Sunday 8th June 2025
For some of us of a certain age with knowledge of the London bus scene, the route number 284 will always be associated with the Potters Bar local service operated for a time by the unique FRM 1 vehicle. The route lasted for nine years between 1968 and 1977.
Now, hopefully, the number 284 will be associated with a successful bus route in the Royal Tunbridge Wells area linking the town’s Southborough and High Brooms area with Sherwood and Tunbridge Wells Hospital at Pembury.
Metrobus began this new commercially operated route yesterday in response to many requests for a direct link saving people having to travel via the town centre to reach these edge-of-town locations.
It’s a Monday to Saturday timetable comprising five off-peak journeys with slightly different afternoon times on Saturdays. End to end journey time is 27-29 minutes making for a slightly awkward 65 or 70 minute frequency; however missing the desired easy-to-remember hourly frequency is not the end of the world for a limited route of this kind with its relatively small number of journeys and widespread availability of the timetable.
I took a ride on the first journey yesterday morning to see its potential and came away highly impressed with what I found.
If this had been a new TfL route the bus would have been packed with young YouTubers and TikTokers all filming each other on their mobile phones with great excitement. Thankfully this is Royal Tunbridge Wells where bus route debuts are much quieter affairs, indeed there was only one other passenger boarding with me as we left the bus stop outside Tunbridge Wells station at 09:20, and he was returning home with his shopping. It was good to hear him remark as he boarded “ah; this is the new bus route is it?” indicating good awareness.
Before that I clocked the updated bus stop display with timetable and route map…
… and, in excellent news for Kent’s bus top flags, someone (I’m guessing from Metrobus) had updated the route numbers on display…
… which was obvious to see on one side of the flag.
All the bus stops along the route had been similarly updated and Metrobus has installed its own new bus stop flag for those sections of route where new bus stops are needed for this new route.
We picked up another passenger with shopping at the first bus stop by the War Memorial who’d been waiting for an Arriva bus to take her home in Southborough…
… and she too had heard about the new route and was delighted to find supplies of the new paper copy of the timetable on board…
… with journey times and route map.
Both these shoppers alighted as we turned right off the A26 at Southborough but they were immediately replaced by six new passengers including a parent with three young children who were brimming with excitement at the idea their area had a new bus route.
It was lovely to see and hear their enthusiasm especially from the children, but even mum was excited as were the other two passengers (mum and daughter).
When we got to High Brooms station I thought we were going to have another surprise influx of passengers on this inaugural journey but it turned out they were waiting for the direct Arriva bus into town…
… except two other passengers crossed the road in front of us and again knew about the new route which would take them into town and asked for a timetable. The driver explained he was heading for the Hospital on this journey and they needed the other side of the road for the town centre.
The family of four from Southborough alighted at the large North Farm retail park the bus serves before reaching the Hospital and the other two alighted at the terminus at the Hospital.
It was a fairly short four minute break at the Hospital before heading back into town. We picked one passenger up from the Hospital, from where there are many options for buses into town including Arriva’s bus routes…
… and another passenger boarded on the new section of route in High Brooms, and even more impressive when we got to the station, those two passengers who’d enquired about the timetable as we headed in the other direction, had made a point of foregoing Arriva and were waiting for the 284, so pleased they were to be trying out the new route.
I left the bus at High Brooms for more travels but I came away with a strong impressions this route is already being warmly welcomed by local people in the Southborough and High Brooms areas, all the more so as the advance publicity and marketing of the route has obviously been excellent.
Metrobus held a public launch of the event last weekend outside Southborough Civic Centre and they’ve been closely involving local councillors and other stakeholders so there’s a real positive buzz about the route.
It was great to see everything in place – timetables, bus stops and maps.
Just one small suggestion, it might be good to add a timetable to that large display at the Hospital where the 284 map is shown alongside the Arriva bus times, as prospective passengers may not notice the other display further along the bus stand.
