The 285 has a pretty uneventful history, having run daily from Heathrow via Feltham and Teddington to Kingston since inception, although an extension into Raynes Park and Wimbledon at various times of the week has been dropped. Other than that, BAA Heathrow sponsored a doubling in frequency from 3 to 6 an hour between Hatton Cross and Heathrow Central, matching the service between Hatton and Kingston.

The route changed hands in 1996, not long after the service enhancement. London United, when still a subsidiary of London Buses, had introduced short 8.5m Dennis Darts to the route some years previously, though the increased service to Heathrow meant a few Metrobuses had returned to assist. But the route was lost to London Buslines, who introduced larger 9.8m Dennis Darts to the route, all but one having appropriate route branding.

But now the route has been won back by London United, who took the route over from 30 June 2001. A batch of 10.1m long Dennis Dart SLFs was introduced, basic but still an improvement over the earlier Darts. Unfortunately, the buses were unable to serve two sections of the route, the double run into the forecourt at Sainsbury’s in Hanworth, and Windmill Road not far away in Hampton Hill.

The former was restored two months later following works, but the latter seems unlikely to be resolved soon. Buses are diverting via the full length of Uxbridge Road and Hampton Hill High Street, a routing that would actually be quite useful as a permanent arrangement. Buses serve existing stops in High Street, but there are none in Uxbridge Road, which is otherwise only “served” by the 726 Express. But a couple of new stops near Hanworth Road would be quite useful. The diversion does of course add several minutes to the journey time, though at the other end a double run via the Compass Centre at Heathrow has (deliberately) been removed, saving a similar amount of time.

A further change from 1 December 2001 again ran into difficulties. London United had been running the “Feltham Railair Link” route T123 on behalf of South West Trains, running non-stop from Feltham to Heathrow Terminals 1, 2 and 3 in the central area. A similar service T4 to terminal 4 had already been dropped owing to poor loadings, and the T123 has now gone the same way, even though patronage was picking up to respectable levels in its last months.

However, some consolation was to be provided by altering the 285, which also links Feltham and Heathrow central, by diverting it via Feltham Station entrance and extending it within Heathrow central to Terminal 3. Terminals 1 and 2 are close to the central bus station so the loss of a direct service to those was not considered serious. However, buses have not been able to serve Terminal 3 due to a block on the stand, and this change now appears set to be scrapped, with the resources being used elsewhere on the route instead.

To facilitate the change, the original Dart SLFs were removed to routes K2 and K3 (for which they were originally intended) and replaced by a further batch of similar buses. However, these have large luggage racks to help the airport bound passengers, which inevitably reduces passenger carrying capacity leading to loading problems at peak times.

Photo by John Delaney.

The buses have also restored route branding to the route, although this is rather disappointing after promises of a “special livery” for the route. Anyway it makes them quite easy to recognise, with a large blue patch at the back and clear 285 lettering. Here DPS 563 (SN51 SXX) turns into Hatton Cross bus station on 30 November 2001, again a day early!

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Numerically	280	286

See also routes 726, K2, K3