Green Line route 724 is a bus service currently operated by

Arriva Southern Counties Arriva Southern CountiesCompanies House extract company no 20314 ...

as part of the Green Line Coaches network. It runs on an orbital route round the north and western outskirts of London between

Harlow Harlow is a large town and local government district located in the west of Essex, England. Founded as a new town, it is situated on the border with Hertfordshire and London, Harlow occupies a large area of land on the south bank of the uppe ...

and

Heathrow Terminal 5 Heathrow Terminal 5 is an airport terminal at Heathrow Airport, the main airport serving London. Opened in 2008, the main building in the complex is the largest free-standing structure in the United Kingdom. Terminal 5 is currently used exclusi ...

, and is partly funded by airport operator

Heathrow Airport Holdings Heathrow Airport Holdings is the United Kingdom-based operator of Heathrow Airport. The company also operated Gatwick Airport, Stansted Airport, Edinburgh Airport and several other UK airports, but was forced by the Competition Commission to se ...

History

Route 724 was started by Green Line Coaches (then part of London Transport) on 10 July 1966, on a route from

High Wycombe High Wycombe, often referred to as Wycombe ( ), is a market town in Buckinghamshire, England. Lying in the valley of the River Wye, Buckinghamshire, River Wye surrounded by the Chiltern Hills, it is west-northwest of Charing Cross in London, ...

Romford Romford is a large town in east London and the administrative centre of the London Borough of Havering. It is located northeast of Charing Cross and is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. Historically, Romfo ...

via

North London North London is the northern part of London, England, north of the River Thames. It extends from Clerkenwell and Finsbury, on the edge of the City of London financial district, to Greater London's boundary with Hertfordshire. The term ''nor ...

using AEC Regal coaches. By June 1972 it had been rerouted to start from Staines and serve

Heathrow Airport Heathrow Airport (), called ''London Airport'' until 1966 and now known as London Heathrow , is a major international airport in London, England. It is the largest of the six international airports in the London airport system (the others be ...

. The sections of route between Staines and Heathrow, and between

and Romford were later dropped. Route 724 was included in the sale of London Country North West to a

management buyout A management buyout (MBO) is a form of acquisition in which a company's existing managers acquire a large part, or all, of the company, whether from a parent company or individual. Management-, and/or leveraged buyout became noted phenomena o ...

when

privatised Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...

in January 1988, in turn passing to Luton & District Transport in 1990,

British Bus British Bus was a bus group in the United Kingdom. It was sold to the Cowie Group in August 1996. History British Bus was founded in November 1992 when the Drawlane Transport Group split its bus interests from its National Express in the lead ...

in 1994 and finally the

Cowie Group Arriva plc is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Sunderland, England.Arriva Southern Counties Arriva Southern CountiesCompanies House extract company no 20314 ...

. In December 1997, a fleet of nine

Plaxton Prestige The Plaxton Prestige is a low-floor single-decker bus body built by Plaxton at the Wigan, England factory of its Northern Counties subsidiary, and at its main Scarborough, North Yorkshire factory, during the latter half of the 1990s. The Presti ...

bodied DAF SB220s were purchased, with extra luggage space built in. These were some of the first

low-floor bus A low-floor bus is a bus or trolleybus that has no steps between the ground and the floor of the bus at one or more entrances, and low floor for part or all of the passenger cabin. A bus with a partial low floor may also be referred to as a low ...

es to operate in the United Kingdom. These were replaced in August 2006 by nine

Mercedes-Benz Citaro The Mercedes-Benz Citaro is a single-decker, rigid or articulated bus manufactured by Mercedes-Benz/ EvoBus. Introduced in 1997, the Citaro is available in a range of configurations, and is in widespread use throughout Europe and parts of Asia ...

s. These were the result of a Quality Bus Partnership between Arriva Shires & Essex, BAA and

Hertfordshire County Council Hertfordshire County Council is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Hertfordshire, in England, the United Kingdom. After the 2021 election, it consists of 78 councillors, and is controlled by the Conservative Party, ...

. These buses seat 39 and also have extra luggage racking. Journey times were also improved. In March 2008, the route was diverted to serve the new

. From 19 May, the service was withdrawn from

Heathrow Terminal 4 Heathrow Terminal 4 is an airport terminal An airport terminal is a building at an airport where passengers transfer between ground transportation and the facilities that allow them to board and disembark from an aircraft. Within the ter ...

, with another new timetable introduced. Short workings on other parts of the route became routes 725 and 726. In February 2021, the Citaros were replaced by a fleet of 8 Alexander-Dennis Enviro 200MMCs, which were transferred from

Arriva Kent Thameside Arriva Kent Thameside is a bus operator based in North-West Kent, England. It is a subsidiary of Arriva. The company operates services in Northfleet, Gravesend & Dartford as part of the Arriva Southern Counties division from their Northfleet ...

. In July 2022, part of the batch of ADL Enviro200 MMCs were replaced by Wright Pulsar 2 bodied

VDL SB200 The VDL SB200 (originally the DAF SB200) was a light-weight 12m low floor single decker bus chassis produced from 2001 by VDL Bus & Coach (formerly DAF Bus International). It superseded the SB220. It is originally designed for use by Arriva (VD ...

s transferred from Derby in return for the Enviro200s. From 24 July 2022, additional early morning, late evening and weekend journeys were introduced in conjunction with the Heathrow Airport Partnership.

Current route

References

External links

Arriva 724 Harlow to London Heathrow AirportGreen Line Coaches website
{{DEFAULTSORT:724, Green Line Coaches Route Bus routes in England Green Line Coaches routes Transport in Essex Transport in Harlow Transport in Hertfordshire Transport in the London Borough of Hillingdon Transport in St Albans Transport in Watford

724 __NOTOC__ Year 724 ( DCCXXIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 724 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar er ...