Well done to the Metrobus team for responding to requests with a service that, sensibly, is beginning with only marginal off-peak costs and what looks like a text book example of how to launch a new route. I understand the driver of the first return journey yesterday was Metrobus Operations Manager Michael demonstrating an impressive hands on interest in the service.
I look forward to hearing that it’s a success in the coming weeks.
Roger French
Blogging Summer timetable: TThSSu
BusAndTrainUser 
Looks like a promising start to a new route. Great to see clear on street signage and timetable leaflets. Well done Metrobus. 🙂
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Another good informative piece Roger. I do trust you copy in Arriva & First with these reports…
On a separate note, you referred to LT’s Route 284. I was pleasantly surprised to see FRM1 working this route on one occasion in 1976 whilst on business in Potters Bar. Sadly, I didn’t have time to travel on it at that time & had to wait until December 2005 (Routemaster final week of service) before finally experiencing this great one off.
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Lovely to hear about a new bus service in my home area. especially one that is being launched so professionally. Metrobus already had a presence in Tunbridge Wells with the hourly 291 to East Grinstead and the hourly combined 231/233 to Edenbridge. I wonder if they are looking at the TW area as expansion territory, especially as the principal company, Arriva, is not looking very positive at the moment.
The large North Farm Industrial Estate could do with some better-placed bus stops, and perhaps some kind of index as to which stops serve each business (a lot of them are car sales, but many should have bus-potential).
I too hope that this route will be a success
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This is a pretty sad inditement on the bus industry that a new service in a large town has to be run from “Southdowns’
former base at Copthorne
20 miles away, especially as in days gone by the 284 passes right outside the former site of
Tunbridge Wells bus garage that is now a retirement home.
Whether it be Commercial or Franchised buses operations sadly we live in a world of standalone bus routes that result in unmemorable departure times because routes in an area can not be
interworked to the benefit of intending customers.
If you go to “Pembury Hospital”
as I knew it in the days when
Maidstone & District ran all
services locally it is not even possible to buy one ticket to ride on both services except
Discovery which is £10 and
poorly advertised because a
culture exists where routes
standalone rather than being
part of a network.
I wonder what the fare will be
on the 284 once the £3 cap
finishes in December, might
even be worth buying a
Discovery Ticket just for the
flexibility of getting back conveniently on Arriva!
Transport for South East has seemingly no interest in buses leaving an area I know well with services that are a collection of cost centres rather than a network with simple fare structures.
John Nicholas
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I believe it is the opportunistic use of an otherwise peak-only vehicle working from the Edenbridge-Tunbridge Wells subsidised service.
KCC
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The 284 for me, was Liverpool – Southport. Happy days
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It has been many years since Yewtree Road, that links Southborough and High Brooms, has had a bus service. This used to be covered by the old M&D 81 route that originated from Tonbridge and ran into Tunbridge Wells. The current ARRIVA 281 from High Brooms to Rusthall is it’s rump!
Well done Metrobus. Others may need to take notice too!
Richard Weller
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The Potters Bar 284 was an unusual route, by London Transport standards. It ran in an-anticlockwise loop until mid-morning, then after a gap in service for the driver’s break switched to a clockwise loop for the rest of the day. FRM 1 operated on the route from October 1973 until September 1976, when it was withdrawn after collision damage, and I remember taking trips out to Potters Bar with a Red Bus Rover specifically to ride on it. The 284 commenced in September 1968 and operated until March 1977 when it was superceded by the PB1, which being minibus-operated was able to operate into local housing estates within the town. The PB1 still operates today as a Hertfordshire County Council contract (currently with Uno).
Julian Walker
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Typo/grammar watch, I’m afraid: (1) you have a couple of Soutboroughs (missing an “h”); (2) a very common error but one of my pet peeves, “advance(d) publicity and marketing” – “advanced” as an adjective means requiring specialist knowledge or higher qualifications, whereas “advance” means done before (in advance of) the event referred to, so “advance” is the one you want.
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Thanks; corrected.
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There was also a large door-drop of timetables across the area prior to the launch day. The start date was delayed a few weeks by road works on part of the route.
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I seem to recall that Arriva used to operate a very similar route to this a few years ago – and it too was numbered 284!
