London Buses route 31 is a

Transport for London Transport for London (TfL) is a local government body responsible for most of the transport network in London, United Kingdom. TfL is the successor organization of the London Passenger Transport Board, which was established in 1933, and His ...

contracted bus route in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, England. Running between

White City bus station White City bus station serves the White City area of west London and Westfield London shopping centre. The bus station was opened on 29 November 2008 to serve the new Westfield London shopping centre. The station has been built around the Grad ...

and Camden Town station, it is operated by

First Bus London First Bus London is a bus operator running services across Greater London, England. It is a subsidiary of FirstGroup, operating buses under contract to Transport for London, and was formed with the purchase of RATP Dev Transit London from RATP ...

History

Route 31 commenced operating on 7 September 1911 as a daily route between Chelsea and

South Hampstead South Hampstead is an affluent part of the London Borough of Camden in inner north London. It is commonly defined as the area between West End Lane in the west, the Chiltern Main Line (south), Broadhurst Gardens north and north-west followed ...

via Edith Grove, Earls Court Road,

Kensington High Street Kensington High Street is the main shopping street in Kensington, London, England. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Kensington High Street is the continuation of Kensington Road and part ...

Notting Hill Gate Notting Hill Gate is one of the main thoroughfares in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in Inner London. Historically the street was a location for Tollbooth, toll gates, from which it derives its modern name. Location At Ossingto ...

, Great Western Road, Walterton Road and

Belsize Road Belsize Road is a street in the London Borough of Camden. It runs west to east from Kilburn High Road to close to Finchley Road in the Swiss Cottage area of Hampstead. It is part of the B509 route which continues eastwards as Adelaide Road to Cha ...

, replacing horse bus route 36, which also ran between Chelsea and

Finchley Road Finchley Road is a designated arterial road in north-west London, England. The Finchley Road starts in St John's Wood near central London as part of the A41 road, A41; its southern half is a major dual carriageway with high traffic levels oft ...

. Three months later, on 7 December 1911, it was further extended to Finchley Road station. From 31 October 1912, it was re-routed at Belsize Road to run to

Gospel Oak Gospel Oak is an area of north west London in the London Borough of Camden at the very south of Hampstead Heath. The neighbourhood is positioned between Hampstead to the north-west, Dartmouth Park to the north-east, Kentish Town to the south-ea ...

via

Eton Avenue Eton Avenue is a street in the Belsize Park area of Hampstead in North London. Located in the London Borough of Camden, it runs eastward from Swiss Cottage tube station to a junction with England's Lane, Primrose Hill Road and Belsize Park Ga ...

, Englands Lane and Parkhill Avenue instead of to Finchley Road. However, this extension did not last long and in December 1912 route 31 was curtailed to run daily from Chelsea to

(

Swiss Cottage Swiss Cottage is an area in the London Borough of Camden, England. It is centred on the junction of Avenue Road and Finchley Road and includes Swiss Cottage tube station. Swiss Cottage lies north-northwest of Charing Cross. The area was ...

). On 15 May 1916, route 31 was extended to run daily from Swiss Cottage to

Tulse Hill Tulse Hill is a district in the London Borough of Lambeth in South London that sits on Brockwell Park. It is approximately five miles from Charing Cross and is bordered by Brixton, Dulwich, Herne Hill, Streatham and West Norwood. History The a ...

via

Adelaide Road Adelaide Road is a street in London running east to west between Chalk Farm and Swiss Cottage. Located in the London Borough of Camden it is part of the longer B509 route which continues as Belsize Road through South Hampstead. The Belsize P ...

Camden Town Camden Town () is an area in the London Borough of Camden, around north-northwest of Charing Cross. Historically in Middlesex, it is identified in the London Plan as one of 34 major centres in Greater London. Laid out as a residential distri ...

, Eversholt Street,

Russell Square Russell Square is a large garden square in Bloomsbury, in the London Borough of Camden, built predominantly by the firm of James Burton (property developer), James Burton. It is near the University of London's main buildings and the British Mus ...

Southampton Row The A4200 is a major thoroughfare in central London. It runs between the A4 at Aldwych, to the A400 Hampstead Road/Camden High Street, at Mornington Crescent tube station, via Holborn, Bloomsbury, Euston and Somers Town. Kingsway ...

