London Buses route 81

London Buses route 81 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, United Kingdom. The service is currently contracted to Transdev London.

History
Route 81 is a long standing route, reaching the furthest out of London to Slough. The 81 once stretched even further west, terminating at Windsor Castle on Saturday afternoons and Sundays, until 8 May 1963 when it was withdrawn between Windsor and Slough at all times. In 1963 it was extended on Sundays further into London, to Shepherds Bush Green, via Isleworth, although this only lasted until August 1969. 8 months later, on 18 April 1970, the route was converted from Routemaster crew operation, to single decker one person operation (using SM class AEC Swifts).

The 1980s saw the introduction by London Regional Transport of route tenders, the 81 being the first out of 12 routes to be put out to tender. The contract for the route was awarded to London Buslines, and passed to them from London Buses on 13 July 1985.

Tendering saw the route move from Hounslow Garage to Lampton (later Southall) and revert back to double deck, using yellow DMS class buses. Ten years later, on 29 July 1995 the route was lost to Westlink and moved to Hounslow Heath Garage using DA class single deckers.

Westlink was bought out by London United in 1999, and by 2000 the full allocation had moved back to Hounslow Garage, subsequently being converted to low floor operation. Contract renewal in July 2005 saw the route being retained by Transdev.

The route has no dedicated night service, although night bus route N9 covers the section between Heathrow and Hounslow.

Route departing Hounslow

 * Hounslow Bus Station for  Hounslow East Station 
 * Kingsley Road
 * High Street
 * Hanworth Road
 * Grove Road
 * Hounslow Bell for  Hounslow Central Station 
 * Bath Road
 * Hounslow West Station
 * Cranford Jarvis Ramada Hotel
 * Harlington Corner
 * Heathrow Airport North
 * Bath Road Hatch Lane
 * Longford
 * Old Bath Road
 * Park Street
 * Bridge Street
 * Colnbrook Old George
 * Colnbrook High Street
 * Langley London Road
 * Sussex Place
 * Wellington Street
 * Brunel Way
 * Slough Brunel Bus Station for  Slough Railway Station 

Route departing Slough

 * Slough Bus Station for  Slough Station 
 * William Street
 * Except evening and Sundays
 * High Street Queensmere Observatory Shopping Centre
 * Church Street
 * Herschel Street
 * Alpha Street North
 * High Street
 * Uxbridge Road


 * Wellington Street
 * Sussex Place
 * London Road
 * Langley London Road
 * Bath Road
 * Colnbrook High Street
 * Colnbrook Old George
 * Bridge Street
 * Park Street
 * Old Bath Road
 * Longford
 * Bath Road
 * Colnbrook By-Pass Peggy Bedford (double run)
 * Bath Road Hatch Lane
 * Heathrow Airport North
 * Harlington Corner
 * Cranford Jarvis Ramada Hotel
 * Hounslow West Station
 * Steve Biko Way
 * Staines Road
 * Hounslow Bellfor  Hounslow Central Station 
 * Grove Road
 * Hanworth Road
 * High Street
 * London Road
 * Hounslow Bus Station for  Hounslow East Station