London's Free Buses RP1: Richmond Park circular Length of journey: 12 miles, 90 minutes
London has a handful of free bus routes if you know where to look. Possibly the longest and least frequent of these is the RP1, a minibus service organised by the Royal Parks to provide accessible transport through and around Richmond Park. Just because you can't get around easily any more, why should you miss out on enjoying London's finest park? But it's not specifically operated as a mobility bus, anyone can use it, perhaps even go for the full 12 mile sightseeing circuit... and all for free.
When? Originally it only ran on Wednesdays so I'd often find myself in Richmond Park on not-Wednesday and think "ah, missed it again". Then last year it was extended to Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, offering a much wider window to ride, and I got lucky. It's also not a year-round bus, this year only operational from 29th March to 27th November, so you still have a month to get in a leaf-fall ride.
Route? All over the park and then some, ensuring everywhere gets a chance. First stop is always the end of the Roehampton estate in Danebury Avenue, then it's a clockwise circuit ticking off six of the Gates and three of the main sights - Pen Ponds, the Isabella Plantation and Pembroke Lodge. It's hard to get the measure of the route from the timetable so thankfully a map exists showing stops 1 to 12, and if you treat it as a dot to dot you'll see how wilfully meandering the RP1 is.
Timetable? See here. The first bus is around half nine and the last at half four, which might sound like ages but is in fact only time for the bus to make four journeys. Two are in the morning, then the driver goes on a lunchbreak so important it has its own column in the timetable, then two are in the afternoon. If you want to make a full circuit, best rock up before eleven or after one.
Vehicle? It's not a looker, it's a 16 seater Mercedes which the rest of the week is used by Richmond and Kingston Accessible Transport for work in the community. Wheelchairs are patently catered for. A sign on board demands that everyone wears their seatbelt but that wasn't enforced on my journey.
Fare? As previously mentioned it's free. Originally the funding came from a Lottery grant but when that ran out two mystery local benefactors stepped up, and I guess they've stepped up some more now the RP1's gone three days a week.
I thought I'd pick up the RP1 from the bus stop by the Isabella Plantation where I'd been admiring the coppery shades. Proper bus stops have been placed all around the park, even chunky wooden benches to wait on because this particular enterprise is being taken very seriously indeed. The bus was alas late, which can be awkward when you can't check online but in this case I'd seen the minibus trundling by earlier so I knew it was coming. And so it did, first picking up a passenger standing nowhere near the bus stop, then performing an awkward reversing manoeuvre in the disabled car park to pick up me. "How's everyone doing for temperature?" asked the driver, as well as welcoming me aboard, then drove for about ten metres and stopped.
It very soon became apparent that this was going to be a sightseeing tour as well as a point to point journey. The driver pointed out an impressively antlered stag eyeing up the females in the nearby bracken, also the younger stags on the opposite side who'd already been cast out by their parents to avoid "deer incest". You don't get this kind of thing on a Golden Tours double decker rounding Hyde Park Corner. I should point out I wasn't the only audience, there was also a lady with a walking stick and three young tourists from Saudi Arabia who'd curiously come here immediately before heading off to ride the London Eye.
A 'Road Closed' sign on the road to Ham Gate explained why the bus had been late, this due to ongoing repairs by Thames Water, and made me glad I hadn't chosen to wait for the bus in Ham. As we headed north our driver launched into the story about the protected view of St Paul's from King Henry's Mound and also enthused about the multiplicity of facilities available at Pembroke Lodge. He then alighted to make use of those facilities because a driver's got to take his relief where he can, and unexpectedly this break in service lasted almost ten minutes. The lady with the stick struck up a conversation and told me she's a regular on the route, often popping over from Wandsworth, and with the splendid autumnal views across the park it was easy to see why.
I thought I'd alight at the Richmond Gate - I could see the stop by the mini-roundabout - but in the absence of a bell I wasn't quite sure how to alert the driver. I decided to stand up and move towards the front of the bus but the driver didn't notice and drove straight past, launching into his next anecdote about David Attenborough's very favourite very old tree. Never mind, I thought, I'll get off at the next stop, but the next stop turned out to be a mile and a half away at the Sheen Gate. On the plus side it meant I heard a somewhat dubious story about the Queen's birth certificate, but on the downside the Sheen Gate turned out to be a very long walk from any other transport option. The Saudi trio, it turned out, were going to hail an Uber.
What the RP1 bus does here in the name of accessibility is quite frankly ridiculous. First the driver hops out to unlock the gate that bars all other traffic, then drives through, then walks back to lock it again. Then he drives to Mortlake station, specifically the bus stop that's only used by mobility route 969, an interchange that only works once a week on a Friday. Then he performs an awkward reversing manoeuvre in a council car park and returns to the Sheen Gate, performing the entire unlocking ritual in reverse, all before crossing the park for a mere five minutes before breaking for his lunch. I should have asked to get back on board - the driver was lovely enough he wouldn't have blinked - but instead waved him off and thought "well at least I'll know what I'm doing next time". Even if mobility issues strike me down I needn't miss out on the glories of Richmond Park.
