Sunday 13th July 2025
I’d never been to Whiteley Village prior to my bus wanderings around Surrey last week.
I’d known it from seeing the destination emblazoned on the front of buses serving Heathrow Airport on route 555….
….Whiteley Village being the southern terminus of the meandering route operated by White Bus which connects the Airport’s Central Bus Station, Hatton Cross and Terminal 4 with Ashford, Sunbury, Shepperton, Walton-on-Thames and Hersham before terminating in the middle of the ‘Village’.
There can’t be many villages of 400 senior-in-age residents who enjoy an hourly bus service between around 07:00 and 20:00, seven days a week, taking them not only to local shops in Hersham and Walton-on-Thames but a huge Tesco Extra in Sunbury and not forgetting the fourth busiest airport in the world (by passenger traffic).
If I’d been doing a Top 20 (instead of just a Top 10) of Britain’s Quirkiest Bus Routes this year, route 555 would undoubtedly have deserved a place between 11 and 20 in recognition of its unusual contrasting termini.
To help with bearings, Whiteley Village can be found in the centre of a large circle of affluence in Surrey with Addlestone, Weybridge, Walton-on-Thames, Hersham, Cobham and Byfleet on the circumference. I’ve annotated the location on the above map as a red circle as that’s exactly how the Village is laid out as you can see from the Google satellite image below.
The 225 acre site in which the purpose built retirement village stands is owned by Whiteley Homes Trust; a housing charity supporting the health and wellbeing of older people. It was founded after William Whiteley, a successful retail entrepreneur died in 1907 bequeathing £1 million to create housing for ‘the needy poor in their old age’.
When it first opened in 1914 it was the first purpose built retirement village in the UK. It comprises over 250 listed almshouse cottages and 50 extra-care flats as well as a residential nursing care home facility all set in beautiful and immaculately kept grounds.
Buses on route 555 enter the Village from Burwood Road through a large gate…
… and then approach the Village itself along the absolutely straight, north-south, Seven Hills Road before turning on to the circular Octagon Road to serve the beautifully laid out cottages…
.. which really are a delight.
Uniquely, there’s no issue with car parking around the Village, the only signs of congestion I saw came from mobility scooter parking!
The bus continues around the eastern side of Octagon Road until ‘six o’clock’ when it turns inwards…
… and serves the inner Circle Road terminating at around ’10 o’clock’ outside the splendid Village Shop and Post Office.
After a layover of 20 minutes buses continue on round Circle Road until ’12 o’clock’ and then return to Burwood Road back out through the gates.
Inside the volunteer run shop in the Village centre there are all the essentials one needs…
… and impressive of all, not only copies of the White Bus timetable leaflet for route 555, but supplies of Surrey County Council’s timetable book for the Chertsey, Staines and Walton area.
Yes, I know! An amazing find for 2025. A timetable book available to pick up from a Village shop. And it comes complete with maps, index, ticket information and so much more. It’s as if Surrey County Council want to encourage passengers. Well done them.
And well done White Bus for its very clear timetable leaflet and map, supplies of which were also available on board buses.
The journey I travelled on route 555 certainly carried an interesting mixture of passengers.
I boarded at Terminal 4 and much to my surprise at 11:25 it had ten passengers already on board from Heathrow Central or Hatton Cross and to my greater surprise while some of them travelled locally to Ashford and Sunbury, around half travelled much further including to Walton-on-Thames and even one to Hersham. Other passengers were travelling to and from Sunbury’s Tesco Extra and Walton-on-Thames for shopping including one using a wheelchair, as did another passenger elsewhere along the route while another had a full size baby buggy.
We only carried two passengers on the section of route south of Hersham to Whiteley Village and on the next journey back from Whiteley Village took two who stayed on the bus after I alighted in Hersham.
White Bus drivers are obviously well known to Village residents. One of the two boarding on my return journey gingerly boarded the bus with his walking frame and sat down. The driver kindly asked him for his concessionary pass but he obviously didn’t have it with him nor a bank card, nor any cash. In fact all he had was his track suit bottoms with empty pockets, a t-shirt and a bandage wrapped round his entire head. The driver knew him so let him travel but had obvious concerns for the man’s welfare. As did a Falcon bus driver I travelled with later that afternoon on route 515 who arrived at Brooklands Tesco’s with a resident of Whiteley Village clearly very confused as to where she was as she thought she’d boarded a 555, not a 515. Luckily the driver recognised her and after the layover was going to take her back to Hersham to board a 555 to take her home. The last I saw of her was wandering into the giant M&S though, not having a clue where she was, so I hope she got home OK.
