London Buses route H91

London Buses route H91 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, England. Running between Hammersmith bus station and Hounslow West station, it is operated by London United.

History

Route H91 commenced on 25 May 1991, following the withdrawal of route 91 which ran between Wandsworth garage and Hounslow West station. The original route 91 dates back much longer, more than 50 years, once running between Wandsworth Bridge and Cranford, from Turnham Green and Riverside Garages with a Wandsworth Saturday allocation being introduced to replace the Turnham Green Saturday allocation in October 1952. The Riverside allocation was withdrawn in May 1956, with a reallocation to Turnham Green on Saturday.

On 12 October 1952 the route was extended from Hounslow West to Heathrow Airport, Monday to Saturday, although this was restricted to Monday to Saturday mornings only for a period between 17 October 1956 and 1 May 1957. The route was extended at all times to Heathrow on 30 April 1958, but was withdrawn on 5 October. The Sunday service was withdrawn completely on 26 November 1958, and the Saturday service to Heathrow was withdrawn on 11 October 1961.

Garage allocation changed once again during October 1965, with a Monday to Friday operation from Turnham Green and Saturdays from Riverside, a Turnham Green Saturday allocation was reintroduced during November 1968.

On 30 November 1968, the route was withdrawn at all times between Hounslow West and Heathrow. The Riverside allocation was withdrawn on the introduction of single deck AEC Swifts during September 1971, but these were replaced by double deck Daimler Fleetlines in November 1973, and in turn replaced by MCW Metrobuses in December 1979.

The Monday to Friday service was extended across the bridge to Wandsworth Garage on 13 June 1976, followed by a Saturday extension on 7 August 1976. No other changes occurred until 1990 when, on the 6 January the allocation was transferred to Hounslow.

Route 91 was withdrawn on 25 May 1991, although this was essentially a split of the route with the Hammersmith to Hounslow West section becoming route H91, and the Turnham Green to Fulham Broadway section becoming part of route 391, with the Fulham Broadway to Wandsworth section withdrawn.

Route H91 commenced with Plaxton bodied Dennis Darts along with MCW Metrobuses from the former route 91. Following the conversion to Westlink it used Plaxton and Wright Handybus bodied Darts. When London United brought back Westlink in about 1998 the route retained the latter and it gained a wide variety of buses. This included MCW Metrobuses from routes routes 85 and 281, Leyland Olympians from route 140, Leyland Lynxes from route 81 as well as Dennis Darts from different routes. These were all replaced in 2001 by Wright Pathfinder bodied Dennis Lances. However some Plaxton bodied Darts were retained due to the poor reliability of the Lances, and the peak allocation being in excess of the number of vehicles available.

In spring 2004, low floor Plaxton Pointer 2 bodied Dennis Dart SLFs replaced the Lances. On 9 January 2010, route H91 was diverted to serve Chiswick High Road directly rather than diverting at Turnham Green Church.^[1]

Current route

• Hammersmith bus station
• King Street for Ravenscourt Park station
• Turnham Green
• Gunnersbury station
• Brentford
• Osterley station
• Lampton
• Hounslow West station

References

External links

Media related to London Buses route H91 at Wikimedia Commons

• London Bus Routes gallery
• Transport for London
• Timetable