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In 1998, Travel West Midlands (TWM) was successful in winning two London Transport routes, the 211 and C1. A separate subsidiary was set up, called Travel London. An interesting fleet of buses was obtained, with 21 short Optare Excels for the 211 and 10 Optare Solos for the C1. Despite being only 9.6m long, the Excels were dual door, and hence seated only 26.

However, Travel London failed to win any further routes, and additionally ran into planning difficulties with its base at Stewarts Lane rail depot (which is used by former fellow National Express subsidiary Gatwick Express), so eventually National Express sold the small London operation to neighbouring operator Limebourne, who moved the buses into their own base nearby. Intriguingly, Limebourne’s own buses already had blinds for the 211 and C1, although for different reasons! However, Limebourne itself later sold out to Connex Bus. In a twist of fate, Connex in turn sold out to National Express, which reintroduced the Travel London brand! National Express has since sold the company on again, and it is now owned by NedRailways, the Dutch operator. (Ned, of course, is short for Nederlands, and has nothing to do with the term "ned" sometimes applied to transport enthusiasts!)

In 2002, it was at last realised that the tiny Excels were hopelessly inadequate for loadings, and would become even more so once congestion charging began in February 2003. Additionally, the Excels were still owned by National Express, so the result was to replace them with far more suitable Tridents. The 211 is still operated using those Tridents dating from Connex bus days, but they are now painted in Travel London's all red livery, so a new photo was in order. TA127 (LG52 XZT), now numbered 9827, is seen at Waterloo station.

Photo © Adam Murray.

NedRailways are apparently keeping the Travel London identity, which National Express itself had actually been planning to phase out in favour of the National Express name itself. The numeric fleet numbering system was part of the Travel West Midlands scheme, so it remains to be seen if Travel London continue to use it under its new ownership.

The 211 route itself was formed, back in 1993, by linking the western end of the 11, which was cut back to Fulham Broadway, with the short lived (and handily numbered) Red Arrow 511 route between Victoria and Waterloo Station. In between the route uses a new alignment, providing useful links between the parallel King’s and Fulham Roads in Chelsea. Initial operation was by London General using 9m Dennis Darts, until the route was lost to Travel London as mentioned earlier.

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See also routes C1, 11

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