Hello RP1; Goodbye Red Arrows

Thursday 20th April 2023

One of my favourite quirky bus routes in London is the Richmond Park free minibus which has been running on Wednesdays between April and October for some years (aside from 2020 an 2021 due to Covid). This year’s operation began on 5th April and includes an extended route, an increase to three days a week (Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays), and a period of operation right through until 29th November.

I was delighted to hear the wonderful Malcolm Childs is still involved and drives the bus on some days even though he’s been telling me he needs to retire every year I’ve travelled on the route. I blogged about the great customer service Malcolm gives as well as a full background to route RP1 back in April 2019.

It was good to see there’s now a team of four Royal Parks’ volunteer drivers to support Malcolm not least with the expanded service and I had the pleasure of meeting Olwyn yesterday who drives about once a month.

I turned up in good time yesterday morning at the Danebury Avenue starting point in Roehampton for the first journey at 09:25 and soon spied another passenger wandering over to where Malcolm has arranged a very nice timetable display on a hedge outside a junior school indicating where the bus departs.

Another lady soon joined us and after exchanging pleasantries with them I soon gleaned that Jean and Linda are RP1 regulars as well as friend Joan who also soon arrived to join the pair. Jean is so dedicated she sometimes travels around the route more than once a week. and she’s got buses in her blood, telling me she was a ‘clippie’ in the late 1950s at London Transport’s Battersea bus garage on route 22 from Putney to Homerton in the days when RTWs were a new and innovative vehicle (due to their extra six inches width) and bell punch tickets were a thing leading to the name ‘clippie’ being derived.

The bus appeared on time at 09:25 and the four of us were soon on board. I’ve been around long enough to know when to defer to letting ‘senior’ regulars like Jean, Linda and Joan take their usual seats …

… which indeed they did in the front three nearside pairs of seats, one behind the other, on the 16 seat minibus.

The minibus is owned and supplied by Richmond & Kingston Accessible Transport (RaKAT) and whereas it used to operate other community services I’m told it’s now on permanent loan to the Royal Parks and kept in Richmond Park for the RP1.

The newly extended route around the Park takes an hour and 35 minutes so the number of circuits the bus does has been reduced from five to four (two in the morning and two in the afternoon).

New traffic restrictions in the Park …

… have seen fence type barriers erected but commendably the RP1 is exempt although this does entail some tight turns and squeeze-throughs for the bus.

One of these restrictions is at the gate to the Park at Sheen where Olwyn had to unlock a padlock to open the barrier…

… then close it again before continuing on to one of this year’s new route extensions outside the Park to serve Mortlake station and where one quirky London bus route meets another as the RP1 observes the bus stop (for the station) that’s only otherwise used by the two journeys a week route 969. At last that bus shelter might see some custom now.

The RP1 bus has to do a three point turn in the adjacent community centre car park, another tricky manoeuvre for the driver, before heading back into the Park and going through the unlocking padlock and opening and closing the barrier routine again. Now you can see why it takes an hour and 35 minutes to do a circuit.

The famous Isabella Plantation gets a look in twice on the circuit – once officially and timetabled – and once as an unscheduled addition as the journey time allowance between the Ham Common exit and Pembroke Lodge at 15 minutes is far too generous so Olwyn included an extra loop to the Plantation to lose a bit of time as it’s awkward to block the road outside the Lodge while waiting time.

We picked up another passenger in the village of Ham where the bus connects with route 371 – he was also on board to do a complete circuit around the Park …

… and two more at Pembroke Lodge going to the Isabella Plantation so all three would pass through the Danebury Avenue start point and on to the next journey.

When I’ve travelled in previous years it’s been a well used service especially once the rhododendrons are in full bloom in the Isabella Plantation as the RP1 is by far the best way of reaching it, unless you like a long walk or have a blue badge.

It’s also a lovely way to see the many deer in the Park.

There’s a colourful printed leaflet available this year giving details of the route and times…

… unique for a bus route in London – and the bus stops are all well marked together with a newly installed bench seat at many of them.

But Malcolm needs TfL’s help. I know there are blog readers at TfL so please contact Malcolm at jmeays@royalparks.org.uk and ensure the out of date timetables displayed at your bus stops are updated so passengers are not left confused. And how about installing a timetable at that bus stop in Mortlake for them?

Come on TfL help a volunteer run bus route that’s doing a fantastic job at giving people access to one of London’s loveliest Parks.

Goodbye Red Arrows

While in London yesterday I took what will be my last rides on the about to be withdrawn routes 507 and 521 formerly famously branded as part of the once extensive Red Arrow network.

It’s very sad to see these two routes disappear with their distinctive single decks making them ideal for short journeying commuters arriving at Victoria, Waterloo and London Bridge.

Their replacements by diverting other routes operated by standard double decks just won’t appeal in the same way and I’m sure will lead to a further reduction in passengers.

I remember travelling on route 500, the first Red Arrow route back in 1966 soon after its introduction between Victoria, Oxford Street and Marble Arch, but the real Red Arrow revolution came 55 years ago in 1968 when a whole raft of routes began including the 507 (more or less unchanged in those 55 years) and the 501 which originally linked Aldgate with Waterloo but soon changed its eastern terminus to London Bridge (in 1970) before effectively being renumbered 521 and very similar to today’s route.

It’s somewhat ironic when the Mayor is toying with the idea of a ‘Superloop’ brand to raise the profile of orbital links in outer London he’s overseeing the demise of one of London Transport/TfL’s most successful brands in Red Arrow, albeit it hasn’t been used for some time now.

I’ll miss both routes. It just won’t be the same to catch a 3 or a C10 instead of the 507 or a 59 or 133 instead of a 521 – and these replacements don’t provide a through route anyway although admittedly they do cover the needs of most passenger journeys, but as I found yesterday, not all.

Interestingly someone is garnering names for a petition to Save the 521, but alas it’s now too late.

Sadly the 59 with its double deck buses won’t be able to use the Strand Underpass with its twists and turns linking the north end of Waterloo Bridge with the southern end of Kingsway, helpfully bypassing the busy Aldwych junctions, and another piece of London’s bus history ends.

I’m still not clear what’s to become of Go-Ahead London’s Waterloo bus garage in the long term.

Despite the huge investment in making it the country’s first all electric bus garage I suspect it’s future lies in demolition and replacement by a couple of blocks of flats.

You’ve got until a week tomorrow (28th April) to enjoy one last ride on the 507 and 521 before their demise as well as other long standing central London routes before they are irretrievably altered at the Central London end – including the 3, 6, 11, 16, 26, 59 and 133.

But in better news you’ve got until 29th November to have a ‘must ride’ trip on the wonderful RP1.

Roger French

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