, Kingsway,

Aldwych Aldwych (pronounced ) is a street and the name of the List of areas of London, area immediately surrounding it, in the City of Westminster, part of Greater London, and is part of the West End of London, West End West End Theatre, Theatreland. T ...

Waterloo Bridge Waterloo Bridge () is a road and foot traffic bridge crossing the River Thames in London, between Blackfriars Bridge and Hungerford Bridge and Golden Jubilee Bridges. Its name commemorates the victory of the British, Dutch and Prussians at the ...

Elephant & Castle Elephant and Castle is an area of South London, England, in the London Borough of Southwark. The name also informally refers to much of Walworth and Newington, due to the proximity of the London Underground station of the same name. The nam ...

Camberwell Green Camberwell Green is a hectare () of common land in Camberwell, south London laid out as a formal park. Its south-west corner is the junction of Camberwell Road/Denmark Hill and Camberwell New Road/Camberwell Church Street. Its other edges shar ...

Denmark Hill Denmark Hill is an area and road in Camberwell, in the London Borough of Southwark, London, England. It is a sub-section of the western flank of the Norwood Ridge, centred on the long, curved Ruskin Park slope of the ridge. The road is part of ...

and

Herne Hill Herne Hill () is a district in South London, approximately four miles from Charing Cross and bordered by Brixton, Camberwell, Dulwich, and Tulse Hill. It sits to the north and east of Brockwell Park and straddles the boundary between the London ...

, replacing route 68, which was withdrawn on the same day. The operation of this long, horseshoe-shaped route between Chelsea and Tulse Hill lasted for one year; after 29 April 1917 route 31 was withdrawn between Camden Town and Tulse Hill, with route 68 being reintroduced to replace it. From 21 November 1987, the Sunday service was converted to one-person operation, and this was extended to daily operation from 15 April 1989, when was converted to minibus operation with

AEC Routemaster The AEC Routemaster is a Front-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout, front-engined double-decker bus that was designed by London Transport Executive, London Transport and built by the Associated Equipment Company (AEC) and Park Royal Vehicles. The ...

s replaced by 28-seat

Alexander Alexander () is a male name of Greek origin. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here ar ...

bodied

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to simply as Mercedes and occasionally as Benz, is a German automotive brand that was founded in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a subsidiary of the Mercedes-Benz Group, established in 2019) is based in Stuttgart, ...

midibuses. In 1988, Gold Arrow routes 28 and 31 were introduced, operated by CentreWest. These vehicles were quickly found to be too small, and were replaced with

Dennis Dart The Dennis Dart is a Rear-engine design, rear-engined single-decker bus, single-decker midibus chassis that was introduced by Dennis Specialist Vehicles, Dennis of Guildford, England, in 1989, replacing the Dennis Domino. Initially built as a ...

s three years later. On 29 May 1999, the route was withdrawn between Notting Hill Gate and Chelsea and replaced by new route 328. Double-deck operation was reintroduced with low-floor

Volvo B7TL The Volvo B7TL is a low-floor double-decker bus chassis which was launched in 1999 and replaced the 2-axle version of the Volvo Olympian (its 3-axle version was replaced by the Volvo Super Olympian). It was built as the British bus operator ...

s in 2004; there was no reduction in frequency. On 2 December 2006, the route was extended to

Shepherd's Bush Green } Shepherd's Bush Green (also known as Shepherd's Bush Common) is an approximately triangular area of open grass surrounded by trees and roads with shops in Shepherd's Bush, an area of west (London sub region), west London which takes its name fr ...

in preparation for the western extension of the congestion charge. A further short extension took place on 29 November 2008, when the route was extended to

to coincide with the opening of

Westfield London Westfield London is a large shopping centre in White City, west London, England, developed by the Westfield Group at a cost of £1.6bn, on a brownfield site formerly the home of the 1908 Franco-British Exhibition. The site is bounded by the ...

. Although route 31 was extended in connection with the Western extension of the congestion charging zone, after the congestion charge was removed, the extension has remained. However, TfL has also committed to a review of bus services, including those in the Western extension zone. On 22 June 2013, route 31 was included in the sale of

First London First London was a bus company operating services in east, west and south-east Greater London, London, England. It was a subsidiary of FirstGroup and operated buses under contract to Transport for London. It was formed in the late 1990s throug ...

