Trivia: Services that are almost unchanged since deregulation

[Simon75]

Are there many examples of services that are unchanged (eg number, route, frequency and days operating) since deregulation in 1986

 

[neilcobbe]

Are there many examples of services that are unchanged (eg number, route, frequency and days operating) since deregulation in 1986

375/385 Wigan - Southport are virtually unchanged. From memory the full route had always been half hourly daytime and hourly Eve's & Sunday.

 

[Cambus731]

I stand to be corrected, but I think the 1 between Rayleigh and Southend via Thundersley is still essentially doing what it did before deregulation. It was extended to Shoeburyness for about twenty years, but has since lost that extension and has reverted back to being a Rayleigh to Southend route.

 

[GusB]

I think a couple of Stagecoach Newcastle services have remained unchanged.

Let's have some specific examples, please

 

[Cambus731]

The 31A from Chelmsford to Little Baddow via Sandon is pretty much the same. EDIT turns out I was wrong. The route no longer exists

 

[Russel]

110 Tamworth - Birmingham hasn't changed much apart from the route from the A38M into the city centre which changes frequently depending on which area is being dug up for the Metro extensions.

 

[Cambus731]

I belive the 16 between Dundee and Perth is pretty much unchanged from before deregulation? I believe it was briefly amalgamated with the 39 to Arbroath but that didn't last long, before it was reinstated.

 

[Flange Squeal]

Safeguard Coaches’s 4/5 circular services in Guildford I don’t think have really changed much (although in the eighties they were G4/G5 I think). There was a period where operation was shared with Arriva since deregulation, but that ceased in 2010.

Today’s hourly Stagecoach South 19 (Aldershot - Farnham - Frensham - Churt - Haslemere) would be very familiar to pre-deregulation bus users. I think it was numbered 219 during the Alder Valley years, when the merged Aldershot & District and Thames Valley operators needed to differentiate their route numbers in the new combined operating area, but it now bears the 19 number once more. It may have extended beyond Haslemere to Midhurst at one point though?

The current Stagecoach South 20 (Guildford - Ash - Aldershot) and 34 (Guildford - Woking - Camberley) are historic corridors and numbers that would be very recognisable to someone who has been under a rock for decades, as also would Thames Valley’s 194 (Camberley - Sandhurst - Bracknell). They have over the years had various amendments though (for example I believe the 20 used to be twice as long also encompassing today’s 1 to Camberley via Farnborough, and a month or so ago the 34 had its southern section south of Woking largely swapped with the 35), so not sure how these would fair on your list.

 

[Statto]

This is a tricky one, because of road changes (particularly in Town & City Centres since 1986), & some terminuses have moved too, with new bus stations built since 1986

Stagecoach 555 Lancaster - Keswick, the core route is still hourly & unchanged, Stagecoach have summer extras (which really should be numbered X55 but that's for another thread) which operate via the M6 between Lancaster & Kendal

 

[A0]

If we're being precise i.e. route completely unchanged, then it's going to be difficult particularly given the number of bus stations which have been moved / relocated as part of a town centre redevelopment.

If we're happy to accept a little licence then in Herts, whilst I can't be 100% certain, I'm pretty sure the following are all following the same route and I've noted where I think the frequencies have changed:

44 - Luton to Stevenage (though the frequency is better and it only used to run the full route some days where it now runs 6 days)
88 - Hitchin to Luton (via the villages)
331 - Hertford to Bungtingford
308/380 - Hertford to Cuffley

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Hold my beer.... Service 29 operates from Darlington to Richmond. After the large cuts in 1981, it looked like this in 1982 (this and other extracts from Timetable World) though I think the two evening runs each way went in 1982 (as per the note at the footer)...



At dereg, it changed to this... where oddly NYCC decided to subsidise a Sunday service for about a year


After it was briefly extended from Richmond to Catterick Garrison/Scotton c.1990, it had returned to its earlier pattern by 1994 and looked like this...with Eden operating a few tendered journeys but United operating the off peak commercially


In the intervening years, the service moved to Arriva, then to Dales and District, then back to Arriva, then back to Dales and District, and latterly with Hodgsons but aside from the loss of the workers journeys into/out of Richmond, the service is remarkably similar as shown at http://getdown.org.uk/bus/bus/29-d.shtml


So it's the same service number with the same two hour frequency - the only changes are a couple of deviations to serve Eppleby, and the different route in Darlington as it goes via Blackwell rather than Grange Road

 

[Sussexwatch]

A few in the West Midlands although there are probably more:

8A/8C - Birmingham Inner Circle
9 - Birmingham to Stourbridge
11A/11C - Birmingham Outer Circle (although buses no longer run through)
50 - Birmingham to Druids Heath
51 - Birmingham to Walsall
67 - Birmingham to Castle Vale

City Centre terminals routes and terminals have changed but that's all.

 

[Whisky Papa]

First 592 between Halifax and Burnley via Todmorden has ploughed its hourly furrow pretty much unchanged since deregulation, apart from occasional terminus changes to allow for various Halifax bus station developments. The only serious departure from this pattern I can recall was for the first few years after deregulation when the evening and Sunday service only ran as far as Portsmouth (the West Yorkshire boundary three miles north of Todmorden) with Burnley being served by a slightly bizzare Walsden-Burnley short-working of the 589.

