The 386 has been through many inversions since its inception in 1991, although its terminals do appear to have settled down in more recent times, with the focus of attention seemingly having switched to service enhancements. While the original route does have some sections common with the present service many of these are served or linked differently compared with today.

The number derives from the established 286, as the 386 broadly followed that route between Eltham and Greenwich (District Hospital), but taking a more scenic route via many previously unserved roads. On arrival at Well Hall Circus the route did an unexpected left back along Westhorne Avenue, giving Westhorne Avenue residents a link to and from Eltham town centre, and then ran along Hornpark Lane and Weigall Road. Due to unavailability of a right turn into Hornpark Lane from Westhorne Avenue, buses in this direction ran along Abergeldie Road. This section never carried many passengers, but, interestingly, may soon be served again if proposed new route 228 gets the go-ahead.

The 386 thus arrived in Kidbrooke, where it proceeded over the now infamous railway bridge and then onto the old Rochester Way, thus alongside 286s going back to Eltham, and only a mile from where the bus would have been a quarter of an hour previously. However, it soon turned off again to run via Woolacombe Road and Dursley Road to Shooters Hill Road. It then provided a link from this area to the Royal Standard at Blackheath, with another short addition to road coverage in the shape of Old Dover Road. Instead of following other routes, including the 286, down Westcombe Hill, the 386 then ran via Westcombe Park Road and then in a loop via Vanbrugh Hill (passing the hospital), Trafalgar Road and Maze Hill.

The service ran half-hourly, with no evening or Sunday service. New Optare Metrorider minibuses from Plumstead garage were used, in common with the 380, later joined by some assorted Mercedes 811Ds.

Closure of the railway bridge at Kidbrooke station to buses in 1992 caused a lengthy diversion and made the route really unviable in its existing form. So from 22 May 1993, the lightly used section between Eltham and Kidbrooke was discontinued, and the route diverted to a slightly more useful objective at Woolwich. Brook Estate was now served the other way, as buses from Greenwich turned into Weyman Road and then served Wricklemarsh Road, a different section of Woolacombe Road and then Dursley Road, Holburne Road and Corelli Road as before. It was then right onto Shooters Hill Road, Academy Road, Woolwich Common, Herbert Road and Nightingale Place, into Woolwich town centre and terminating at Plumstead garage. An evening service was added, and the service was extended to Greenwich town centre, now serving Vanbrugh Hill in both directions, but not Maze Hill.

However, the revised route was a bit tight to run with 3 buses, so to aid reliability, from 2 July 1994 the section of route between Plumstead garage and Woolwich town centre was reduced to garage journeys only, where the bus needed a change of drivers. In 1997, the Optare Metroriders were replaced by a batch of new Mercedes Benz Varios with Plaxton Beaver bodywork.

Opening of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in 2001 caused a round of genuine improvements from 24 February. The service was diverted via the grounds of the hospital (incidentally causing it to serve Ha-Ha Road/Woolwich Common junction twice on each journey), but as this again made the timetable rather tight, the frequency was increased to every 20 minutes, increasing the round rotation time from 90 to 100 minutes, with 5 buses. A half hourly Sunday service was added as well. The increasingly rare practice of projecting garage journeys in service continues, though is likely to cease in the near future, when a further round of increases takes place.

Photo by John Delaney.

In addition, the Mercedes minibuses were replaced by Dennis Dart SLFs. These were from a batch that had been ordered for route 124, and then found to be too large to negotiate some of the turns on the route. SLD 212 (W212 DNO), in Woolwich on 11 July 2001, is the first of this batch of 9.4m long, Plaxton Pointer single door bodied vehicles. They have in practice tended to be mixed to a degree with indigenous vehicles at Plumstead for routes 178 and 291, which are similar other than having Alexander bodywork.

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Chronologically	57	184
Numerically	384	391

See also routes 286, 228, 124, 178, 291