The all new Uxbridge to Amersham direct service

Thursday 4th September 2025

Before today’s blog – thanks to blog reader and avid Metro reader, John, here’s a quick “you’re not going to believe this” from TfL and the appalling handling of route 375’s temporary withdrawal between Romford station and Chase Cross and its secret amended timetable.

On Monday the usual PR hype page TfL has in each edition of the Metro newspaper was devoted to encouraging readers to “get back in touch with nature and enjoy a slice of history with a visit to some of the capital’s oldest and most famous trees”. And guess what? The second recommendation was to visit the California Redwoods (aka Wellingtonia) in Havering Country Park.

And yes, you’ve guessed it, TfL’s own travel advice was to “head to Romford station and take the 375 bus to Havering Green….” You just couldn’t make the incompetency up.

And now to today’s blog….

Among the many welcome improvements to bus routes introduced around the country last weekend, thanks to Bus Service Improvement Funding, were changes to bus routes crossing the Greater London boundary to the west and north of the capital.

One which might catch the eye of those who love a Tube Challenge (visiting every London Underground station as quickly as possible in a day) is Carousel’s new route 101 which (I believe I’m correct in saying…) for the very first time links two famous outer London tube termini, Uxbridge and Amersham, with a direct bus service running every hour. (But see the Comments below for reference to Green Line 710 which I forgot about.)

It’s a fast 50 minute ride from Uxbridge through Denham and Gerrards Cross on the A40 before heading north through the Chalfonts to Amersham.

Buses run on the opposite half hour to route 104 between Uxbridge, Denham, Gerrards Cross and Chalfont St Giles from where that route continues westwards via Seer Green to Beaconsfield and then along the A40 to High Wycombe.

That latter corridor (Beaconsfield to High Wycombe) has also been improved, now enjoying a ten minute frequency with longer standing half hourly route 102 from Heathrow to High Wycombe via Uxbridge (and direct along the A40) and a doubling of frequency from hourly to half hourly for route 103 (Windsor to High Wycombe) with the sixth bus each hour in addition to the foregoing four and the hourly 104, coming from new route 105 between Chartridge, Chesham and Amersham then Beaconsfield to High Wycombe.

I took a ride on both the new 101 and 105 on Tuesday to see how the new arrangements are settling in. Although both are ‘new routes’ neither are taking buses along roads not served before, it’s more a case of providing improved or new links, for example, Uxbridge to Amersham.

As you can see from the comparative ‘before’ and ‘after’ network maps below, route 101 comes in from the bottom right hand corner towards Amersham via Little Chalfont whereas previously this had been the preserve of routes 106 and 107 which began their journey in Slough, rather than Uxbridge.

It’s the latest revamp of what was once marketed as the Chiltern Hundreds network. This has seen a number of changes over the last few years and hopefully this latest development will stay the course so passengers can get used to the new arrangements.

You can also see the other new route I sampled, the 105, has replaced a number of other routes – 1C and 77 in Chartridge (top left in the maps), routes 72/73 in the Chesham/Amersham area as well as through Coleshill.

I caught the 11:15 departure from Uxbridge on route 101 with an arrival time in Amersham scheduled for 12:05.

It was a former Go-Ahead London Enviro400 from that company’s ‘Commercial fleet’ previously used on private hires, rail replacement etc, so conveniently has just one door and arm rests on the seats too.

Unfortunately the destination blind display was a bit out of quilter for the 101 display.

Unlike First Bus operated route 3 between Uxbridge and Slough and a number of TfL routes, the 101 doesn’t start its journey by the side exit/entrance to the Underground station but a bit of a hike away north of the station, from stop W in York Road, which also sees Carousel’s route 102 and 104 and Arriva’s 724 and its recently introduced (in July) companion 725 from Heathrow to various towns in Hertfordshire including Stevenage.

However buses do pick up close to the shops in the High Street after leaving York Road, and two passengers boarded there.

It was good to see TfL’s bus stop plate team had been out adding a 101 to the flag but, as per the usual shortcomings we all know about, no timetable was in the panel for the 101 and I suspect those for the 102 and 104 were not updated. And there was no mention of the 725 either (nor on the flag).