Interestingly Surrey County Council are making changes to route 555 from the beginning of next month which will sever the link between Heathrow Airport and Whiteley Village – not that I think any residents will miss it,
From 4th August, the route will be cut back from Heathrow Central Bus Station to Hatton Cross as its new northern terminus and at the southern end buses will terminate at Walton-on-Thames, but the good news is the frequency will double to half-hourly, although workers at the Airport who use Central Bus Station may not be so enamoured at the cut having to hop on the Piccadilly line to complete their journey.
Whiteley Village will instead be served by the ‘short’ hourly journeys on route 458 between Staines, Shepperton and Walton-on-Thames being extended on to Hersham and Whiteley Village. These will take the new number 459 which, with the other ‘long’ hourly journeys on the 458 between Staines, Walton-on Thames and Kingston maintains the half hourly frequency between Staines and Walton-on-Thames (now on to Hersham too). Copies of the new timetables are now available on the Surrey County Council and White Bus websites showing a reduction in evening journeys to Whiteley Village (last journey will be around 17:00) and a reduced layover of seven minutes.
Both those changes probably make sense and although Whiteley Village will lose its direct link to the world’s fourth busiest airport, an hourly daytime frequency taking residents to and from Walton-on-Thames is a great offering for what looks like a a great place to live.
Roger French
Blogging timetable: 06:00 TThSSu
BusAndTrainUser 
You were on my home territory Roger. Oddly I only ever traversed the roads of Whiteley Village by bus when the special free shoppers service briefly ran between Hersham and Weybridge so that Hersham residents could sample “Waitrose shopping” prior to the company opening a store in Hersham. As a child I would have been a passenger in my father’s car. He was an ardent local historian as well as serving both Borough and County as a councillor. Just as the Catford and New Beckenham areas are drenched with sports’ culture Whiteley Village used to be several decades ago. I refereed many adult and child football matches at several sites in Whiteley Village. That was long ago during my motorcycle era so with my home then at 2 Burhill Road (Hersham) my engines were hardly tested for such a short journey.
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How can a last bus at 17:00 be a good thing?
Mike Jones
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The last bus departs Staines at 18:15 (though there is no 17:15), arriving Whitely 47 minutes later.
Paul B
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Tesco’s or Tesco?
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Ah, my part of the world! Not Whitley Village specifically, but the general area you mention. The 555 has been a link to the airport for as long as I can remember and I am sure at one point was contracted out to TFL (or its predecessor) as I am sure we saw red London buses out in the provinces.
The White Bus Volvos have a very good ride quality in comparison to other operators’ vehicles in the locality, however, it is a shame they do not participate in the bus fare cap scheme, so the prices can be a bit of a shock.
It also does not help with the perception or integration with other operators, and whilst there has been some activity to try and have some sort of integration (the Surrey Acorn ticket) it only is within a relatively small area within Surrey. For the casual or occasional bus user that doesn’t know about it, they’ll end up paying more as they will get one-way or returns, and given the amount of traffic you get in Walton and at the bridge they have a lot of work to do to encourage any modal shift away from private cars.
Head up the road to Molesey where the 411 stretches out to, and you have full TFL integration. If you get on a red bus, you’ll know your one-way journey will be a max of £1.75, and if you switch buses within an hour of getting on there’s no extra charge. Stick on the bus network, max £5.25 for the whole day’s travel, which is great value. Venture further afield or mix your modes of transport, and the costs won’t be more than a one-day Travelcard.
You also seem to get a better mix of fare paying and concessionary passengers from my anecdotal evidence. It sometimes can seem out here in the provinces you get a larger amount of concessionary pass users, as I understand it only a percentage is reimbursed to the bus operator and not the entire whatever the cost of the fare is.
-Chris
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Chris,
White Bus issue and accept the Discovery day ticket, which I believe is accepted by most (if not all) operators in Surrey as well as elsewhere in the south east and “central southern counties”.
The current 555 faretable doesn’t mention validity, though, so no idea if you could get away with travelling to Heathrow on it!
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There are of course easy and frequent bus connections between Heathrow Central and Hatton Cross including the much upgraded SL7, but the cut-back of the 555 seems yet another example of reducing the convenience of cross-border services. Having said that, I realise they are probably running out of room at the Central bus station with so many new services coming in from the Slough, Windsor and now Uxbridge direction!
I knew nothing of the history of Whiteley Village, and it is therefore interesting to reflect that for over fifty years it sat firmly in London Transport territory, virtually on the border twixt the Central and Country bus department areas, yet remained bus-less. If only Mayor Burnham had been in charge in those heartless days…….
