Bus 261

  Route 261
9 February 2002

Route 261 was Metrobus's second major London Transport bus route contract, following the 61 which has since been lost. The route had been shortened the previous year and awarded to London Buses, and the decision by LT to re-tender the route so quickly therefore came as a slight surprise.

The 261 had been formed a few years earlier by amalgamating the middle section of route 94 (Brockley Rise – Lewisham – Grove Park – Bromley – Petts Wood – Orpington) with the southern section of route 47 (Shoreditch – Lewisham – Catford – Bromley – Farnborough), continuing to Orpington over the 51. The 47 was cut back to Bromley Common and the Petts Wood section of the 94 went over to new route 208.

To begin with, the 261 was crew-operated by Routemasters, but inevitable conversion to one person operation in April 1983 resulted in conversion to single deck Leyland National operation, as these were the only buses available at the time! The Nationals were replaced by new Leyland Titans in the autumn of 1984, easing crowding, although the 261 has always been one of those routes that could just about cope with single deckers, and more were to follow.

On 16 August 1986 history repeated itself, with the 261 cut back to Bromley Common (bus garage) and new route R1 taking over from there to Orpington (and on to Sidcup). This was part of the new 'Roundabout' local minibus scheme for the Orpington area, and was also the date when Metrobus won the 61.