's Atlas Road garage to

Tower Transit Tower Transit Operations Limited, which traded as Tower Transit, is a bus company who operated in East and West London. They are a subsidiary of the Kelsian Group and operated services under contract to Transport for London. Currently they op ...

. On 28 April 2018,

Metroline Metroline is a bus operator operating primarily in Greater London and partially in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire. It is a subsidiary of ComfortDelGro and operates bus services for London Buses under contract to Transport for Lon ...

started operating the route using existing

Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 The Wright Eclipse Gemini is a low-floor double-decker bus body that was built by Wrightbus between 2001 and 2021, based on the single-decker Wright Eclipse design. The second-generation Eclipse Gemini 2 was launched in 2009, followed by th ...

bodied

Volvo B9TL The Volvo B9TL is a low-floor double-decker bus built by Volvo Buses, Volvo from 2002 until 2018. It superseded the Volvo Super Olympian and the Volvo B7TL. The 2-axle version has been superseded by the Volvo B5TL in 2014 and the 3-axle version ...

s from Perivale West garage. On 5 March 2022, the allocation was transferred to Willesden Junction garage using existing

MCV EvoSeti The MCV EvoSeti (stylised as eVoSeti) is a Low-floor bus, low-floor double-decker bus body built by MCV Bus & Coach as a replacement for the MCV DD103. It was unveiled in May 2015. Design The EvoSeti body is built on the Volvo B5TL and Volvo B5L ...

bodied

Volvo B5LH The Volvo B5LH (initially known as the Volvo B5L Hybrid, also known as the Volvo BRLH) is a low-floor hybrid electric bus chassis for both single-decker buses and double-decker buses manufactured by Volvo since 2008. It is the basis for Vol ...

s. The route's allocation was transferred to Holloway garage on 4 May 2024.

Current route

Route 31 operates via these primary locations: *

''for Wood Lane station '' * Shepherd's Bush stations *

Royal Crescent The Royal Crescent is a row of 30 terraced houses laid out in a sweeping crescent in the city of Bath, England. Designed by the architect John Wood, the Younger, and built between 1767 and 1774, it is among the greatest examples of Georgian ...

Holland Park station Holland Park is a London Underground station, on Holland Park Avenue. It is on the Central line between Shepherd's Bush and Notting Hill Gate stations, and is located in Travelcard Zone 2. History The original building was typical of those de ...

Notting Hill Gate station Notting Hill Gate is a London Underground station near Notting Hill, London. It is located on the street called Notting Hill Gate. The station is served by three lines: Central, Circle and District. On the Central line, the station is between H ...

Westbourne Park station Westbourne may refer to: Places * Westbourne, Dorset, part of Bournemouth, England *Westbourne, London, an area west of Paddington in west London, England * Westbourne, Manitoba, Canada * Westbourne (Richmond, Virginia), a historic home located ...

Maida Hill Maida Vale ( ) is an affluent residential district in North West London, England, north of Paddington, southwest of St John's Wood and south of Kilburn, on Edgware Road. It is part of the City of Westminster and is northwest of Charing Cro ...

''The Chippenham'' * Kilburn Park station * Kilburn High Road station * South Hampstead station * Swiss Cottage station * Chalk Farm station * Camden Town station

Popular culture

The route was the subject of the 1985

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

documentary film ''To the World's End: Scenes and Characters on a London Bus Route'', which followed the route from Camden Town to

The World's End, Chelsea The World's End is a Grade II listed public house and restaurant at 459 King's Road, Chelsea, London. It gives its name to the surrounding area at the western end of the King's Road. History It was built in 1897, but the architect is not know ...

, meeting various people who live or work along the route and featuring a score by

Carl Davis Carl Davis (October 28, 1936 – August 3, 2023) was an American-born British conductor and composer. He wrote music for more than 100 television programmes, notably the landmark ITV series '' The World at War'' (1973) and BBC's '' Pride and P ...

. The film can be viewed online as part of the

BBC Four BBC Four is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002

Collection series of archive programmes made available on

BBC iPlayer BBC iPlayer (stylised as iPLAYER or BBC iPLAYER) is a video on demand service from the BBC. The service is available Over-the-top media service, over-the-top on a wide range of devices, including Mobile phone, mobile phones and Tablet computer ...

References

External links

*
Timetable
{{DEFAULTSORT:031, London Buses Route Bus routes in London Transport in the London Borough of Brent Transport in the London Borough of Camden Transport in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Transport in the City of Westminster