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

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...

, 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 ...

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 ...

, 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 c ...

. By the 1940s, the route only operated on a daily basis from Hounslow to Slough, serving Eton 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 The section from Slough to Windsor Castle was withdrawn in 1963.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, 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 ...

s. These were replaced in 1987 by Leyland Lynxes. On 29 July 1995 the route was lost to Westlink and moved to Hounslow Heath garage using Optare Deltas. 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 se ...

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 *

Hounslow West station Hounslow West is a London Underground station in locality of Hounslow West in Hounslow within the London Borough of Hounslow, West London. The station is on the Heathrow branch of the Piccadilly line, between Hatton Cross and Hounslow Central ...

* 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 mee ...

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 co ...

''High Street'' * Langley ''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