public transport

(But if you are using your car you can check out the fuel prices locally here)

But, before you start you should be aware that you are MUCH better off to get an Oyster Card to travel. It will save you time and money. You can "buy" one for £3.00 at almost any tube station (the card also save/works on buses) and if you are a tourist don't forget to hand it back in at the end of your holiday and you get your £3 back again!

The writer however does not claim to be an expert, indeed I am a person who seldom uses public transport, I either drive or jump on the push bike. That is not to say I have anything against it and I do use it for trips up to London, or from Ruislip to say Uxbridge or Harrow.

In writing it I am aware that by using street names the reader must have some knowledge of the area, or the whole thing makes no sense. These have been kept to a minimum but I see little option. Town names have been used as much as possible.

All information was gleaned in late 2002 and offered in good faith but cannot be relied upon. If you see any errors or can offer any advice please tell Ruislip Online.

Hit the link below to take you to the section on this page that interests you. Please note that a lot of the links will take you to third party sites.

Third party sites offering further information, but links featured in the sections mentioned above might just take you to the very link you want!

(You can usually buy tickets from the station where you board your train, or from the driver on any bus, at the time you travel. If you are going up to London for a day out getting a "return" (round trip) ticket on the tube and travelling after 9.30 am will save you money. You really do not have to book, but if you do you MIGHT save some money) Please note, although details are not to hand, buying bus tickets in advance from a local newsagent (etc.) does now save quite a lot of money. But buying an Oyster Card may save you more

The main bus station in Ruislip is quite small and is situated slap bang outside the tube station. Come out the station and walk straight ahead and you are in it. It is in effect a cul-de-sac leading to the tube station, with bus stops down each side. Buses exit the garage from the stops on the left, and either set down, or stand, on the right, as you look from the station.

The bus stop nearest the station is for buses 114, 398 and H13 (towards Northwood)

The 114 will take you, in a nutshell, to Ruislip Manor, South Ruislip (Eastcote side), South Harrow, Harrow, Kenton, Queensbury, Burnt Oak and Mill Hill. Journey time to Mill Hill is about one hour. These are normally double decker buses.

Leaving the station it will take you to Ruislip Manor, then up Chelston Road/Southbourne Gardens (yes, really, have you seen how narrow this road is with parked cars?!), Eastcote Station, Village Way, Rayners Lane Station, down to South Harrow Station, Northolt Park Station, Pett's Hill, through the Racecourse Estate in Northolt (yes more narrow roads, and here just to add to the fun it is "hail and ride" so you just stick your arm out to stop it), Northolt Station, Wood End (Oldfield Circus), Greenford Station and finally to the Westway Cross Retail Park just north of Greenford tube station.

Running every 30 (full timetable) minutes and no service on a Sunday the drivers must have some real fun on this route. But they need not be embarrassed, as nobody uses it. It is a sort of latter day 98B (gem of a little link) (for those not old enough to remember the 98b it ran from Ruislip, when it felt like it, in buses that saw bomb damage in the war, nobody used it and when it ceased being run everyone complained). End to end journey is 47 minutes, well worth the price of a ticket just to watch the fun the drivers must have!

The H13 does not terminate at Ruislip Station, it arrives there from Ruislip Lido, via Bury Street and the High Street, so a direct route. Wait at the stop nearest the tube station to get one to Northwood, further away from the station to get to Ruislip Lido (or Breakspear Crematorium).

Coming from the Lido it then goes to Ruislip Manor, left over Windmill Hill and then right along Eastcote Road/Bridle Road and in to Pinner (Station). It wanders around the back streets of Pinner and somehow finds its way to Northwood Hills Station, then goes up Norwich Road (by Haydon School) and from there up to St Vincents Hospital (or terminates in Norwich Road, ask the driver)

It is the only really easy, if slow, connection from Ruislip to Pinner, and Northwood, otherwise you are looking at a tube with a change at Harrow. 31 minutes end to end.

