbourne
Service type bus service
Alliance Eastbourne Buses
Hubs Eastbourne, Polegate & Hailsham
Fleet fleet list
Operator Stagecoach Group
Website www.cavendishmotorservices.co.uk

Cavendish Motor Services was a bus operator running within the Borough of Eastbourne and the surrounding area such as Polegate and Hailsham. It was the sister company of Renown Coaches of Bexhill. The buses ran in a distinctive green and cream livery, similar to the pre-1968 Southdown Motor Services livery.

In January 2009, Cavendish Motor Services were sold to the Stagecoach Group, along with rival bus company Eastbourne Buses. The launch of a combined network branded as Stagecoach in Eastbourne was delayed following a lengthy enquiry by the Competition Commission, which finally permitted this in October 2009.[1] Cavendish's parent company, Renown Coaches, has retained its separate identity and ownership.

History

Cavendish Motor Services started operations on 13 March 2006.

Initially they ran just two routes:[2]

Gradually more routes were added to their network, and routes which initially only ran on weekdays were expanded to run on Saturdays as well (Cavendish never operated services on Sundays). On 5 September 2008, service 9 which had run between Sainsbury's in Hampden Park, Eastbourne's District General Hospital, Cherry Garden Road, the Town Centre and Meads was withdrawn.[3] The route was replaced by re-routing service 10 between Hill Road and Old Town, and providing a new service 20 from Meads to Langney from Monday 8 September.[3] However, on 1 December 2008, service 9 was re-instated between Meads and the Hospital, but running between the Town Centre and the hospital via a different route.[4]

Sale to Stagecoach

In January 2009, Cavendish Motor Services was sold to Stagecoach Group. This came a month after the group bought rival bus company Eastbourne Buses. Because of this, tickets for either company were accepted on both sets of services, but not on the Stagecoach-branded Hastings buses. The sum Stagecoach paid for the company has not been revealed.[5]

Stagecoach later announced 40 job losses.[6]

Fares

Since starting operations, the normal fares on Cavendish services were set lower than those of their main rival, Eastbourne Buses: initially at an introductory £1 fare,[2] although that was quickly increased to £1.30. This difference was maintained in subsequent fare rises.[7]

Services

Cavendish worked with their parent company Renown Coaches to run services to Hailsham and Seaford via Polegate. Some routes were in direct competition with parts of the Eastbourne Buses network: in at least two cases services withdrawn by Eastbourne Buses were partially re-instated by the firm,[8][9] which has given them some additional public support.[10][4]

See also

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cavendish Motor Services.
  1. ↑ UK Competition Commission Gives Eastbourne Bus Merger All Clear govmonitor.com
  2. 1 2 "NOSTALGIC LOOK TO NEW BUS SERVICE - Eastbourne Today". TR Beckett Newspapers. 2006-03-23. Retrieved 2008-12-11.
  3. 1 2 "Improvements to bus services - Eastbourne Today". 2008-09-04. Retrieved 2008-12-10.
  4. 1 2 "Cavendish Motor Services - Timetables". 2008-09-08. Archived from the original on November 19, 2007. Retrieved 2008-11-29.
  5. ↑ "Stagecoach buys Cavendish". TR Beckett Newspapers. 2009-01-09. Retrieved 2009-01-12.
  6. ↑ "Stagecoach axe Cavendish Buses and 40 jobs". TR Beckett Newspapers. 2009-01-15. Retrieved 2009-01-22.
  7. ↑ "Rival bus firm puts up fares - Eastbourne Today". TR Beckett Newspapers. 2008-04-21. Retrieved 2008-12-10.
  8. ↑ "Competitor steps in to Save bus route - Eastbourne Today". TR Beckett Newspapers. 2008-02-29. Retrieved 2008-12-11.
  9. ↑ "Village's bus service saved - Eastbourne Today". TR Beckett Newspapers. 2008-03-25. Retrieved 2008-12-11.
  10. ↑ "12/03/08: Write directly to Renown - Eastbourne Today". 2008-03-12. Retrieved 2008-12-11.
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