Britain’s Top 10 Quirky Bus Routes: 6 Royal Parks RP1

Tuesday 17th June 2025

It’s the middle of the month so time for this year’s monthly countdown of quirky bus routes and after the inclusion of TfL route 969 as Britain’s eighth quirkiest bus route in my Top 10, I’m back in south west London for a ride on another quirky favourite taking sixth place.

It’s route RP1, once again operating for an extended seasonal period from the middle of March through to November providing free travel around Richmond Park three days a week.

The route began in 2016 thanks to three years of lottery funding followed by two years of generous sponsorship from a couple of philanthropic residents, but now, the RP1 is funded by the Royal Parks’ annual budget albeit from “private donations to the Royal Parks”. Long may that continue.

As well as providing a much welcome way to tour around Richmond Park completely free of charge, the other unique characteristic of route RP1 is it’s driven by volunteer drivers using a bus owned and maintained by RAKAT Community Transport (Richmond and Kingston Accessible Transport). And even better, during last winter the bus was given a livery makeover and now sports bespoke branding to promote the bus route and what it does.

This year the RP1 is once again running on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays having begun on 17th March and will continue through until November. There are four clockwise circuits of the Park on each day of operation with a break in the middle for the driver’s lunch.

The route more or less follows the circumference of this wonderful 2,500 acre Park serving all its main Gates with connections to nearby bus routes as well as continuing outside the boundary in three places to make even better connections.

These are at Roehampton, Ham and Sheen/Mortlake where convenient connections with TfL bus routes and SWR trains (at the latter) can be used.

The bus serves both entrances to the hugely popular Isabella Plantation and the extensive refreshment facilities at both Pembroke Lodge and Pen Ponds within the Park.

The route also takes you on some of the Park’s internal roads which are closed to general traffic, not least one of the most quirkiest aspects of any bus route, when passing through Sheen Gate to reach Mortlake railway station, the driver has to park up…

… get out of the cab to unlock the padlocked gate ….

…. drive through and then park up and lock the gate again behind, only to repeat the whole process about 15 minutes later when returning and re-entering the Park, having served the Mortlake station bus stop.

As you can see from the timetable, the whole process takes 20 minutes.

And just to add to the quirkiness, the TfL bus stop served at Mortlake station, as highlighted previously with route 969, is only served by the twice a week (one journey a day 969) and three times a week (four journeys per day RP1) which must make it the least served (and one of the least used) TfL bus stops (which naturally comes complete with bus shelter too).

Supplies of an attractive timetable leaflet, including a route map for the RP1, are available, with supplies on board the bus…

… and these are always popular with passengers confirming what times the bus will serve each stop.

Each bus stop is also identified with a plate and timetable on display, including those outside the Park, for example, as pictured below in Roehampton.

When I’ve travelled on the route, which I try and do every year, some passengers make a complete circuit to enjoy the views of the Park while others use it as a hop-on-hop-off service to explore different parts of the Park.

Other quirky factors include seeing the famous Richmond Park deer as you travel along…

… and also, you’re likely to also catch sight of the Park’s horse drawn lawn mower.

You’ll also see the oldest tree in the Park – roughly 850 years old – now protected with a fenced barrier.

There aren’t many bus routes in London where you see such delights, hence the route’s quirkiness. Nor are there many buses where you find a spare tyre on board….just in case.

One of the best features of the route is the drivers. They’re so friendly and a mine of information sharing facts and figures about the Park and its history which they impart as they drive around. For many years I was impressed with regular driver Malcolm Childs…

… but he’s now taken a well earned retirement from driving duties, and when I travelled a few weeks ago I met Mike who was absolutely brilliant and even agreed to have his photo included in this blog. He even persuaded me to move the placing of the RP1 up to sixth place in the Top 10.

It’s a quirky route and a truly wonderful way to enjoy Richmond Park.

Roger French

Did you catch the previously featured Top 10 Quirky Bus Routes? 10: White Bus route 01, 9: Borders Buses route 477, 8: TfL/Transport UK route 969, 7 Tavistock Country Bus route 112.

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