Hold very tight please!: vintage buses are coming to Kingston and Epsom this Sunday
There’s a heritage bus day being staged this Sunday, June 8, on the 418 route between Kingston and Bookham in Surrey. And all journeys are free.
Organised by the London Bus Museum, vintage vehicles from the 1940s to the 1990s will be running along the route.
A normal TfL bus service will also be operating on the day (where you will need to tap-in for your fare as usual).
But for one day only, RT-type buses, which formed the world’s largest standardised bus fleet when in operation around London in the 1950s, will be operating the route, with a few cherished Routemasters and other privately-owned buses (“of types used on route 418 over the years”, according to the organisers) also providing this very special service.
Some of the vintage buses will come in the recognisable pillar-box red, but look out, too, for some in other liveries, including the British racing car green which was once familiar on London Country routes around the capital’s leafier suburbs.
The 418 heritage day will see buses running from Kingston to Surbiton Hill, to Tolworth Broadway, Ruxley Lane, West Ewell, Epsom town centre (a day after Derby Day, when the town will be thronged by tens of thousands of race-goers), then through Ashtead to Leatherhead and on to Bookham. Before turning round and coming all the way back…
The buses will be operating between 9am and 5pm. “No need to book, just put your hand out at any route 418 bus stop and a heritage bus will stop to pick you up!” the London Bus Museum says. “Hold tight!
“You may even get an old-type ticket issued by the conductor! Remember conductors? Remember tickets?”
It being 2025, there is a health and safety warning: “Please note that all these buses pre-date the low-floor, easy access buses that we take for granted today and there are steps at the entrance and inside.
“Most modern buggies cannot be carried as they are too large to fit under the stairs; nor can wheelchairs be accommodated. However our crews will make every effort to help the less able and those with small children enjoy a ride back in time.
“Well-behaved dogs are welcome but are carried at the conductor’s discretion, and must be on a lead and not occupy seats.”
- And if a free ride on an old 418 is not enough for you, the London Bus Museum’s Summer Festival is being staged at Brooklands on Sunday June 22.
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