Route History

Route 191 commenced operation between Chingford Hatch and Lower Edmonton (Goodwin Road) on 6th October 1954. The route was operated seven days a week by Enfield Garage, with extra vehicles on Saturdays provided by Tottenham Garage. This schedule continued until the 16th October 1957, when the Sunday allocation for the route was transferred to Tottenham, until 5th October 1958 when Sunday operation was replaced by new Sunday only Route 102a, operated jointly from Enfield and Palmers Green garages.

Five years passed before, on 27th February 1963, the Saturday allocation from Enfield was transferred to Tottenham, converting the route to AEC RTW class vehicles. Further conversion from the RTW class to AEC Routemasters occurred on 1st February 1964, although the Monday to Friday allocation remained AEC Regent III types throughout.

The 191 gained an extension of its Southern end on 23rd January 1966 from Goodwin Road, via Nightingale Road and Ponders End to terminate in Enfield Town. However, at the end of December that year, the route was withdrawn between Lower Edmonton and Enfield Town outside of shopping hours on Saturdays.

Further extension of the route was achieved on 7th September 1968, when Route 35B was withdrawn and the 191 was extended from Chingford Hatch to Chingford Station via Friday Hill.

To simplify the operation of the route, on 16th January 1971 the Tottenham based allocation was withdrawn, with the whole route being operated from Enfield Garage utilising AEC Regent III vehicles. One Person Operation was introduced on 23rd March 1974 using Daimler Fleetlines with the route being cut back to Enfield Bus Garage on Saturdays outside of shopping hours. Saturday operation along the full route to Enfield Town was restored on the 1st March 1975

Following a review of local routes, the main 191 vehicle allocation was moved to Edmonton Garage in Tramway Avenue, although Enfield continued to operate the extra vehicles allocated on Saturdays.

The route entered the 1980s in this form until, in January 1981, the route was cut back from Chingford Hatch to Chingford Station, being replaced along this section by new route 212. Meanwhile, the Saturday route allocation based at Edmonton Garage was withdrawn with the balance being provided by Enfield. This was followed in March 1982 by the conversion of the route to MCW Metrobus operation, before the route was cut back from Chingford to Lower Edmonton and extended from Enfield Town to Carterhatch via withdrawn Route 135. Further extension of this end of the route occurred in November 1985 when the 191 replaced the withdrawn section of Route 231 to Brimsdown.

Sunday operation was introduced using Midibuses in November 1994 and this was followed in 1996 by the operation of the route being transferred via route tendering to First Thamesway, who operated the route from a new depot in Ponders End. During this period of operation, the southern end of the route was revised, with the route terminus becoming Edmonton Green bus station in March 1998. FirstGroup purchased Capital Citybus in September 1998 and renamed it to First Capital, which absorbed the London routes operated by First Thamesway and relocated the route to Northumberland Park.

Low Floor Operation arrived on the route in August 2001 with the allocation of brand new Plaxton President double-deckers. These were replaced in July 2008 by brand new Alexander Dennis Enviro400 vehicles.

FirstGroup’s decision to withdraw from London operations saw its Northumberland Park depot sold to Go Ahead London, with its route contracts novating to the new operator on 31 March 2012. The route has continued unchanged ever since, with a change of operator on June 6 2020, when Arriva London took over the route following a tender change. Route 191 is now operated from Enfield garage with Wrightbus Eclipse Gemini 2 vehicles.

Route Visual Video – Filmed on January 30th 2018

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