First in Suffolk & Norfolk - History

History

The company was formed in 1931 by the combination of four existing bus companies in East Anglia, the earliest of which started operations in 1902. Eastern Counties operated throughout Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, Suffolk and the Soke of Peterborough in Northamptonshire. The company was a subsidiary of Tilling and British Automobile Traction Limited (TBAT).

In 1933 services in the city of Norwich were taken over with the acquisition of the local tram company, the trams being withdrawn in 1935 in favour of buses. One of the predecessor bus companies, United Automobile Services, had a bus body works, which Eastern Counties inherited. In 1937, this operation was transferred to a separate company, Eastern Coach Works in Lowestoft.

In 1942 the TBAT group was broken up and Eastern Counties passed to the Tilling Group. In 1948 Tilling's bus interests were sold to the government, and Eastern Counties was nationalised as a company under the control of the British Transport Commission (BTC).

In 1962 with the splitting of the BTC into separate railway and other transport operations, the BTC bus companies passed to the Transport Holding Company (THC). While still state-owned, THC companies were required to act as commercial concerns. In 1969 Eastern Counties became part of the National Bus Company.

The bus operations of Waveney District Council were taken over in 1977 after a recast of services left municipal operation unviable.

In preparation for bus deregulation and privatisation the company's operations in Cambridgeshire were broken off into a separate company, Cambus Limited, on September 9, 1984. The company's coaching operations were also split and became Ambassador Travel, based at Great Yarmouth.

The company was bought out by the management on February 26, 1987. In 1994 it became only the second company in the United Kingdom to use guided buses when Superoute 66 was launched in Ipswich. The guided busway, known as Ipswich Rapid Transit, is still served by the company. In July 1994 they were sold to GRT Group, and by June 1995 GRT merged with Badgerline to form FirstBus. In 1996 the municipal buses of Great Yarmouth Transport were acquired.