Supported Bus Services

What are supported local bus services?

Most buses in Essex are run by commercial busineses without subsidy from the local authority. We refer to the running of these services as being "on a commercial basis". These companies range from small, family-run businesses to big multi-national companies.

A small percentage of bus services or routes are run with financial support from us. You can find the latest list of services at the bottom of this webpage.

Our bus service consultations look to understand the impact of service changes to people using the service as well as ensuring the service meets the criteria set out by the Bus Strategy "Getting Around in Essex". You can see details of the Getting Around in Essex Strategy.

What can I find on these pages?

On these pages you can find the following information:

Bus services or routes which are run with financial support from us.
Details of recent consultations on service changes (including services that are being consulted on for potential withdrawal or service reduction).
Information regarding Funding for Supported Services 2020/21. You can see our letter of Intent regarding the funding in the documents section of the page, this sets out our original statement of intent, however, this may be updated due to the COVID-19 pandemic and we will publish updates if this is the case. You can also see the Department for Transport response.

Local Bus Service Tender round Outcome - Effective from 31 July 2022

We have carried out a Tender round on our Monday - Saturday Daytime services. Below is the outcome of this Tender and please note some services may have a new operator and may even operate to a revised route and timetable. These changes will take place on Sunday 31 July 2022.

The table below can be filtered and exported in various formats, with only the filtered information being exported.

