LEATHERHEAD SANS ARRIVA... WELL, ALMOST

摘要

Three ago, on 22 February 2002, most bus travellers in Leatherhead lost their Arriva services when the company gave up its 418 (Kingston-Guildford) trunk route along with the parallel 479, a survivor from London Country days. Arriva's withdrawal from this part of Surrey ended operations by a direct descendant of East Surrey Traction, the company that provided the area with buses In the pioneering days following World War 1. East Surrey opened a garage in the town on 1 June 1925, replacing a yard on a site now partially occupied by the Swan Centre shopping mall. East Surrey became a principal part of London Transport's country bus department in 1933, with Leatherhead garage being allocated code letters LH, and LT subsequently extended the premises to operate additional routes, jointly in some cases with adjacent garages in Dorking and Guildford. It was from Leatherhead that London Country's first new buses, SM-class AEC Swifts, entered service in June 1970 on the 418, then running between Kingston and Bookham.