Over in my birthplace, Stagecoach 255 still runs from Manchester Piccadilly to Partington via Urmston, basically every 30 mins during the daytime as it did back before deregulation. It didn't run beyond Flixton in the evening or Sunday before deregulation - Partington was then also covered by the 252 via Sale - but I notice it now has a 30 minute service on Sunday daytimes, which is a noticeable improvement, and hourly evening service. It also used to alternate between two terminal points in Partington, but the Central Road one is no longer served by this route, all journeys going to Oak Road. At the other end, the route into Manchester is the same except it uses Portland Street instead of Mosley Street inbound.

 

[318266]

Other than the number, route 316 Coulport - Kilcreggan - Roseneath - Garelochhead - Faslane - Rhu - Helensburgh (formerly D16 I believe) has been shared between Garelochhead Coaches and Wilson's of Rhu since before dereg, and has kept its route (minus a swap of roads in Helensburgh when Colquhoun Square was pedestrianised) identical. Frequency is the same minus a couple morning/evening journeys and a minor service length redraft in 2017 ish

 

[MasterSpenny]

London route 24 is a good example: apart from the operator, it has operated between Hampstead Heath and Pimlico since deregulation, and even years before that! The only real change is that its 24 hour operation nowadays from the observations I see.
Please correct me if Transport for London decreased/increased the frequency at one point.

 

[Metal Mickey]

I hope this is acceptable although the core of each route is the same as 1986.

First Glasgow

5 Castlemilk to City Centre with the exception of City Centre terminal point changes

61 Summerston to Tollcross and extended to Sandyhills in the early 90s

38 between Alexandra Park and Giffnock however the variants either side have varied at different times

201 East Kilbride to Airdrie - This ex Central SMT service extended to Petersburn in the late 90s

McGill’s Western

23 Erskine to Glasgow - Bishopton extension withdrawn 15-20 years ago

McGill’s Midland Bluebird

57 St Ninian’s to Raploch

Lothian

26 Clerwood to Eastfield - Extension to East Lothian may have occurred in the late 80s

44 Balerno to Eastfield - Extension to East Lothian may have occurred in the late 80s

 

[DunsBus]

I hope this is acceptable although the core of each route is the same as 1986.

First Glasgow

5 Castlemilk to City Centre with the exception of City Centre terminal point changes

61 Summerston to Tollcross and extended to Sandyhills in the early 90s

38 between Alexandra Park and Giffnock however the variants either side have varied at different times

201 East Kilbride to Airdrie - This ex Central SMT service extended to Petersburn in the late 90s

McGill’s Western

23 Erskine to Glasgow - Bishopton extension withdrawn 15-20 years ago

McGill’s Midland Bluebird

57 St Ninian’s to Raploch

Lothian

26 Clerwood to Eastfield - Extension to East Lothian may have occurred in the late 80s

44 Balerno to Eastfield - Extension to East Lothian may have occurred in the late 80s

44 was Juniper Green to Eastfield pre-deregulation.

Two other prime candidates from Lothian:

19 (Granton to Eastfield). The Boswall Parkway - Queensferry Street section has remained constant since the service was first introduced in 1935, including the 19 circle and 19/39 eras.

23 (Trinity to Greenbank). This service dates back to 1956, a replacement for the tram service of the same number which ran between Granton Road Station and Morningside Station and initially ran between the same points, though with a one-way loop at the north end and a slight extension from Morningside Station to the Balcarres Street turning circle at the south end.
In 1960 the route was diverted from Granton Road Station to Trinity, which has remained the northern terminus ever since. There have been some slight changes at the south end over the years, including the extension to Greenbank in 2003, but other than that the 23 has run the same route for 63 years.

 

[chris_in_salop]

A few in the West Midlands although there are probably more:

8A/8C - Birmingham Inner Circle
9 - Birmingham to Stourbridge
11A/11C - Birmingham Outer Circle (although buses no longer run through)
50 - Birmingham to Druids Heath
51 - Birmingham to Walsall
67 - Birmingham to Castle Vale

City Centre terminals routes and terminals have changed but that's all.

Looking at my January 1984 WMPTE booklet, it looks like the 9 (Birmingham-Stourbridge) has hardly changed in route or frequency since before deregulation.

Route - A slight rejigging in Birmingham city centre: it used to operate along New Street and Victoria Square, which of course it can no longer do. Otherwise its 2023 route in the city centre is more or less the same as 1984. Also like a lot of other routes, it used to do a little one-way circuit of Halesowen churchyard via Church Croft and Richmond Street, which it no longer does. But apart from that the only other changes have been temporary diversions, most obviously the diversions avoiding Broad Street on Friday and Saturday nights.

Frequency - There has only been a slight reduction. 1984 Mon-Sat daytime there were 8 journeys per hour, while in 2023 the timetable is simply "every 10 minutes or less". 1984 Sunday daytimes there were 3 journeys per hour, exactly the same frequency as 2023.

