Enthusiasts
Welcome
This is our dedicated enthusiasts page, where you can learn about all things First Eastern Counties.
Our History
The Eastern Counties Omnibus Company was formed in July 1931 with the merger of four large bus operators (United Automobile Services, Eastern Counties Road Car Co, Ortona Motor Co & Peterborough Electric Traction Co) which covered Norfolk, Suffolk & Cambridgeshire.
Eleven years later, in 1942, ECOC became part of the Tilling Group. This was nationalised in 1948.
Eastern Counties became part of the National Bus Company when it was formed in 1969.
In 1977, following the cessation of bus operation by Waveney District Council, ECOC became the sole local bus operator in Lowestoft.
In September 1984, in preparation for bus deregulation, operations in Cambridgeshire were transferred to Cambus Ltd and the Norfolk & Suffolk based coach operations were transferred to Ambassador Travel.
In February 1987, the company was privatised in a management buyout. This lasted seven years as in 1994 it was sold to Grampian Regional Transport (GRT)
GRT merged with Badgerline to form FirstBus during 1995. One year later, the Great Yarmouth Transport and Flying Banana businesses were purchased and integrated into Eastern Counties to form the business we are today.
Photos: Great Yarmouth Transport livery (left), and Eastern Counties Red livery (right).
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Our Fleet
We operate a fleet of approximately 300 buses across three counties, with depots in Norwich, Ipswich, Great Yarmouth, Lowestoft, and King's Lynn.
To download our current fleet list, click here or the picture below. List updated on 27th February 2024
Local enthusiast sites
The Eastern Counties Bus Preservation Group
Eastern Transport Collection Society
Norwich, we're going electric!
For all things electric, please click here to take you over to our dedicated page.
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