Terence Uden
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Indeed much of the Bedfont area was ignored by London Transport with at one time 4 services around the area being operated by Golden Miller Coaches (and I think its predeccessor ?) One of these eventually turned into the 555 to Heathrow at some time – didnt Thandi run it for a while ?
I would have thought running a service from Whitely Villiage to Cobham (For Sainsbury’s) could be useful (effectively Cobham-Walton On Thames). And indeed last services at 1700 useless if workers at the villiage have public transport needs
JBC Prestatyn
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JBC: it is a retirement village … I suspect if there was any demand, there would be a later bus.
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Depending how old the occupants are and how indpendently they live I’d expect some demand after 1700. Lovely arts and crafts buildings so I can see it’s an attractive place to live
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I seem to remember in the 90s London United operating the 555, but with London travelcards ecc not valid as it was not a LT service [this in the days before TFL], at one time there was a 554/555/556.
There is a night version N555 Walton On Thames-Heathrow operated by Diamond Bus, & rather oddly for a night route operates from 10pm rather than midnight
SM
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The N555 is operated under contract to Heathrow Airport – its early start (for a “night” service is largely down to the equally early finish time of the 555). The N555 will continue to serve Heathrow CBS when the daytime service is curtailed to Hatton X.
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Armchair ran it for a considerable time, although not as far as Whiteley Village, alongside (by memory, thus stand to be corrected), a 556 and 557. I think London Country had a hand in it too, but only on Sundays presumably under SCC contract?
I certainly recall working on passenger surveys with both companies, including coping with several hostile Armchair Drivers, in spite of their boss having asked me personally! One can only reflect why my presence was not welcome…..and it was a quite a relief to get back to the hostile Drivers in my normal haunts of the Medway Towns and all points to Ramsgate and Dover.
Terence Uden
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you’re very southern based. My village of Gawsworth near Macclesfield has an hourly service (38 – ex North Western 24) until 11.00pm to Macclesfield and Crewe.
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Based or Biased? Either way, the article was about a route connecting Heathrow & Whiteley Village. Maybe Roger will visit & report on your part of the world at a future date.
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Based. Meant what I said. Not a typo. Don’t believe it’s biased but lots of reports seem to come from south of Birmingham.
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Speaking of well connected villages, Thornton Hough, Wirral [population 770] has the 487 Ness Gardens-Liverpool every 30 minutes daytime, 60 minutes Evening & Sundays.
SM
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At one time Whiteley Village ran their own shopping buses to Walton and Weybridge using a pair of ex-Military Bedfords. When LT withdrew the 264 bus between Kingston and Hersham the local coach firm, Ben Stanley Coaches, ran a replacement 564 from Walton to Hersham. Later continuing beyond the Green down Burwood Road past their garage ( now replaced by houses in Stanley Gardens) to terminate in the turning circle outside Burwood Cemetery and later still projected on to Whitelay Village. For a long time bus stop flags and timetables were only on one side of Burwood Road, passengers and drivers knew what to do and where to wait. Recent in a long line of operatores were Falcon and Diamond.
However the 555 is not the whole story. If you had checked the covered area outside the Post Office you would have found timetables for other shopping buses to places such as Weybridge and Brooklands plus trips to RHS Wisley you blogged about a few days ago. Although theses are not true bus routes they are timetabled and add to the local travel facilities. There is even an internal bus linking homes to the doctor or the swimmimg pool. These utilise a Mercedes minibus.
Alan Simpkins
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Always seems strange to see these (inevitably) re-purposed route numbers. In my mind 458’s and 459’s belong in Uxbridge.
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Bit of history on bus route numbers in Surrey. At deregulation, our elected members were keen to show their constituents what the CC was doing in terms of supporting non-commercial services (the millions spent every year before 1986 were invisible to users!) so I decided to use the ‘500’ series of route numbers to differentiate, thus 455 became 555 and on supplementary evening/Sunday services 436 became 536 for example. That’s why there is still a mishmash of numbers in the County. Probably with the benefit of hindsight, not my best idea, but our members liked it at the time!
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With hindsight maybe not, but you weren’t the only one!
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JBC correctly notes that Golden Miller Coaches (F.G. Wilder) used to run bus services in the area over fifty years ago. That business passed in to the hands of Stephen and Christine Telling in 1986.
Present day services in Surrey are run by Falcon Coaches t/a Falcon buses as has been noted in recent blogs. It transpires that Falcon is owned by C & S Transport Holdings Limited which in turn is controlled by S & C Telling and their sons.
