London Buses route 85 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, England. Running between Putney Bridge and Kingston, it is operated by London United.
History[]
Route 85 has operated between Putney Bridge station and Kingston since 1950.
On 14 August 1963, the route was converted to AEC Routemaster operation.
On 2 January 1971, the route was converted to one man operation using AEC Merlins.
On 5 February 1972, Daimler Fleetlines took over.
On 29 September 1990, the route passed to London & Country and later became part of Arriva Guildford & West Surrey being operated from their Leatherhead garage using Volvo Citybuses.
On 29 June 1998, the allocation was transferred to Fulwell (FW) garage and the Volvo Citybuses were replaced by Northern Counties Palatine II bodied DAF DB250s.
On 4 September 1999, the route passed to London United but still operating from Fulwell (FW) garage using Northern Counties Palatine II bodied DAF DB250s from Arriva.
On 29 June 2002, the route passed to London General operating from their Putney (AF) garage using Wright Eclipse Gemini bodied Volvo B7TLs.
On 3 April 2004, the route was converted into a 24-hour service.
In September 2008, brand new Alexander Dennis Enviro 400 bodied Volvo B9TLs were introduced.
On 4 July 2009, the route was retained by London General.
On 14 July 2014, the route was temporarily had its northern terminus relocated from Putney Bridge to Putney Church, due to the temporary closure of Putney Bridge.
On 28 September 2014, the route resumed operating to Putney Bridge.
On 2 July 2016, the route passed back to London United but this time operating from their Tolworth (TV) garage instead of Fulwell (FW) garage using brand new Wright Eclipse Gemini 3 bodied Volvo B5LHs.
On 12 June 2021, the allocation was transferred to Fulwell (FW) garage.
On 1 July 2023, the route was retained by London United using existing Wright Eclipse Gemini 3 bodied Volvo B5LHs. The allocation was transferred back to Tolworth (TV) garage at the same time.
On 29 June 2024, the route will get a new timetable to have reduced frequencies.
Current route[]
Route 85 operates via these primary locations:
- Putney Bridge Station Approach
- Putney High Street
- Putney Station
- Putney Heath
- Roehampton
- Kingston Vale
- Kingston University
- Kingston Hospital
- Norbiton
- Fairfield Bus Station
- Kingston Eden Street
- Kingston Kingston Hall Road