The Kings Ferry
Encyclopedia
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
. Originally a commuter and private hire coach operator, under the new brand of The Kings Ferry Travel Group the business has expanded into VIP services, including car and helicopter hire, and tourism services. In the main, the company operates base colour yellow with green striping coaches with a crown logo.
The Kings Ferry was established in 1968 by Peter O'Neill who remained as Chairman until November 2007 when the Kings Ferry Travel Group was sold to National Express Group
National Express Group
National Express Group plc is a British transport group headquartered in Birmingham that operates bus, coach, rail and tram services in the UK, the US and Canada, Spain, Portugal and Morocco and long-distance coach routes across Europe...
In the late 1980s Peter was joined by his daughter and son, Vanessa and Steve, who helped him operate the business and to grow it to its peak of 85 vehicles operating internationally with its own coaches and worldwide with its Coach Hire Connections brand.
The Kings Ferry is named after The Kings Ferry Bridge which links Medway with the Isle of Sheppey.
Commuter services
The Kings Ferry brand is used on commuter services from the Medway Towns to London.The Travel Link brand is used for commuter services from the Isle of Sheppey
Isle of Sheppey
The Isle of Sheppey is an island off the northern coast of Kent, England in the Thames Estuary, some to the east of London. It has an area of . The island forms part of the local government district of Swale...
and Sittingbourne
Sittingbourne
Sittingbourne is an industrial town about eight miles east of Gillingham in England, beside the Roman Watling Street off a creek in the Swale, a channel separating the Isle of Sheppey from mainland Kent...
. Travel Link was created from a merger of the previous Travel Rite lower cost brand, and The London Link, a company established by the Kings Ferry in 1999.
Private hire
The Kings Ferry started in 1968 with one mini coach operating private hires and grew throughout the 70s to a fleet of approximately 15 coaches. In 1982 after deregulation of bus services started commuter services from Medway to London. With constant upgrading of the fleet, The Kings Ferry was established as a Premier operator in the coach sector. The Coach Hire Connections brand was launched linking The Kings Ferry with other worldwide operators to create a common gateway for coach hire, covering private hire up to executive corporate hire, using vehicles from 24 seat mini-coaches to 71 seat double-deckers.VIP services
The Kings Ferry gained experience of VIP travel service by providing coach services to such high profile clients such as Premiership Football clubs. Under the Group expansion, this has expanded into a separate VIP services division with the highest specification vehicles, from small mini-coaches to 35 seated full size coaches. The group also expanded into luxury car services and a helicopter hire operation.Bus services
The Kings Ferry has built up a small fleet of modern buses, for private contracts and for a Dockside Shuttle service, from Chatham railway station
Chatham railway station
Chatham railway station is situated in Chatham, one of the Medway Towns in Kent, England. It is on the Chatham Main Line between Rochester and Gillingham, and is 34.3 miles from London Victoria...
to the Dockside Outlet Centre.