London Buses route 103 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, England. Running between Chase Cross and Rainham, it is operated by Arriva London.
History[]
Route 103 commenced operating on 3 October 1934 between Romford Parkside Hotel and Aveley Prince Albert via Romford – Oldchurch Road – Becontree Heath – Rainham Road – Dagenham East The Bull - Rainham - Wennington - Aveley. The route was initially operated by London Transport from their Hornchurch (RD) garage using AEC Regent STs. Before 1934 route 103 was known as route 308.
On 9 Decmeber 1936, the route was extended daily from Dagenham East to Rainham and the journeys to Aveley were withdrawn.
On 28 May 1937, the route was extended from Parkside Hotel to Gallows Corner and diverted at Rainham to War Memorial.
On 20 March 1940, the route was withdrawn between Pettits Lane and Gallows Corner but was extended from Romford to Pettits Lane on Sundays.
On 29 October 1941, the AEC Regent STs were replaced by AEC Regents.
On 10 October 1945, the AEC Regents were replaced by Guy Arab bodied Park Royals.
On 12 August 1953, the allocation was transferred from Hornchurch (RD) to Romford (NS) garages and the Guy Arab bodied Park Royals were replaced by AEC Regents.
On 19 May 1954, the AEC Regents were replaced by AEC Regent III RTs.
On 27 June 1956, the route was extended from Eastern Avenue to North Romford.
On 9 October 1963, the Monday to Friday peak bifurcation to Hornchurch Garage was introduced. These journeys were withdrawn on 18 July 1970.
On 13 March 1971, the route was converted to single deck one person operation using AEC Swifts.
On 3 August 1975, the route was converted to double deck using Daimler Fleetlines.
On 22 April 1978, the Monday to Saturday daytime service was extended from North Romford to Stapleford Abbotts.
On 5 November 1979, the Daimler Fleetlines were replaced by Leyland Titans.
On 25 July 1981, the route was withdrawn between North Romford and Stapleford Abbotts, this section was replaced by extending route 175.
On 1 September 1990, the route passed to County Bus with Northern Counties bodied Leyland Olympian introduced.
On 6 January 1991, the route passed to Grey Green operating from Dagenham Dock (DD) and Stamford Hill (SH) garages.
On 14 March 1992, the allocations were transferred from Dagenham Dock (DD) and Stamford Hill (SH) garages to Barking (DX) garage.
On 2 September 2000, the route was retained by Arriva London with dual doored Northern Counties bodied Leyland Olympians introduced.
In December 2002, the Northern Counties bodied Leyland Olympians were replaced by Volvo Citybuses.
In May 2003, the Volvo Citybuses were replaced by Alexander RH bodied Leyland Olympians.
On 15 October 2005, the route passed to Stagecoach London operating from their Romford (NS) garage and was converted to low floor operation using Alexander ALX400 bodied Dennis Tridents.
On 22 September 2012, the route was extended from Rainham War Memorial to Rainham Interchange.
On 13 October 2012, the route was retained by Stagecoach London with Alexander Dennis Enviro 400s introduced.
On 11 April 2015, part of the allocation was transferred to Rainham (RM) garage.
On 27 June 2015, the Romford (NS) allocation was transferred to Rainham (RM) garage, except for one Mon-Fri morning working off route 86 allocation at Romford (NS) garage.
On 14 October 2017, the route passed back to Arriva London operating from their Grays (GY) garage using existing Wright Gemini 2 bodied VDL DB300s.
The route will be retained by Arriva London from 12 October 2024 using existing hybrid double deckers.
Current Route[]
Route 103 operates via these primary locations:
- Chase Cross Chase Cross Road
- Romford
- Oldchurch Road (for Queen's Hospital)
- Becontree Heath
- Dagenham East
- South Hornchurch Rainham Road
- South Hornchurch Cherry Tree
- Rainham Bridge Road
- Rainham Broadway
- Rainham Celtic Farm Road