Offering residents of Putney & Roehampton a free lift between 9am and 4pm

Christmas Day is the one day of the year that no buses run in London, but this year a free bus service will run on route 430 between Roehampton and Putney Bridge. It will be staffed by volunteers using a 1950s vintage RT bus. This service is the brainchild of Richard Shirley who owns the bus: "My friends and I will be providing a free vintage bus service on route 430 between Roehampton and Putney Bridge. We're doing this for fun, goodwill, and to promote our vintage bus hire".

The vintage service will run hourly between about 09:00 and 16:00. It will follow the normal 430 route from Putney Bridge to Roehampton Village, but will then serve Alton Road and Bessborough Road as well as Danebury Avenue. Although there's less demand for travel on Christmas Day, people still need to get about, and Richard is hoping that the service will be useful to people living and working in the area.



Richard told the website: "Our buses are run professionally for hire under an operator’s licence, meeting current safety regulations. Being from the 1950s they are not fully accessible, but there will be a conductor to help passengers. The service isn't operated by or on behalf of Transport for London or London General, and won't receive any external funding.

I'll be making every effort to contact churches, pubs, residents associations and staff at Roehampton Hospital, but any help you could give in raising awareness of this service will be much appreciated. I have already been in touch with the Transport Officer at Wandsworth Council. There isn't a catch to this. We will enjoy ourselves doing something festive!".

Why Putney?
" You might wonder why I chose Putney: I grew up in Fulham, where my father was a Church of England Priest and my mother a primary school teacher, so we were very involved in our local community, and had a sense of public service. I often return to Fulham to watch Fulham FC at Craven Cottage. I now live near Kingston Hill, so Putney is one of my local centres, and I'm there regularly. I wanted to find a route that connected people with a local centre where at least some of the pubs are open on Christmas Day, and there are plenty of churches. The route needed to be long enough to be some use, but short enough to run at a reasonable frequency with one vehicle. I have had an affection and affinity for the Putney and Roehampton area ever since making childhood trips by bus from Fulham to Putney Heath or Richmond Park."

December 8, 2017