Service number	District	from	to	days of Operation	Current Operator	New Operator	Summary of change
3	Chelmsford	Chelmsford	Southend on Sea	Monday - Saturday	Essex & Suffolk DaRT	First Essex Buses	Change of operator
4	Colchester	Stanway	The Hythe	Monday - Saturday	Ipswich Buses	First Essex Buses	Change of operator
5	Uttlesford	Bishop's Stortford	Stansted Airport	Monday - Saturday	Stephenson's of Essex	n/a	This Service will be renumbered to service 305 with two new services being introduced (315 & 325) and these will also be operated by Central Connect t/a Galleon Travel 2009
6	Uttlesford	Saffron Walden	Stansted Airport	Monday - Saturday	Stephenson's of Essex	n/a	This Service will be renumbered 316 & 318 and operate to a revised route and timetable
9	Tendring	Great Holland	Walton on the Naze	Monday Only	Stephenson's of Essex	Konect Buses t/a Hedingham Omnibuses	Change of Operator
10	Basildon	Basildon	Wickford	Monday - Saturday	First Essex Buses	TBC
11	Colchester	Colchester	Stanway	Monday - Friday	Ipswich Buses	First Essex Buses	Change of operator
12	Basildon	Wickford	Billericay	Monday - Friday	NIBS Buses	TBC
14	Southend	Southend on Sea	Shoeburyness	Monday - Saturday	Stephenson's of Essex	n/a	No Change
14	Basildon	Wickford	Wickford	Monday - Friday	NIBS Buses	First Essex Buses	Change of operator
15	Colchester	Marks Tey	Marks Tey	Monday - Friday	Konect Buses t/a Hedingham Omnibuses	n/a	No Change
16	Chelmsford	Wethersfield	Chelmsford	Monday - Saturday	Stephenson's of Essex	Konect Buses t/a Hedingham Omnibuses	Change of operator
17	Colchester	West Bergholt	Stanway	School days only	First Essex Buses	n/a	No Change
19	Colchester	Monkwick	Rowhedge	School days only	Konect Buses t/a Hedingham Omnibuses	n/a	No Change
21	Basildon	North Benfleet	Basildon	Monday - Saturday	NIBS Buses	First Essex Buses	Change of operator, Monday - Friday ECC funded peak journeys only and Saturdays, daytime services continue to be operated by NIBS Buses.
30	Braintree	Beckers Green	Marks Farm	Monday - Friday	Stephenson's of Essex	n/a	No Change
40	Braintree	Witham Town	Witham Town	Monday, Wednesday & Saturday only	Konect Buses t/a Hedingham Omnibuses	First Essex Buses	Change of operator
46	Chelmsford	Chelmsford	Ongar	Monday - Saturday	First Essex Buses	n/a	No Change
47	Chelmsford	Moulsham	Broomfield	Monday - Saturday	First Essex Buses	n/a	No Change
61	Brentwood	Brentwood	Blackmore	Monday - Saturday	Vectare	n/a	Minor change to timetable
63	Rochford	Rayleigh	Great Wakering	Monday - Saturday	NIBS Buses	First Essex Buses	Change of operator
79	Colchester	Colchester	colchester	Friday Only	Konect Buses t/a Hedingham Omnibuses	n/a	No Change
91	Colchester	Tollesbury	Witham Town	Monday - Saturday	Konect Buses t/a Hedingham Omnibuses	n/a	No Change
92	Colchester	Colchester	Tollesbury	Monday - Saturday	Konect Buses t/a Hedingham Omnibuses	n/a	No Change
101	Tendring	Brighlingsea	Point Clear	School days only	Stephenson's of Essex	Konect Buses t/a Hedingham Omnibuses	Change of operator
115	Tendring	Weeley	Thorpe le Soken	School days only	Stephenson's of Essex	Konect Buses t/a Hedingham Omnibuses	Change of operator
118	Colchester	Parkeston	Ramsey	School days only	Panther Travel	n/a	No Change
256	Basildon	Basildon	Ramsden Heath	Tuesday, Thursday & Saturday Only	NIBS Buses	First Essex Buses	Change of operator
269	Brentwood	Brentwood	Grays	Monday - Saturday	NIBS Buses	n/a	No Change
301	Uttlesford	Bishop's Stortford	Saffron Walden	Monday - Saturday	Stephenson's of Essex	Central Connect t/a Galleon Travel 2009	Change of operator and will operate to a revised route and timetable
345	Braintree	Fuller Street	Braintree	Wednesday only	Konect Buses t/a Hedingham Omnibuses	First Essex Buses	Change of operator
418	Harlow	Loughton	Epping	Monday - Saturday	Stephenson's of Essex	TBC
505	Harlow	Harlow	Waltham Abbey	Saturday only	Central Connect t/a Galleon Travel 2009	TBC
552	Basildon	Ramsden Heath	Billericay	Monday - Friday	NIBS Buses	First Essex Buses	Change of operator
804	Epping	Debden	Chigwell	School days only	Stephenson's of Essex	NIBS	Change of operator
104/106	Basildon	Langdon Hills	Langdon Hills	Monday - Friday	NIBS Buses	First Essex Buses	Change of operator
105/107	Tendring	Walton on the Naze	Colchester	Monday - Friday	Stephenson's of Essex	Konect Buses t/a Hedingham Omnibuses	Change of operator