This replaced the 128. Starting at Ruislip Station it goes up the High Street, up Bury Street and left in to Ladygate Lane. At the end its a right in to Breakspear Road where, if you get off at the end you are OK for the Lido (5 minutes walk) and crematorium. Then the drives finds overdrive and whizzes up Ducks Hill Road and on to Northwood station from where it must do a U-turn to find itself at Mount Vernon Hospital.

From Mount Vernon it goes to Harefield and on to Denham Station (Moorhall Road) and then it goes to Denham Village (where I think it must stop on the A40 by it) and then on to Uxbridge Station.

"E" stands for Ealing, so no prizes for guessing where this bus will take you to! However, first you go on a mystery tour! Outside of peak hours (and during shopping hours only on Saturday and Sunday) you go up the High Street, along Ickenham Road, past the Orchard and White Bear back down Wood Lane (past Waitrose) and then on to West End Road, joining it by the Barn Hotel, or 100 yards from where you first set out. At other times you come out of the station and turn left, left again and on to West End Road and you are at the Barn hotel in 30 seconds. Quite what hours precisely it does what trip is anyone's guess....

Having completed, or not, the mystery tour it goes down to Ruislip Gardens and on to South Ruislip passing RAF Northolt, the world famous Tally Ho pub and The Polish War Memorial. From there it goes towards Yeading (but never quite gets there) ahead at the White Hart roundabout and down Ruislip Road. Passing Taylor Woodrow (well what is left of it!) it stays on the Ruislip Road, crosses Greenford Road and then on to Ruislip Road East, passing Gurnells Pool. Right at the end to West Ealing Station, and finally to Ealing Broadway Station.

This bus is a bit like the Enterprise, it boldly goes where no other bus has gone before, to places otherwise inaccessible by public transport through space, or the vacuum, that is this part of London. Running every 12 minutes during the day, taking 49 minutes end to end and with a (potential) mystery tour at the start what more can one ask?

"U" stands for Uxbridge, so this bus goes from Ruislip to, you guessed it West Drayton, (via Uxbridge).

Leaving Ruislip you are taken to West Ruislip station and Ickenham. Then right up Swakeleys Road, over the A40 and on to Uxbridge Station. From there to Cowley, Hillingdon Hospital, and West Drayton Station

Remember only part of the route operates on Sunday's. It will take you 56 minutes to go from Ruislip to Hayes and Harlington Station, 16 only to get to Uxbridge Station, 28 to Hillingdon Hospital.

Running Monday to Saturday only with a frequency of once ever hour if they happen to cut one out you end up needing a haircut before the next one arrives. Even worse it only runs during "shopping hours", whatever that means.

It will take you around in a circle from Ruislip Station around the housing estate of The Oaks/Manor Road, Hill Lane, Sharps Lane and Southcote Rise via, first, Ruislip High Street. Then it is back to more or less where you started via, once again, the High Street only this time heading the other way!

Then you go off by way of Kingsend, passing the White Bear and on to West Ruislip station, then Ickenham station and around the estate beyond it before returning past the station at Ickenham again and turning left on to Long Lane. Turning right well back from Hillingdon Station it is up Court Road and Swakeleys Drive, then left and over the A40 down to Uxbridge Station.

With a journey time of 24 minutes from end to end it does not take a genius to work out that there must be just one bus going back and forth, so if you see one get on it even if it is going the wrong way and pay for the pleasure of the ride and getting in the dry, for it will be no quicker to wait for the one coming in the direction you seek, you are on it! You really need a time table and local knowledge to rely on this one!

Ruislip has five tube stations, only Ealing equals it in quantity when it comes to such stations, people from Ruislip think this makes them special, and often forget about Ealing!

Ruislip and Ruislip Manor stations are both on the same lines, the Metropolitan and the Piccadilly. Regular trains will take you quickly to the heart of London. Waiting at either station for a train in to London the rule of thumb is this:-

If you want to go on the Metropolitan Line in to London get on any train you have to step up to get in, and leave any that you have to step down on to board to pass.

