London Buses route 81 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, England. Running between

Hounslow Hounslow () is a large suburban district of West London, west-southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hounslow, and is identified in the London Plan as one of the 12 metropolitan centres in Gr ...

and

Slough Slough () is a town and unparished area in the unitary authority of the same name in Berkshire, England, bordering west London. It lies in the Thames Valley, west of central London and north-east of Reading, at the intersection of the M4 ...

, it is operated by

Metroline Metroline is a bus company operating services in Greater London and south Hertfordshire. It is a subsidiary of ComfortDelGro Corporation and operates services under contract to Transport for London. As at March 2021, the fleet consisted of 1,5 ...

History

The route goes back to the 1900s. Its original course was from Hounslow to

Windsor Castle Windsor Castle is a royal residence at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. It is strongly associated with the English and succeeding British royal family, and embodies almost a millennium of architectural history. The original cast ...

. By the 1940s, the route only operated on a daily basis from Hounslow to Slough, serving

Eton Eton most commonly refers to Eton College, a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. Eton may also refer to: Places *Eton, Berkshire, a town in Berkshire, England * Eton, Georgia, a town in the United States * Éton, a commune in the Meuse dep ...

and

Windsor Windsor may refer to: Places Australia * Windsor, New South Wales ** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area * Windsor, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland **Shire of Windsor, a former local government authority around Wi ...

only at weekends. The section from Slough to Windsor Castle was withdrawn in 1963. The 1980s saw the introduction by

London Regional Transport London Regional Transport (LRT) was the organisation responsible for most of the public transport network in London, England, between 1984 and 2000. In common with all London transport authorities from 1933 to 2000, the public name and operatio ...

of route tenders, with route 81 the first route to be put out to tender. The contract for the route was awarded to Len Wright Travel, which later became

London Buslines London Buslines was a bus operator in London that operated services under contract to London Regional Transport, London Buses between July 1985 and March 1996. History London Buslines was formed to bid for bus services being put out to tender ...

, and passed to them from London Buses on 13 July 1985. Tendering saw the route move from Hounslow garage to Lampton (later Isleworth, then Southall) and revert to double deck, using yellow

Daimler Fleetline The Daimler Fleetline (known as the Leyland Fleetline from circa 1975) is a rear-engined double-decker bus chassis which was built between 1960 and 1983. It was the second of three bus models to have a marque name as well as an alphanumeric i ...

s. These were replaced in 1987 by

Leyland Lynx The Leyland Lynx was a stepped-entrance single-decker bus manufactured by Leyland in Workington, England between 1986 and 1992. After the takeover by Volvo, it was succeeded by the Volvo B10B. Background The Leyland Lynx (B60) was designed ...

es. On 29 July 1995 the route was lost to Westlink and moved to Hounslow Heath garage using

Optare Delta The Optare Delta was a single-decker bus body manufactured by Optare on the DAF SB220 chassis. They were built in a factory in Leeds, England. They are known for their distinctive sloping front window. A common feature about the bus that it has ...

s. Westlink became part of

London United Busways London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major s ...

in September 1995. On 27 July 2019,

gained the contract for the route.

Current route

Route 81 operates via these primary locations:Route 81 Map
Transport for London *

'' High Street, School Road'' *

Treaty Centre The Treaty Centre is an enclosed shopping mall in the town centre of Hounslow Hounslow () is a large suburban district of West London, west-southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hounslow, ...

* Hounslow West station * Cranford * Harlington Corner * Heathrow Airport North *

Longford Longford () is the county town of County Longford in Ireland. It has a population of 10,008 according to the 2016 census. It is the biggest town in the county and about one third of the county's population lives there. Longford lies at the meet ...

Colnbrook Colnbrook is a village in the Slough district in Berkshire, England. It lies within the historic boundaries of Buckinghamshire, and straddles two distributaries of the Colne, the Colne Brook and Wraysbury River. These two streams have their conf ...

''High Street'' *

Langley Langley may refer to: People * Langley (surname), a common English surname, including a list of notable people with the name * Dawn Langley Simmons (1922–2000), English author and biographer * Elizabeth Langley (born 1933), Canadian perfor ...

''London Road'' *

bus station ''for Slough station''

References

External links

*
Timetable
{{DEFAULTSORT:081, London buses route Bus routes in London Transport in the London Borough of Hillingdon Transport in the London Borough of Hounslow Transport in Slough 81