13/13a/14	Chelmsford	Chelmsford	Wickford	Monday - Saturday	First Essex Buses	n/a	No Change
16a	Colchester	St Helener School	Barnhall Estate	School days only	Konect Buses t/a Hedingham Omnibuses	First Essex Buses	Change of operator
174/175	Colchester	Colchester	Colchester	Monday - Saturday	First Essex Buses	n/a	No Change
1A	Basildon	Basildon	Pitsea	Saturday only	NIBS Buses	First Essex Buses	Change of operator
21c	Castlepoint	Canvey Island	Hadleigh	Monday - Friday	NIBS Buses	First Essex Buses	Change of operator
2a	Tendring	Clacton on Sea	Mistley	Monday - Saturday	Ipswich Buses	Konect Buses t/a Hedingham Omnibuses	Change of operator
305 /315/ 325	Uttlesford	Bishop's Stortford	Stansted Airport	Monday - Saturday	NEW SERVICE	Central Connect t/a Galleon Travel 2009	This is a new service replacing service 5. Service 315 offer connections to/from Bishops Stortford and Bedlars Green and Great Hallingbury and 325 offers connections to/from Bishops Stortford and Little Hallingbury. Service 315 and 325 offer connections onto service 305 to/from Stansted Airport
313 313A	Uttlesford	Great Dunmow	Saffron Walden	Monday - Saturday	Stephenson's of Essex	n/a	This service will be renumbered to 313 & 314 and will operate to a revided route and timetable.
313 314	Uttlesford	Great Dunmow	Saffron Walden	Monday - Saturday	NEW SERVICE	SOE	Substantially enhanced service between Great Dunmow and Saffron Walden. Service number changed from 313/313a
316 /318	Uttlesford	Saffron Walden	Stansted Airport	Monday - Saturday	NEW SERVICE	Central Connect t/a Galleon Travel 2009	This is a new service replacing service 6 and will operate to a revised timetable
319/ 320/ 321	Uttlesford	Newport	Haverhill	Monday - Saturday	NEW SERVICE	Central Connect t/a Galleon Travel 2009	This is a new service replacing services 59/60 and will operate to a revised timetable
322/ 324	Uttlesford	Lindsell	Bishop's Startford	Monday - Saturday	NEW SERVICE	Central Connect t/a Galleon Travel 2009	This is a new service and will offer journeys to/from Bishops Stortford for Stebbing, Great Dunmow, Church End and Takely
50/50a	Colchester	Colchester	Tollesbury	Monday - Saturday	Konect Buses t/a Hedingham Omnibuses	n/a	No Change
50B	Colchester	Colchester	Colchester	Monday Only	Konect Buses t/a Hedingham Omnibuses	n/a	No Change
59/60	Uttlesford	Audley End	Haverhill	Monday - Saturday	Stephenson's of Essex	n/a	These services will be renumbered to 319/320/321 and will operate to a revised route and timetable.
60/60a	Rochford	Southend on Sea	Pagelsham	Monday - Saturday	Stephenson's of Essex	n/a	No Change
63/63A	Colchester	Colchester	Peldon	Monday - Saturday	Konect Buses t/a Hedingham Omnibuses	n/a	No Change
69/69a	Maldon	East Mersea	Colchester	Tuesday only	Konect Buses t/a Hedingham Omnibuses	n/a	No Change
71/72	Brentwood	Stondon Massey	Warley	Monday - Saturday	Stephenson's of Essex	TBC
73/73a	Maldon	Maldon	Chelmsford	Monday - Saturday	First Essex Buses	n/a	No Change
80/80a/81/81A	Colchester	Colchester	Boxted	Monday - Saturday	Panther Travel	First Essex Buses	Change of operator
82/82a,83/a/b	Colchester	Colchester	Colne Engaine	Monday - Saturday	Konect Buses t/a Hedingham Omnibuses	First Essex Buses	Change of operator
84B	Colchester	Gt Horkesley	Bures	Thursday only	Konect Buses t/a Hedingham Omnibuses	n/a	No Change
85/92	Colchester	Colchester	Layer Breton	Thursday only	Konect Buses t/a Hedingham Omnibuses	n/a	No Change
9/9a	Braintree	Blake End	Great Notley	Monday - Friday	Stephenson's of Essex	Central Connect t/a Galleon Travel 2009	Change of operator
94/94a/94b	Chelmsford	South Woodham Ferrers	Basildon	Monday - Saturday	First Essex Buses	TBC
95/95A	Maldon	Maldon	Tollesbury	Monday - Saturday	Konect Buses t/a Hedingham Omnibuses	n/a	No change to the operator and will operate to a revised timetable
Dart 3	Braintree				Essex & Suffolk DaRT	n/a	No Change
F315	Braintree	Sudbury	Halstead	Monday - Saturday	Arrow Taxi	n/a	No Change
Service number	District	from	to	days of Operation	Current Operator	New Operator	Summary of change

Ongoing consultations
We currently have no ongoing consultations

Recent closed consultations
Consultation on Local Bus Services in Uttlesford This consultation has now closed and you can find the information of the Tender outcome in the documents section of this page.