Boro'line Maidstone

Maidstone Borough Council Transport

In 1974, Maidstone Corporation became Maidstone Borough Council Transport, following reorganisation of local government which extended the council's reach into Maidstone. This coincided with the retirement of the general manager of the organisation, leading to a policy shift to replace the fully double deck fleet inherited from Maidstone Corporation with lightweight single deckers.

In 1976 the network was revised following the opening of the Stoneborough Centre Bus Station. In 1977, conversion to one man operation was completed as double deck bus operation ceased. In 1978 route numbers were introduced to the expanding network, co-ordinated with Maidstone & District.

Maidstone Area Bus Services

On 9 August 1981, Maidstone Borough Council services were integrated with that of Maidstone & District under the banner "Maidstone Area Bus Services", with a yellow on black hop barn motif. This was as a result of one of the National Bus Company's Market Analysis Projects (MAP). The MAP analysis resulted in the major alteration of services, seeing some swapping and diversion of routes and the extension of Maidstone Borough routes outside the borough to southern villages. This also saw closure of Maidstone & District's Maidstone depot in Knightrider Street.

Deregulation and London expansion

On 26 October 1986, to fulfil a requirement of the Transport Act 1985, Maidstone Borough Council's bus services divested into arm's length, but council-owned, company Maidstone Borough Transport (Holdings) Limited and other subsidiaries trading under the Best Impressions-inspired Boro'line Maidstone branding with a new yellow/blue livery.

Boro'line was launched on 27 October 1986 with a guest appearance from Inspector Blakey from On the Buses.

The co-ordinated Maidstone Area Bus Services arrangement was terminated, as the same Transport Act 1985 outlawed such arrangements, with bus operators being forced to compete with each other in the new deregulated environment. Thus National Bus Company's East Kent and Maidstone & District subsidiaries and Boro'line, along with local private operators such as Nu-Venture and Farleigh Coaches who started local bus operations, ended up as competitors.

Maidstone & District was sold in a management buyout on 7 November 1986.

Meanwhile, seeking expansion, Boro'line saw that opportunities lay mainly outside the traditional operating area. Thus, as well as moving on a large scale into coach operation, Boro'line was, from 16 January 1988, an early participant in the new London Regional Transport route tendering post-deregulation system, running operations under the Boro'line London brand.

Buses

Following the decision to convert to single deck operation, Maidstone Borough standardised on the Bedford Y series chassis, with mostly Duple bodies. With the advent of Boro'line, with the exception of London contracts, there was no vehicle standard for Boro'line, although double deckers returned to Maidstone under the company. Boro’line purchases for Maidstone were the Scania K92, DAF SB220s, Leyland Lynx, Dodge and MCW Metrorider minibuses. Three second hand Bristol LHs were acquired from East Kent's Ashford operations. Some of the second hand vehicles used for London tenders were later transferred to Maidstone, Boro'line including Leyland Nationals as well as some Volvo Ailsa B55s.

Coaches

Maidstone Borough purchased several Duple-bodied Bedford coaches, and in 1976 14 Leyland Leopard coaches were acquired from Nottingham, allowing withdrawal of the final double deckers of Maidstone Corporation. As with the bus fleet, Boro'line operated a number of coach types without a standard vehicle. Some coaches were used for excursions, although many saw service in Maidstone on passenger routes, with some even fitted with bus seats.

Several Maidstone Borough coaches received names:

Maidstone Minstrel