Route 80

Route 80
7 July 2007

Not too many hairpin-shaped routes remain in London, as there are usually unlikely to be any through passengers on such a route, and the length can make them unreliable. The fusion of two routes to make a new hairpin route in 1996 was thus quite a surprise, the only benefit I can think of being a reduction in the number of routes terminating at the crowded stand at Morden station. The two routes in question were the 80 (Belmont to Morden) and 393 (Hackbridge, Culvers Avenue, to Morden). At this time, the section between Banstead and Belmont was left to the 420/440 (the 80 having also covered this during the daytime on Mondays to Saturdays), the former afternoons-only bifurcation to Downview and Highdown prisons in Belmont now becoming the daily terminus of the 80.

That new contract from 1996 specified new low floor Darts, which replaced the Metrobuses that had latterly served the area. (Sutton had previously been one of the last outposts of the DMS class Fleetline, in B20 form.) A batch of Plaxton Pointer Dennis Dart SLFs was ordered for the Sutton routes, short (9.4m) versions being specified on the 80 and 152. These early Darts proved very unreliable mechanically, and many were replaced with new ones in 2002. The 80 however retained older Darts, but received a length upgrade to the 10.2m variety displaced from the 151 and 163. LDP42 (P742 RYL) was seen rounding the bend from Marshall's Road into Throwley Way with a healthy passenger load on 1 October 2005. Single door buses are now also a rarity other than the very smallest Darts, the decision to go for dual doors on all other buses having been taken shortly after this was built, and they will no doubt be replaced when the contract is renewed.

Photo © James Fullick.

The number 80 is unusually low for what is now a local suburban route. The 80 once had a similar structure to the 84, which still ventures out into the countryside north of London. In 1936 it started from Morden station, the furthest reach of the London Underground Northern Line southwards, just as the 84 went as far as Golders Green. Buses then ran straight down the main road through Sutton to Belmont, with a 10 minute service on offer (20 on Sundays). One bus an hour then continued to Banstead and Lower Kingswood, while another bus an hour (two at weekends) was numbered 80A and ran to Banstead and Walton-on-the-Hill, taking red Central Buses well out into the Surrey countryside.

During the war, however, the 80 and 80A were diverted at the Rosehill roundabout to run to Mitcham and Tooting, replacing the 88, which was cut back for the most part to Mitcham. Meanwhile, a couple of years later a new route 151 was started, running Hackbridge (Arlington Drive) to Morden, and on to North Cheam. This was soon extended further up Culvers Avenue to Reynolds Close, the now established turning point, on an island in the River Wandle.

Major changes took place in the 1968 re-shaping plans. The 213A was withdrawn between Sutton and Morden, its route via Oldfields Road, Sutton Common and Epsom Road being taken over by the 80/80A, coincidentally restoring those routes to Morden. New route 280 took over the section of 80/80A to Tooting. Additionally the 151, which by now had been extended beyond North Cheam to Sutton, Carshalton Beeches and Belmont, was withdrawn between Morden and Hackbridge, this section going to new flat fare route M1 (Hackbridge to Raynes Park). The M1 was later abandoned, and the 80/80A south of Belmont/Banstead left more appropriately to Country Buses which introduced routes 420 and 422, ultimately giving the routes described in the first paragraph.

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Chronologically E6 W13

Numerically 77 81
See also routes 420, 152, 151, 163, 84, 88, 213, 280

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