Home»TFL London Bus Routes»TFL Routes: 101 - 200»Route 166: Epsom Hospital/Banstead - West Croydon

London Bus Route 166 - Epsom Hospital - Epsom Downs -Banstead - Croydon Lane - Woodmansterne - Chipstead Valley - Coulsdon - Purley - Croydon (9 Miles).
(No Late Evening or Sunday Service Between Epsom Hosptial - Banstead)
Operated By Arriva London
Garage: South Croydon TC

Past Timetables: 1969, April 1982, Sep 1982, Nov 1993, Aug 2003, Nov 2003

To View The Current Timetable Click Here

History:

The 166 began on the 7th April 1948 and was operated at South Croydon Bus Garage (TC). The route ran from Chipstead Valley to Thornton Heath Pond. The PVR was 16ST Monday to Friday and on Saturdays the PVR was 14ST/9STL, there was no Sunday service. By 1949 RT’s replaced the ST/STL’s by number of vehicles used stayed the same. In 1951 the 166 was extended from Thornton Heath Pond to Streatham Common Greyhound, the PVR was increased by 4 RT’s Monday to Saturday. By January 1952 the route 166A joint up with the 166 so the PVR was decreased, to 12 RT’s Monday to Friday and Saturday’s was 16RT.

Late 1952 the 166’s route was withdrawn between Thornton Heath and Streatham Common, the route was now diverted to Thornton Heath High Street by going down Brigstock Road. By 1955 the decreased again to 9RT’s Monday to Friday and Saturday 12RT’s, this wasn’t changed for 15 years until 1970 when TC converted it to single man operation, it was now operated by SMS. The route was withdrawn between Croydon and Thornton Heath, instead the route ran to Beckenham Junction so the PVR was increased to 15 SMS Monday to Friday and 7 SMS Saturday’s. When 1973 came it was converted to double deck with DMS’s operating on the 166 from TC, the PVR stayed the same.

In 1987 the 166 was converted back to small deck operation and the PVR was decreased from 15 to 9 Monday to Friday’s and Saturday’s 7 to 6. The route was now operated by LS. This didn’t last very long as a year later in 1988 it was converted back to double deck and they used a variety of buses on the route. 3 years later in 1990 there was a few changes to the route as it was withdrawn between Beckenham and Shirley Monks Orchard. These were the new routes which looks very confusing, CHIPSTEAD VALLEY - EAST CROYDON STN (MS evgs.) - SHIRLEY INN (MS except evgs) - Wickham Road, SHIRLEY Monks Orchard Rd (MF peaks).

By the end of 1990 a Sunday service began on the 166 going from Chipstead Valley to East Croydon, but it was not very frequent as TC only allocated 2 double deckers on Sunday’s. The Daily PVR was decreased by 2 buses Monday to Friday and Saturday lost 1 bus. In 1991 on Saturday but only between shopping hours there was a service from Chipstead Valley to Shirley Monks Orchard passing through Shirley Inn. The PVR Monday to Friday was now 8DD, Saturdays 6DD and Sundays stayed the same at 2DD.

During March 1992 the operation was transferred from TC to TB so it was now operated by Selkent. The route was now full time. Between Croydon and Shirley Monks Orchard. The PVR was now changed to Titan’s. With 8T Monday to Friday, Saturday 10T and Sunday 3T. In 1997 the PVR was changed again on Saturday to 8DD and 5DD on Sundays. By 1998 the contract was back to TC and this was now operated by Arriva London South, it was withdrawn between West Croydon and Shirley and Epsom Buses Joint up with Arriva and provided a service between Chipstead and Epsom, so 2 garages were running the 166 TC and ED. ED allocated 1 bus Monday to Saturday to from Chipstead to Epsom expect from Sundays when just Arriva operated the 166 from W Croydon to Chipstead Valley. The PVR at TC was Monday to Friday 4LDR, Saturday and Sunday services was allocated 3 LDR’s.

By 2001 Epsom Buses involvement with the 166 was withdrawn and Arriva London South operated the route full time. Monday to Saturday’s expect Sunday and Evenings there was an hourly service between Chipstead and Epsom. Sunday and Evening services ran from W Croydon to Chipstead Valley. The PVR was now 7DPP Monday to Friday, Saturday was 6DPP and Sunday was 3DPP these were new types of small deck buses, called Dennis Plaxton.

By October 2006 route 319 was converted to double deck so this left some spare DW small deck buses around for Arriva, so some of these were transferred to TC for the 166 so the Dennis Plaxton buses were transferred into store. The journey time of the 166 is between 40-65 minutes. The frequency of the 166 Monday to Saturday is every 20 minutes, evenings and Sunday every 30 minutes.