I travelled on London’s least frequent scheduled bus route

Saturday 14th March 2026

And no, it’s not TfL’s circular routes R5 and R10 in Orpington (each running every two and a half hours) nor is it the twice a week route 969 between Whitton and Roehampton Vale.

It’s the once a week, one return journey, route R17 that runs between Carpenders Park and Hatch End. And OK, I accept most of the route is in neighbouring Hertfordshire, but the southern terminus alongside Harrow Arts Centre in Hatch End is very much in Greater London and the route appears on TfL bus stops so I reckon it can be classified as a bus route in London. And it certainly qualifies as a ‘click bait’ blog headline.

As you can see from the timetable below, if you want to travel on the least frequent bus route in London, Wednesday is the day, and 09:45 is the time to be at Carpenders Park station on the Lioness (aka Overground) line.

The route begins on the western entrance/exit to the station at Stop B before taking a clockwise circuit of South Oxhey and arriving back at Carpenders Park station again nine minutes later followed by an anti-clockwise circuit of Fairfield Drive/Gosforth Lane and Hayling Road then continuing northwards on the western side of the railway towards Bushey station crossing under the railway tracks before heading south along Oxhey Lane, down the eastern side of the railway, diverting through the Carpenders Park residential area by the station then back on to Oxhey Lane and finally westwards into Uxbridge Road to terminate at the bus stop outside Harrow Arts Centre.

Here’s the route from Hertfordshire County Council’s Intalink website…

… which lobs off the final 600 yards along Uxbridge Road but that can be seen on Mike Harris’s Greater London Bus Map as well as some of the route in Carpenders Park.

If you’re wondering why Harrow Arts Centre would be a draw for residents of Carpenders Park and South Oxhey on a Wednesday morning it’s the nearby Morrisons supermarket that’s the main attraction for route R17 devotees.

I made my way to Stop U on Uxbridge Road outside Harrow Arts Centre on a recent Wednesday morning wondering how many fellow passengers would be taking advantage of London’s least frequent scheduled bus route and although the bus stop plate acknowledged the presence of the R17, unsurprisingly the timetable panels below didn’t.

I’d been a bit uncertain whether the return journey to Carpenders Park would depart in this westbound direction (as the bus needed to head eastwards towards Oxhey Lane) so was reassured to see a small gaggle of passengers waiting in the bus shelter.

It soon became obvious five of the six waiting knew each other and were happily chatting away in the shelter along with their overloaded shopping trolleys whereas the sixth was more of a loner.

At the 12:45 departure time a Red Eagle Enviro200 approached Stop U…

… and everyone began boarding except who I’d thought was a loner and was obviously waiting for an H12 for South Harrow rather than the R17.

The chatting continued inside the bus and once again I found myself part of a weekly social event on a shopping bus journey of regulars and having to explain my presence.

We set off, making a full turn at the roundabout by Morrison’s and were soon turning off Oxhey Lane into the Carpenders Park residential area. The driver kindly helped one of the passengers off the bus who had a particularly heavy trolley (I can vouch for that, having lifted it on the bus for her) followed by another alighting at the next stop and two more at the top end of the residential area as we were about to rejoin Oxhey Lane.

Another Red Eagle employee had been sitting at the back of the bus and he alighted at Bushey station leaving just me and one other passenger on board as we headed down the western side of the railway towards South Oxhey.

A road closure prevented the normal route along Hayling Road being accessed so the driver did the lower clockwise circuit first much to the consternation of the remaining passenger who wondered whether she’d get home, but once back at Carpenders Park station he headed off along Gosforth Lane against the normal direction so she could access her stop, I left the bus at the station as I wasn’t sure he would return for a third time.

The area is also served by hourly routes 328 and 346 operated by Red Rose Travel between Northwood (Mount Vernon Hospital), Bushey and Watford with the former serving South Oxhey and the latter via Carpenders Park. Interestingly looking back at an old London Transport Country Buses map and timetable from 60 years ago both areas were served in 1966 by a still numbered 346 (and 346A) each running half hourly so although there’s been a frequency reduction there was no shoppers bus to Hatch End in those days, so that’s certainly an improvement. And, in 2026, there’s also another shopping bus, the R16, which Red Eagle runs on Mondays and Fridays linking the area with the Asda and Sainsbury’s stores in North Watford giving residents of the area a great choice for their weekly supermarket shopping. Only Tesco fans miss out.

The R17 offers a nice, but novel, ride and it’s always interesting to see how many people make use of these odd-ball once a week journeys, even in London. My thanks to blog reader Dan for suggesting I take a ride.

Roger French

Blogging timetable: 06:00 TThS