How it started
History
The company was founded in 1901 as Southend-on-Sea Corporation Transport; it began operating motorbuses in 1912. It was renamed Southend Transport in 1974 and became a limited company on 26 October 1986, following implementation of the Transport Act 1985. Southend Transport was involved in a bus war with Thamesway in the early 1990s.
Southend Transport was sold by Southend-on-Sea Borough Council to the British Bus group in June 1993 for a reported £1, which, in turn, was taken over by the Cowie group.
Cowie was renamed Arriva in August 1998 and Southend Transport was renamed Arriva serving Southend, as part of this rebranding. The "serving Southend" local identity caption has since been phased out.
On 28 January 2000, the original Southend garage at 87 London Road, dating from the foundation of Southend Corporation Transport, was closed; it was demolished shortly afterwards, with a new one constructed on Short Street.
Arriva Southend had continued the service X1 coach service to London inherited from Southend Transport, latterly as the Green Line 721 service.
From Wikipedia’s article on Arriva Southend, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.2