London Buses route 117

London Buses route 117 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, United Kingdom. The service is currently contracted to Metroline, and operates from West Middlesex Hospital to Staines. It is also partly supported by Surrey County Council.

History
Route 117 is a very long standing route, started in the 1930s, and was one of a number of routes that operated in the London Transport country bus area, but were worked by Central Area red buses, that used a route number below 300. In the case of the 117, Hounslow garage operated the service. At the time, the route ran half hourly from Hounslow to Egham serving Feltham, Ashford and Staines, with an hourly service extending to Virginia Water.

However, on Saturdays, in common with route 116], there was a greatly enhanced service, with buses running every 6 minutes as far as Feltham, every 12 minutes on to Egham in the afternoon. The service between Egham and Virginia Water was withdrawn in 1933, with the Sunday service being diverted to [[Windsor Castle.

At its peak in the early 1950s, services ran 18 times an hour between Hounslow and Staines, with 6 going on to Egham. This was because Staines was a big attraction for leisure journeys at the time, and so also was Hounslow's shopping centre. The extra Saturday buses were sourced by reducing Hounslow garage's allocation to shared routes 33 and 98.

The route was quite stable until 1961, when trolleybus route 657, Hounslow Heath to Shepherd's Bush, was withdrawn. Route 117 was doubled in length to run to Shepherd's Bush on Mondays to Saturdays. The replacement on Sundays was route 81B.

However, the route has subsequently been shortened again. The Egham to Staines section was withdrawn on Sundays, and then in 1975 completely; Brentford to Shepherd’s Bush was transferred to route 237 in January 1978.On that date, route 117 was converted to one person operation. The Hounslow to Isleworth section no longer ran evenings or weekends.

De-regulation and London competitive tendering saw a number of operators. First was Westlink from 1987, then in 1991 Tellings-Golden Miller, using fleet of ex-Midland Fox long Leyland Nationals. Tellings pulled out of bus operations quickly, and the 117 (and 116) passed to London & Country on 23 February 1992.

In 1996, using new Dennis Darts, Armchair took over operation of the route, which was at the same time curtailed to Isleworth Fire Station. Armchair retained the route on re-tendering from September 2001, with new low floor Dennis Dart SLF/Plaxton Pointer 2s. Again changing at the time of the contract renewal, the service was extended in Isleworth to the West Middlesex Hospital.

Armchair again retained the route in September 2006, specifying the same vehicles but refurbished. Soon after Armchair was taken over by Metroline, and despite an earlier decision to keep the brands separate, the buses were repainted into standard Metroline livery, which they wear currently.

Route departing West Middlesex Hospital

 * West Middlesex Hospital
 * Isleworth Fire Station
 * Hounslow Bus Station, London Road
 * Hounslow Heath Hussar
 * Feltham Station, High Street
 * Lower Feltham Three Horseshoes
 * Ashford Royal Hart
 * Ashford Dog & Partridge
 * Staines Bus Station

Route departing Staines

 * Staines Bus Station, stand nine
 * Ashford Dog & Partridge
 * Ashford Royal Hart
 * Lower Feltham Three Horseshoes
 * Feltham Station, High Street
 * Hounslow Heath Hussar
 * Hounslow Bus Station, London Road
 * Isleworth Fire Station
 * West Middlesex Hospital