Lets start off with the 489.The original 489 which was operated by NorthDown was introduced in (insert year) and ran as a Monday-Saturday, evenings only and Sunday Service (Bit weird, I know). I do have a panel timetable of this route that you can view on the right.
As you can see, the route ran from Tolworth to Bookham/Guildford, which is nearly the same as the present day 479/489, just without the extension to Tolworth from Epsom.
The 489 was eventually discontinued, and then revived by Buses Excetera after the Sunday 479 service was discontinued, which created competition with then Sunray Travel's 479. Many people preferred to use Excetera's 489 as it was cheaper, more reliable, and the drivers were friendlier too.
Sunray couldn't cope with this, and it lead to the repossession of their working fleet, which meant they had to borrow Olympians off Southern Transit. A short while after, failure to meet payments lead to the repossession of the loaned buses, which meant they had to borrow B10M's from Edward Thomas & Son until the schools went back after Summer half term.
On Tuesday the 10th of September 2013, Sunray travel went into liquidation, and did not run a service at all. Sunray advised customers to use Excetera's 489 service for buses to Epsom. The Sunray Saga was over.
At present, Buses Excetera are running both routes in tip-top shape, with clean, on time buses and freindly drivers. The 479 usually runs Full Size buses such as single deck Eclipse fusions, and Enviro 300's, although occasionly Darts can slip onto the route. The 489 is regularly run with double deck Presidents, although sometimes, single deck workings can occur.
For photos, please visit my new Flickr page here.
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