Konectbus was formed in 1999 when the Saham Toney depot of Norfolk Green was purchased from with four coaches, originally trading as Konect. The company moved out of coach operations and into tendered bus services. In 2003, the company was renamed Konectbus.
In 2004, the depot was relocated to Toftwood. In March 2013, a new depot was opened in Rashes Green Industrial Estate. In 2005, Konectbus began to operate two park & ride services under contract to Norfolk County Council.
In March 2010, Konectbus was sold to the Go-Ahead Group.[2][3][4] In November 2017 Konectbus took over all seventeen routes and twenty buses of sister company Anglian Bus.[5][6][7]
In March 2025, Go East Anglia announced it was to begin consolidating its bus operations in the East of England under the Konectbus brand from June 2025. As a result, the original Konectbus operation was renamed Konectbus Norfolk. The Essex and Suffolk subsidiary of Go East Anglia, Hedingham & Chambers, was rebranded to Konectbus Essex and Suffolk in June 2025.[8]
In September 2025, Go East Anglia announced that it was to be acquired by the first Norwich Norfolk, an independent group of operators based in the East Midlands and East of England.[9] Following the completion of the deal on 1 October 2025, Konectbus Norfolk and Konectbuses Suffolk and Essex began operations under the first group brand. first bus East of England and first Group announced that a two-phase network review, starting in January 2026 with extensive consultation of passengers and local authorities, would aim to simply operations across Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex and address poor service reliability recently faced by Konectbus. As part of this review, first bus East of England plans an investment in new vehicles for the Konectbus fleet.[10]
Acquisitions
Konectbus logo before rebrand in March 2025Logo of former "anglianbus" bus operatorAnglian Bus Scania OmniCity in September 2008
Anglian Bus[11] was a bus operator based in Beccles. A subsidiary of the Go-Ahead Group, it operated services in both Norfolk and Suffolk from 1981 until 2017.
Anglian Bus was formed in 1981 by David and Christine Pursey, operating charter services and school services from a depot in Loddon. In January 1999, Anglian Bus began operating its first public bus service numbered 580 between Diss and Great Yarmouth under contract to Norfolk County Council.[2][12]
In October 2000, the depot was relocated to Beccles Business Park, where a purpose built garage was constructed on 5 acres (20,000m2) of freehold land.[2] This depot had a MOT testing facility.[13] In 2003, the company began its first commercial service from Halesworth to Norwich. In 2004, a second depot at New Rackheath, near Norwich opened. It has since closed and is now used as an outstation by sister company Konectbus.[2][12]
In April 2012, Anglian Bus was sold to the Go-Ahead Group.[14][15] On 19 November 2017, Anglian Bus ceased trading with all routes and buses transferred to Konectbus.[5][6][7]
Anglian Bus operated a number of services, both standard routes and more limited services. Both urban and rural areas were served, with many of the company's routes running into the city of Norwich serving Norwich bus station. Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft were also served by many routes.[16] At the time operations ceased in November 2017, the fleet comprised twenty vehicles.[7]
Services
Konectbus operate services in Norfolk, based out of hubs at Norwich bus station, which it operates, Dereham, and Watton. Konectbus operate a number of local bus services into Norwich and Dereham from surrounding suburbs, towns, and villages, it also operates a high speed service between Dereham and Norwich, the 8.
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