Nigel Turner
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I can remember when Whitely Village did not have a bus service at all. Residents had to walk to Queen’s Road, where they could catch a 219 to Weybridge, Esher or Kingston, but there was no link to Walton. To be fair, there were more buses along Queens Road than there are now (on paper, at least).Steven
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Let’s hope the confused residents will be able to cope with the proposed route changes.
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A side effect of the 458 shorts becoming 459s to Whiteley Village is that they don’t currently run on Sundays, meaning the 458 is hourly throughout. With the new 459 also running Sundays to maintain a Sunday service to Whiteley Village, it means the Staines to Walton section will now be half-hourly all week rather than just Monday to Saturday.
It does mean Walton on Thames station will be served on different sides of the road on alternate journeys though, as the two routes run in opposite directions past it. So someone travelling from the station towards Shepperton and Staines will now need to double check if their bus is a 458 or 459, to know which side of the road to wait!
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Anyone going to CBS can change at T4 for a free train/tube transfer (many do already as it’s often curtailed to Hatton Cross if there’s even a whisker of late running) so no harm lost there. Annoying for those who work in the Bath Rd airport offices, but overall not a bad change, and the higher frequency will go down well with airport staff.
The most annoying thing is White Bus’s refusal to join the fare cap, which makes them considerably more expensive than any other route nearby. I really don’t understand why they’re continuing to hold out. Airport staff have discounts of course, but for everyone else…
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I can remember when Falcon Coaches were a coach company in Shepperton pre Tellings. I dont think they ran local services. I had forgotton Ben Stanley. I think the excursions from Whitely Village may use the villiage minibus (maybe I should try them one day)
I have never really understood why evening services were not more flexible on timetables, going out (or back) in the summer something to the early or late evening seems useful ( if not profitable ) and winter nights for special shopping expeditions and theatre trips (theatres still draw a lot of local bus use around London I note )
JBC Prestatyn
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Looking at a map of South West London into Surrey, I am always amazed we have this sprawly suburban mass where suddenly the public transport massively drops off. Really it’s a cliff edge. Regardless of what county we identify with, surely it would make more sense to align TFL with the far more obvious London built up area. That’s the only logical definition of a city region. Historically London Transport covered this area and TFL still makes major inroads with routes to Epsom, Esher, Sunbury and Staines anyway. Why not work something out between TFL and Surrey so TFL covers the actual built up area properly. The contrast between buses in Sunbury and Walton is crazy from a planning perspective, even if Surrey is slowly increasing frequencies, it still pales to TFL and will do nothing to get people out of their cars. The 235 for example runs every 8 minutes, while many Surrey routes are only hourly, despite similar urban densities! I see similar bizarre contrasts at the Hertfordshire end, as I’m near Waltham Cross. The Home Counties may be pleasant but the buses really let them down!
Aaron
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The 216 is part funded by Surrey. That arrangement was introduced to prevent it being curtailed short at Ashford hospital rather than to support any enhancement. Given that London Buses are loss making the same question of where the money is coming from will apply whether Tfl or Surrey try to improve services.
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I first used this route in what was probably it’s prime. The 555 was half hourly from around 0400 until midnight. Most of the rest of the day also had the 556 and 557 which were hourly and combined meant a 15 minute interval service for most of the day between Sunbury & Heathrow. This was operated by London United and although it had very smart branded buses the occasional London liveried vehicle was borrowed. This is probably why another commenter asks if it was LT operated. Even then there was a difference in fares which meant most passengers on sections shared with LT would let the 555 go past.
Since then it’s gone through a succession of progressively less competent operators and dramatic timetable changes. While the switch from Diamond to White Bus has seen better quality vehicles it’s also been marked by constant cancellations caused by breakdowns and driver shortages. This combined as others have said with their refusal to take part in the fares cap. Ashford to T4 is 3.5 miles and costs £3.50 so £1 a mile!
It’s a miracle there are any passengers left, the fact there are probably points to just how many there could be. It’s galling to see how the neighbouring 442 has grown passengers exponentially under Caroline and to think what could be…
Surfblue
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Nearly nearby in the A3 bend from Hook to Esher the Green/Grey Belt of infill toward Claygate is being mooted for housing development (presumably with cars – yet more trying to squeeze to Kingston in an area TFL is trying to serve with just the one route these days Kingston-Claygate -Esher this new development throws up the need for the referred by others of better “London Frequency” connections of the Surrey edges into London and accross itself which indeed of the past were more covered by Red Bus services from K than they were Green ones from WB or similar locations
JBC Prestatyn
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