We made good progress along the A40 only picking up more passengers when we reached Gerrards Cross where we crossed over the main Chiltern Railways line overlooking the station…

… and where the famous tunnel collapse occurred in 2005 as the new Tesco was being built above the line.

All was well on Tuesday though as we headed on towards Chalfont St Peter, Chalfont St Giles, Chalfont & Latimer Underground station and Little Chalfont. All together we carried 10 passengers with six travelling through to Amersham who previously would have caught the 106/107.

It’s a route where you take in some of Buckinghamshire’s finest gated and secluded properties and on a double decker have the advantage of peering down over the high hedges, walls and fences to see what splendors lay beyond the boundaries.

We arrived into Amersham a minute or two before the departure time of the next journey back to Uxbridge at 12:05 but in fact that is operated by another vehicle and driver (also ex Go-Ahead London) that was waiting on the other side of the road.

The 101 interworks with route 41 which links Amersham with High Wycombe via Great Missenden and Prestwood….

… with a destination blind display that was clearer to read than when it showed 101.

I’d had a ride on the 41 in recent months, although it would have been a treat to take a double deck ride on the route, so instead I waited for the next departure on route 105.

While waiting I noticed this rather battered looking former Thames Travel branded bus heading towards Hemel Hempstead on the newly enhanced route 1 timetable (now every half an hour) to that town…

… and also a rather late running bus heading towards High Wycombe as a 1B…

… hotly followed by a 1A which should have been 20 minutes apart on the new timetable.

That bus was in the ‘one branding, but obviously the reference to hourly to Hemel Hempstead needs uodating…

… as does another bus I saw on the 1B with branding for the High Wycombe to Beaconsfield corridor which of course is now every 10 minutes rather than the former 15 minutes.

I’m sure these things are in hand, but the problem with displaying conflicting information like this is, it confuses passengers and puts them off travelling. Indeed, Buckinghamshire Council’s timetable display at the bus stop by Amersham station hadn’t been updated so was still showing completely wrong timetable information including for withdrawn routes 106 and 107.

While waiting I saw a passenger consult this erroneous information planning his journey home. I know it takes effort, and is not easy, but these things need sorting out on the change date weekend and not left for days, or even weeks (in TfL’s case) before being updated. It would be like Tesco announcing a new price drop campaign yet all the goods involved on the supermarket shelves are showing the old prices.

It’s also unfortunate that Buckinghamshire’s new bus stop plates which the Council has erected all over its area are just plain flags with no references to route numbers.

That bus stop outside Amersham station now has two new route numbers serving it (101 and 105) yet there’s no reference or information on the flag nor in the timetable case. Instead you’re given information about routes that no longer run.

After that I was pleased to see the bus arrive on route 105 which came with half a dozen passengers on from Chesham and four continued towards High Wycombe. As you can see it was a yet-to-be-liveried Enviro200 and a very smart interior although I understand it’s been with Carousel since April, so I’m not sure why it’s still in its plain white livery.

But it was nice to take a ride through the new section of route via Coleshill (which surprised some of those on board, not expecting a route deviation) and also to be reminded that we could become a bus driver with Carousel, provided we go back in a time capsule to attend the Recruitment Day on Sunday 27th July.

It was a nice run through Beaconsfield and then along the A40 into High Wycombe and I’m sure passengers will be pleased with the uplift in frequency along that busy section of route.

Sadly new timetable booklets for the High Wycombe area weren’t available from the display stand in High Wycombe bus station (although there was one last timetable booklet for the Slough and Windsor area)…

… and new leaflets for the airline, 1/1A/1B and 850 but I was told by a member of staff they hope to have timetables in by the end of the week.

And I noticed the ghost of Arriva still hangs on in the bus station.

The enhancements to services in this part of Buckinghamshire are very welcome to see and I do hope they attract passengers once the publicity, information and marketing is up to speed. It would be good to let the 101-107 group of services settle down for some years without further changes so passengers can get used to the attractive network now on offer.

And finally, depending on departure time, if you do want to travel from Uxbridge to Amersham, route 101 could be quicker than taking the Metropolitan line via Harrow-on-the-Hill. Even TfL’s journey planner confirms that AND has been updated to include details of the new route. Horray.

Roger French

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