The difference was that it started in Bidborough rather than the town centre so as not to duplicate the 277 or 281. It also operated to an awkward 40 minute headway and was only off peak between a school bus. Funny how history repeats it’s self sometimes.
Richard Warwick
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What is this Southborough Hub shown on the route map, but neither the strip map nor listing in the timetable leaflet? The word these days seems to mean an interchange point between services (obviously not rail in this case). Or is it some sort of community centre? You’ll gather that I’m not local.
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It’s not a transport hub, it’s a ‘local services’ hub (so library, GP surgery, that sort of thing). The 284 doesn’t quite reach it but near enough. Southborough High Street is cursed with some of the worst traffic in Kent, especially at school run time but the 284 avoids that.
Re an earlier comment, Yew Tree Road did have until quite recently a somewhat peculiar Saturday-only service (234, I think) which ran a couple of times each way and mostly carried fresh air. I can’t recall who operated it but remember it made a heck of a noise grinding its way up the very steep hill from High Brooms station. The road also gets commuter coaches to / from London run by Centaur. I always wondered why my father-in-law, who lived thereabouts, stubbornly referred to Arriva’s 281 as “the 81”, and now I know!
Ricky
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Rural bus services funding in England ‘needs urgent rebalance’
Average funding per capita for bus services in county and rural council areas in England since 2022 is little more than half of that in cities and large towns, analysis by the County Councils Network (CCN) has shown.
Across five separate tranches of money, county and rural councils in England received an average of £31 per person compared to £58 for authorities covering large towns and cities.
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Promising start, hopefully will soon build up to a sensible frequency for an urban service.
Peter Brown
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Just a quick update the old 144 from Brum to Bromesgrove has now become NXWM X20 via the QEHB so all change again & oh yes our Labour Mayor is putting up the bus fares in Brum yet again on Sunday. Its fumy how his predecessor managed to never raise the price of a 1 day NBus Day Ticket in his 7 years in office & amazing it was still cheaper when he left office than when began with TfWM in 2017……..
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As others have said, it took Metrobus to go for it with this new service and not Arriva (who just seem to be a tired backward looking cost cutting to the bone company these days).
Also it is sensible for Metrobus to test the water first with a one bus service to be sure that there is a demand for it. Hopefully there is and if so it may generate more opportunities for Metrobus to try and establish a proper foothold in the town and hopefully do a “Crawley” if Arriva ever decide to pull out of Tunbridge Wells.
The thing with Tunbridge Wells which could cause a problem is that it is a very car centred town and having a real fractured bus provision (northwards and local services provided by Arriva…Southbound by Metrobus, Stagecoach and B and H) is another reason why a brave few of the locals stick to their cars. Hopefully this might change if Arriva were to throw in the towel and another company who do properly about customer service take over their routes.
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On Friday 13th (an omen?) I decided to sample the 1056hrs 284 departure from Tunbridge Wells Hospital. Sadly, the curse of multiple roadworks and Tunbridge Well’s notorious traffic congestion soon came into play. The incoming working, due at 1052hrs didn’t arrive until 1100hrs. Leaving at 1104hrs, some 8 minutes down, road works with their temporary traffic lights delayed us in Liptraps Lane and High Brooms Road. From Southborough into the town centre the A26 was congested and despite good use of the St. Johns Road bus lanes we didn’t arrive at Tunbridge Wells Station until 1143hrs, some 18 minutes down. The return scheduled 1130hrs departure left straight away, but there was clearly no chance to get back on time.
There were only two passengers, myself and a lady who boarded at North Farm Retail Park and alighted at Southborough. But, this is a link with promise, especially with the increasing retail and commercial activity at North Farm. Very professionaly presented, it deserves to suceed, but some timing adjustments seem inevitable. Arriva locally have added considerable time to some of their running times in the recent past.
Richard Weller
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284 to me, is the current TfL route between Grove Park Cemetery & Lewisham station which used to have a hail & ride section until a couple years ago. Route was very unreliable until recently.
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