London Buses route 281

281
London United Scania OmniCity in June 2014
Overview
Operator	London United
Garage	Fulwell
Peak vehicle requirement	25
Began service	9 May 1962
Night-time	24-hour service
Route
Start	Hounslow
Via	Whitton Twickenham Teddington Kingston Surbiton
End	Tolworth
Service
Level	Daily

London Buses route 281 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, England. It runs between Hounslow and Tolworth and it is operated by London United using 25 buses.^[1]

History

London United Alexander RH bodied Volvo Olympian in Hounslow in September 1998

Transdev London TransBus ALX400 bodied TransBus Trident in Kingston in December 2008

Route 281 was introduced between Twickenham and Tolworth on 9 May 1962. It replaced trolleybus route 601 and operated from Fulwell garage.^[2][3][4] On 15 August 1981 it was converted from AEC Routemaster to MCW Metrobus operation.

In 2000, the 281 was one of the most popular routes in London. Around 5.5 million passengers used the service that year.^[5]

On 3 June 2006, route 281 became the 100th night bus service in London, when a 24-hour service introduced.^[6] It replaced some of route N22, which was shortened to end at Fulwell.^[7]

Since the privatisation of London bus services, route 281 has always been operated by London United out of Fulwell garage.^[8][9][10]

Current route

Route 281 operates via these main locations:^[11]

• Hounslow bus station
• Hounslow station
• Whitton Admiral Nelson, Nelson Road
• Twickenham Stadium
• Twickenham station
• Twickenham King Street
• Twickenham Green Prince Albert, Hampton Road
• Fulwell station (250m west)
• Teddington High Street
• Hampton Wick station
• Kingston Wood Street
• Kingston Cromwell Road bus station for Kingston station (southbound)
• Kingston station (northbound)
• Kingston University
• Surbiton station
• Tolworth

Incidents

In July 2005, soon after the 7 July 2005 London bombings, someone said they had planted a bomb on the 281 bus, but this was not true.^[12]

References

1. Tender News Bus Talk issue 26 February 2014
2. Taylor, Hugh (1994). London TrolleybuBus Routes. Harrow Weald: Capital Transport Publishing. ISBN 9781854141552.
3. Fulwell The London Bus volume 4 2017 pages 68/69
4. Blake, Jim (2019-06-30). London Buses in the 1970s: 1975–1979: From Crisis to Recovery. Pen and Sword. ISBN 978-1-4738-8718-3.
5. "Route 281 Bus Priority Measures" (PDF). 2003-02-13. p. 2.
6. "Mayor announces 100th night bus service in London". Transport for London. 30 May 2006. Archived from the original on 25 April 2012. Retrieved 8 February 2011.
7. "Direct night bus service: Central London to Teddington". Mayor's Question Time. 2008-11-03. Retrieved 2021-07-27.
8. Contract Routes Retained Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine London United
9. TfL contract tender changes Coach & Bus Week issue 1115 27 November 2013 page 5
10. Latest tendered service awards Buses issue 789 December 2020 page 21
11. Route 281 Map Transport for London
12. "Bomb hoaxer called police after 7/7 attacks". This is Local London. 23 July 2005. Retrieved 8 February 2011.

Other websites

• Media related to London Buses route 281 at Wikimedia Commons