User:Cain Mosni/Chessington buses

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Contents 1 Buses 1.1 Route 71 1.2 Route 465 1.3 Route 467 1.4 The 'K' routes 1.5 Routes 671 and 833

[edit] Buses

Chessington is served by many regular bus routes, however, currently no services to the town officially run as designated night buses; as a result, Chessington has almost no overnight bus service.

During the day, however, there are many routes to local towns, under Transport for London regulation. These Include;

[edit] Route 71

Kingston Cromwell Road Bus Station to Chessington World of Adventures, Via Surbiton, Hook, Chessington North and Copt Gilders.

This route began on a direct path between Leatherhead and Richmond upon Thames, travelling up Chessington's Leatherhead Road when entering the borough, with sister bus, route 65, running from Ealing Broadway, serving the Copt Gilders housing estate and terminating in Chessington.

Route 65 was permanently curtailed back to Kingston, upon conversion from Routemaster buses and route 71 itself curtailed from Richmond upon Thames in the north to Kingston Upon Thames, and from Leatherhead in the south to the current terminus at Chessington World of Adventures, providing a service once again to the Copt Gilders Estate. The northern end of the route is now covered by Route 371.

This route is served by Alexander ALX400 buses and operated by Transdev London.

[edit] Route 465

Kingston Cromwell Road Bus Station to Dorking Townfield Court, Via Surbiton, Hook, Leatherhead and Mickleham.

Route 465 began as a descendant of route 71, after the southern section of the route 71 to Leatherhead was removed, to allow it to serve the area known as Chessington South better. In later years the northern section of route 465, past Kingston, was removed in order to focus the route more upon the southern section, covering most of Surrey, however it must be pointed out that Transport for London's Oyster Card, and all other TfL ticketing methods, are valid throughout the journey.

Route 465 is generally served by Salvador Caetano's 'Nimbus' buses, although occasionally, and more frequently recently, Dennis Darts may be seen running the route. The bus route is operated by Travel London, under the Travel London (West) branding.

This route was previously contracted to Tellings-Golden Miller.

[edit] Route 467

Hook Kingston By-Pass/Gladstone Road to Epsom Clock Tower or Epsom General Hospital, Via Ewell.

Route 467 is an hourly service provided by Transdev London which has already been considered for complete removal by Transport for London, albeit only being in service since 16th September 2000.^{[citation needed]}

The route's passenger figures are low however route 467 provides a 'vital service to the elderly, and to school children'. [Surrey Comet] It is the only link between Chessington and Epsom not necessitating changing routes at Tolworth or Surbiton.

The route is well-known for its lack of a consistant bus type; ^{[citation needed]} Both Dennis Darts and Alexander ALX400s regularly run the route. This is due to the lack of availability of a regular type of bus at Tolworth, the depot assigned for 467 operation. It was previously commonplace to see a mixture of Dennis Darts and MCW Metrobuses on route, before the Metrobus was phased out of Transdev's fleet in public service.

[edit] The 'K' routes

K1: New Malden Station to Kingston Via Tolworth, Sunray Estate and Surbiton. Technically this Transdev-Operated Route does not serve Chessington but serves a stop in Thornhill Road which is a very short walk from the Southborough area of the town.

K2: Kingston Hospital to Hook Library Via Chessington Industrial Estate, Tolworth, Berrylands and Surbiton.

K4: Kingston Hospital to Hook, Mansfield Park (Ripon Gardens) Via Villiers Avenue, Surbiton, Hook and Winey Park Estate.

Route K3 and routes K5-10 do not serve Chessington. Route K50 is an annual Park and ride express bus to and from Chessington World of Adventures and Kingston Upon Thames during the Christmas season.

[edit] Routes 671 and 833

Route 671 follows route 71 for the majority of the Chessington section, however terminates early at Chessington South railway station.

Route 833 is a Surrey Connect-Operated bus on behalf of Hinchley Wood School. However recent publications from Hinchley Wood School suggest that route 833 will be replaced with a service provided by Transport for London as opposed to the previously Surrey-based operations after the buses in use for this route became less practical for use as school shuttles.