East Kent Road Car Company Ltd: Services of the Golden Jubilee Era

East Kent - Services of the Golden Jubilee Era takes the reader on a journey along the routes of all the stage-carriage services operated by East Kent in 1968, just after the Company celebrated its Golden Jubilee in 1966/7, and immediately prior to the National Bus Company (NBC) taking full control. This book reveals the contrasting nature of East Kent's services from rural byways to the seasonal, but very busy routes serving the still-popular resorts around the Kent coast. It includes a comprehensive fleet list and details a specimen allocation of cars to each service on a typical day in 1968; local route maps of all major town services as well as a sectionalised reproduction of the original East Kent network map of 1968 and, finally, a summary of the Centenary celebrations of 2016. It is superbly illustrated by over two hundred and fifty photographs, most not published before, of nearly every bus route as well as most London express services and all the operational garages. The author has worked as a driver and a conductor for EKRCC and part owns an ex-East Kent AEC Regent V.

Richard Wallace was born in Hawkhurst, Kent in 1951. Moving to Hythe, he worked for East Kent as Traffic Clerk, Conductor and Driver/Conductor. A spell with London Transport intervened, where he worked on London's iconic number 11 route. A managerial career on the railways then followed, working on the Underground, at the Office of the Rail Regulator, Transport for London's London Rail and finally as European Policy Manager for the Association of Train Operating Companies, representing Great Britain train operators in Brussels. Although he retired in 2013, he still works part-time driving coaches including a 1950s vintage East Kent coach as well as being a volunteer driver for the London Transport Museum. Richard holds a Master's degree in Transport Policy and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport. He is part-owner of an ex-East Kent AEC Regent V, which he drives regularly at rallies in Kent.