Southdown Buses Tribute | Farewell Southdown Buses 2006 - 2023

Southdown PSV was originally a dealership up until 2006, when they won contracts for some routes across Surrey. They also had two buses for hotel shuttle services at Gatwick from 2005. Although originally named Southdown PSV, the company was renamed to Southdown Buses in recent years. Southdown has been serving Surrey and West Sussex for 17 years, and 2023 brought the end of an era for this bus company. In February of 2023, Southdown was bought by the Go Ahead Group, and joined the Brighton & Hove / Metrobus partnership. In March of 2023, all Southdown buses were renumbered in the Metrobus 6xxx numbering scheme, and it then became clear that something was going to happen. At the time, however, it was unclear what. Today, Friday the 1st of September 2023, is Southdown Buses' last day in operation. From Saturday the 2nd of September 2023, Metrobus will take over all of Southdown's operations. Three Volvo B9TL ADL Enviro 400s have been hired temporarily from Go Ahead London (to be numbered 6950, 6951 & 6952), likely to cover for Southdown buses being repainted. This will include some changes to the Southdown fleet, including the eventual withdrawal of the Dennis Dart ELC Myllenniums, Enviro 200s, B7TL Presidents, and the B7TL ELC Myllennium Vyking. This will leave the Enviro 200 MMCs, Enviro 400s, and Enviro 400 MMCs as the only original Southdown buses in the Metrobus fleet. As for the replacements for the buses to be withdrawn, Metrobus will later transfer some buses from Crawley to Copthorne once new buses arrive at Crawley. So, farewell to Southdown buses, and thank you for 17 years of service.