Some (fast) trains do not stop at Northwick Park, Preston Road and Wembley Park stations, you just whizz through with an air of superiority, however, for the time being it would seem that all trains to and from Uxbridge call at all stations. If you are not bothered about getting off here fine, if you are, get on any (stepping up to get on) train in the second carriage from the back and listen out, ask or look worried at Harrow on the Hill station. The boards saying if it is a fast train or not will be just outside the second carriage from the back at Harrow. If you come in on platform one and the doors open on your right (looking forwards) you are on a fast train and it will not stop, but sometimes, just sometimes, fast trains come in on platform two and change tracks outside of the station. (Finally on this matter, if you were planning to change at Wembley Park for Neasden, Dollis Hill, Willesden Green, Kilburn or West Hampstead and you are on a fast train, you can't!)

If you want to go on to the Jubilee Line to visit the "West End" (or that giant Ferris wheel) change at Finchley Road, not Baker Street. The change is just across a platform whereas at Baker Street there are stairs, although there are a couple of extra stops the Metropolitan Line crawls between Finchley Road and Baker Street whereas the Jubilee goes so fast your ears pop! Get off at Westminster for the Ferris wheel, if you exit the station and can't see it it isn't worth going on due to smog!

Coming back to Ruislip from, say, Baker Street, if there is no Uxbridge train coming get on any fast train to Harrow on the Hill and change there. You might overtake an Uxbridge train.

You step down (slightly) to board a Piccadilly line train. If the first train to come in is one where you step up to board get on it anyway and get off again at Rayners Lane. You might speed your journey as some trains terminate there coming out of London, turn and return to the city. (As an aside here, the District Line used to run up to Rayners Lane many years ago, and it had big trains, hence on the run in to London a lot of the platforms are high, so you have to step up from the trains to exit.)

This line seems to take an age to get in to London compared with the Metropolitan Line

Coming back to Ruislip from London get on any train going to Rayners Lane or beyond. Most evening trains finish at Rayners Lane, you just alight and wait on the same platform for a Metropolitan train to come in and take you to Ruislip.

Simple, just get on any train with the word Uxbridge written on the front of it, or if in doubt, anything. A very small number of trains terminate at Ruislip and Hillingdon, too few to worry about. Not sure? Get on! Somebody will throw you off if you should get on one finishing before Uxbridge.

Just about all trains coming out of London that have made it as far as South Ruislip will take you to Ruislip Gardens and West Ruislip.

Going in to town most trains will take you all the way through London and out into Essex to Hainault or Epping, both miles away (this is the longest line on the Underground from end to end). Some terminate at White City, if one of these comes in get on and change again there, as you might also get one that is going your way, but started at Ealing. White City is a good station to use for Loftus Road football ground.

This line offers an excellent and quick trip to the west end of London and takes you straight in to the main "tourist" bits, such as Oxford Circus, Bond Street and Bank. 35 or so minutes to Oxford Street, trains around every 10 minutes.

Trains run to Marylebone in London or out of London to Beaconsfield, High Wycombe, Princes Risborough, Aylesbury, Banbury and Birmingham. Some trains rattle straight through the Ruislip stations and may not stop at the one you want to get off at! Check first with somebody.

This little gem was sent to Ruislip Online, and is repeated here as it is such a lovely little tale. The name of the writer has not been shown, for no real reason........

I used to be one of the drivers on the 98b service that used to run from Ruislip to Rayners Lane via Pinner. I agree that the vehicles had seen better days (mainly old Bristols) but the route was well used mainly as a shoppers bus during the middle part of the day but could be very busy in peak periods for business and school travellers.

The service was originally operated by Elms Coaches of Kenton following London Transport's

strike (sometime around 1966) and then by Atlas Coaches of Edgware and finally by Elmtree Transport of Wealdstone.

I drove part-time for each of these operators over several years and have fond memories of the route. Particularly one snowy Saturday afternoon when my bus couldn't manage to make it up Bridge Street in Pinner. I popped into the Police Station and about half a dozen very willing coppers ran out and pushed the bus over the brow of the hill near the old Langham cinema. I suppose one would be lucky to find the Police Station open these days never mind coppers inside it! Bernard Cheek used to run Elmtree having separated from his father's business when the old man retired to Dartmouth.

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