Route 213 Heritage Day

Ride free on old buses in service on London bus route 213 between Kingston and Sutton ~ 13th June 2026!

Bus route 213 has been running between Kingston and Sutton since 1934 – that’s over 113 years – serving Norbiton Station, Coombe Lane, Traps Lane, New Malden, Worcester Park, North Cheam and Cheam .

On Saturday 13th June 2026 between 1000 and 1700, the London Bus Museum will be running free heritage buses dating from the 1950s to 1970s alongside the normal daily service on route 213.

Open-platform buses with real conductors will run between Kingston and Sutton Garage. Buses serve all route 213 bus stops - no need to book, just turn up at a route 213 bus stop and put out your hand!

Buses being used will mostly be the iconic Routemaster, dating from the late 1950s and 1960s, and their predecessor the RT-type, which in the 1950s formed the largest standardised bus fleet in the world, together with some special buses. Some buses are from the Museum’s collection, others provided by other owners. And it’s all free!

A brief history of London bus route 213

The London General Omnibus Company (LGOC) opened a new route on 7 September 1921 between Kingston and Lower Kingswood. Numbered 113, it ran via Norbiton, New Malden, Worcester Park, North Cheam, Cheam, Sutton, Belmont and Burgh Heath, using B type single-deckers from Putney garage. The route was part of territorial expansion that year which also included new routes 112 from Kingston to Weybridge and 115 to Guildford and a new agreement with the East Surrey Traction Co to support their expansion to the south, which included route S6 (later 406) between Kingston and Redhill via Epsom.
Within four months, on 4 January 1922, the Sutton to Lower Kingswood section was split off as route 80A and the 113 moved into Kingston garage, which opened that day. The B types were replaced by larger S types that October, still running on solid tyres, and the following January the route was extended to Banstead.

Sutton Garage opened on 9 January 1924 and for the first 6 weeks took over the whole operation on the 113, before the route settled down to be shared by the two garages, a logical arrangement which lasted for 50 years, either with Kingston or nearby Norbiton garages. Sutton replaced its Ss with modern T class Regals in 1930, before both garages put three-axle LT ‘Scooters’ on the route in 1931.

Meanwhile in 1930, the Belmont to Banstead section had been transferred to route 164, one of the routes introduced on the opening of Morden Underground station in 1926. This route was renumbered into the single-deck sequence as 213 in October 1934 and in 1935 rerouted from the direct road between Sutton and Belmont to serve Carshalton Beeches.

In April 1978, the 213A replaced the 213, except for the experimental retention of six shopping hour 213 journeys between Kingston and New Malden, which ceased that October. The 213A continued to be operated by Norbiton and Sutton for six years, until it was renumbered 213 on 4 February 1984.

The map of the new 213 from February 1984 looks like an octopus. Running daily from Kingston to Sutton, the route then continued either to Sutton Garage or north to St Helier (Monday to Saturday), south to Belmont (Monday to Friday peak journeys) or, on Sunday, north, south and east to West Croydon via Rose Hill, Carshalton and Roundshaw. Norbiton provided Metrobuses for the majority of the service and Sutton continued with Fleetlines.

The London Regional Transport Act 1984 brought London Transport under Government control. Rather than the deregulation of services occurring elsewhere in the country, London introduced route tendering within a publicly-run framework. The new commercial imperative led to the establishment of operating divisions of London Buses to be run as separate businesses and reduce costs to compete with private operators. One of the early low-cost units was Kingston Bus, based on Norbiton garage, which duly won the first tender to start on 27 June 1987. Norbiton reverted to using Fleetlines, using refurbished training buses, although service was disrupted by industrial action and staff shortages as staff voted with their feet.

A threat by London Buses to hand back the Norbiton contracts (including the 213) and close the garage led to a compromise solution. In the event, a Wimbledon area scheme from 29 October 1988 led to a new tender, again won by Kingston Bus. This involved the withdrawal of the 213 between St Helier and Sutton Garage and a rerouting of the Sunday service to Croydon. However, because the new SuttonBus contracts, which would cover the St Helier section with the 151, did not start for another month, Sutton operated a Monday to Saturday shuttle service numbered 213 between St Helier and Sutton.

In 1988, London Buses created twelve geographical business units, of which London United included Norbiton and London General included Sutton. London General created the SuttonBus trading unit at Sutton garage, which won the next tender for the 213 from 29 September 1990. This new operation introduced Metrobuses to Sutton, largely transferred from Norbiton, which had lost all three of its tendered routes and closed the following year. The new contract also removed the Sunday extension to Croydon and the peak hour journeys to Belmont, creating the Kingston to Sutton Garage route which operates today.

The Scooters operated by Sutton continued to serve the route until conversion to RF in 1952, although Kingston’s minority share varied from time to time to include Ts or Qs, until in 1952 the allocation, by then Ts, was transferred to the new Norbiton garage, seven months before conversion of the route to higher-capacity RFs (still with conductors). Single-deck operation had been required due to low bridges at Norbiton and Worcester Park. The route was diverted in 1962 via Kingston Hill to avoid the former, giving a year for the old route to be forgotten before the lowering of the road at Worcester Park allowed the route to be double-decked with RTs in May 1963.

At the same time, the service was split between the 213 and new route 213A, the latter serving Clarence Avenue rather than Coombe Lane in Norbiton. The section of route between Sutton and Belmont had been transferred to route 151 on Monday to Saturday in January 1962, the Sunday service now being provided by the 213A alone, with the Sutton terminus now Sutton Garage.

Compared with the stability of the preceding 25 years, the 1960s and 1970s saw regular changes to these routes. In February 1964, the Sunday service between Kingston and Belmont was renumbered 213B, whilst Monday to Saturday route 213A was extended to Wimbledon via Sutton Common Road and Morden. The Sunday 213B lasted until November 1964 and was replaced by the 213, while the 213A was reintroduced on Sunday to operate between Kingston and Morden (via Sutton) only.

Kingston RFs had replaced Norbiton’s on Sundays from August 1961 and on conversion to RT, Kingson took over the minority share of both routes, except that on Saturday the 213 was run by Norbiton until early 1964. The 213A was taken over by Sutton in its entirety in 1964. Norbiton returned to the 213 on Sundays in 1966 (with RMs) and replaced Kingston (again) in 1968. It also provided the 213A’s only RMs on Sundays in 1969-70.

In March 1969, the 213A was withdrawn between Wimbledon (Morden on Sundays) and Sutton Garage, and the Sunday service to Belmont switched back from the 213 to the 213A with the 213 withdrawn on Sundays. The Sunday service between Sutton and Belmont was withdrawn completely in April 1970, but at the same time this section was added to the 213 in Monday to Friday peaks from April 1970, in place of the 151. This peak hour service also switched to the 213A from August 1972.

One man operation with DMS Fleetlines came on 5 August 1972, the routes then running as 213 (Monday to Saturday, Kingston to Sutton Garage, by Sutton and Norbiton garages) and 213A (daily, Kingston to Sutton Garage, plus a Monday to Friday peak hour service Kingston to Belmont, by Sutton garage plus Norbiton on Sunday).

London General was acquired by its management in 1994 from London Buses and in 1996 sold to the GoAhead group. London General has won each succeeding tender and continues to operate the route from Sutton garage. The Metrobuses were replaced by NV class Olympians in 1997, which in turn were replaced in 2002 by low-floor EVL class Volvo B7s. Subsequent low-floor double deck classes at Sutton included WVL Wright Volvo B7s, PVL Plaxton Volvo B7s, DOE Optare Tridents, E Enviro400s and WHV Wright Volvo B5s. In 2023, the routes was converted to electric operation using Ee class ADL E400-BYDs and from 2025, Sutton is an all-electric garage.

Ride free on old buses in service on London bus route 213 between Kingston and Sutton ~ 13th June 2026!

A brief history of London bus route 213

Photo Gallery

Maps