 

[GCH100]

Service 582 Leigh to Bolton has been unchanged other than in frequency for around 90 years, starting with Trams, then Trolleybuses and then Motor Buses. Since deregulation it had up to three operators competing on it at one stage and frequencies of 7 minutes or greater. It's now settled back to Bee Network and every 12 minutes, but still the exact same route bar the change of bus station in Bolton for around 90 years or more. Over the years the following operators have run journeys on it: South Lancashire Tramways, Lancashire United, Greater Manchester Transport, GM Buses, Ribble Motor Services, Lancashire Travel (MTL North), Jim Stones Coaches, Evag Cannon, GM Buses North, South Lancs Travel (Strike days only), First Manchester, Diamond Bus North West and Go North West (Bee Network).

 

[Stan Drews]

I hope this is acceptable although the core of each route is the same as 1986.

First Glasgow

5 Castlemilk to City Centre with the exception of City Centre terminal point changes

The 5 takes a different route between Battlefield and Castlemilk than it did back in the late 80s/90s.
It used to go via Menock Road, and take what is now the 75 route to the top of Birgidale Road.
It was the 5A that went via Croftfoot roundabout, and then it went all the way up Castlemilk Drive to the top, then along to the terminus at the top of Birgidale Road.

 

[Roger1973]

London route 24 is a good example: apart from the operator, it has operated between Hampstead Heath and Pimlico since deregulation, and even years before that! The only real change is that its 24 hour operation nowadays from the observations I see.
Please correct me if Transport for London decreased/increased the frequency at one point.

Yes, it must be one of the few London routes not to have been extended or cut back - there was a small scale 'running day' in November 2012 to mark 100 years of route 24.

The frequency will have gone up and down over the years, though, as will the running time and number of buses allocated. It's changed garages and operators (Chalk Farm Garage had the sole or main allocation for 50+ years), the exact line of route has changed a few times for one-way schemes and so on, and the exact stands may also have moved a bit, but the basic two terminus points haven't changed.

There are many London routes that have clear similarities with the route that was there when route numbers were first allocated (somewhere before 1910?) - although fewer since this year's changes - but can't think of many others that haven't been cut in to smaller chunks.

More route 24 on the 'London Bus Route Histories' website.

To answer the original question, I'll nominate an obscure Berkshire route, Thames Valley 598, one return journey on Tuesday and Thursdays only from Little Sandhurst to Camberley that now operates under contract to Bracknell Forest Council.

If I have the story right (I got it second hand) it started before deregulation, when Alder Valley removed their last Bristol RE buses from the area, as Leyland Nationals could not get under the low bridge at Sandhurst Station, and it was put on by Berkshire County Council as a shopper service for older residents who could not easily walk to the main road to catch what's now Thames Valley Buses' 194 route.

It had a minor diversion added to serve 'The Meadows' shopping centre just north of Camberley when that opened, but other than that hasn't really changed. It was operated for many years by Yateley Taxis / Coaches with a mini-bus / coach, and passed to Courtney Buses (as it then was) some years ago - I'm not sure if the need for a DDA compliant vehicle was the reason it changed hands, it was the only local bus route that Yateley did, and presume the mini-coach did a school contract as its main work.

 

[tbtc]

Sheffield:

Every route will have changed since the city’s road layouts have changed (most significantly to accommodate the forthcoming trams in the nineties but also schemes like pedestrianisation of Leavygrave Lane meaning university routes can’t make the old left turn off the ring road, more of the city centre has been pedestrianised, the A61 road layout changed a lot around the station), frequencies of pretty much every route have been trimmed back at least a bit over the years, but the closest to recognisable would be…

51 - Lodge Moor to Gleadless looks to be unchanged outside of the city centre sections (the route used to be via Castle Square in both directions and ran via Broad Lane rather than West Street). However at Gleadless the route used to take it north west to terminate at Herdings Park, but when the trams were introduced in the mid nineties it was diverted south east to Charnock to replace the 64 instead

52/52a - slight asterisk here because the traditional 52 route at Woodhouse is that now taken by the 52a (back in 1986 there was no 52a, but that route via Retford Road gained the full route number when First/Stagecoach made peace and the “Old” Route via the top end of Beaver Hill Road is now the 52a). However, The westbound service is unchanged as far as Heavygate Road (but now extends down Walkley Road/ Walkley Lane to Hillsborough rather than turning back up Heavygate Avenue). Eastbound there’s a diversion in the city centre to accommodate High Street being made uphill only in the nineties, later diverted further when the council used the Pandemic to “socially distance” the city centre by removing buses from Leopold/ Pinstone. Overall it’s a pretty recognisable route, but not perfectly within the definition of “unchanged”

53 - Sheffield - Mansfield - halved to bihourly with a minor diversion to accommodate the road changes needed to change motorist access to the train station and the removal of the roundabout by the Showroom Cinema - inbound buses now run via Leadmill Street - but I think a time traveler would recognise it okay

272 - Sheffield - Castleton - I guess this route survives completely intact because there’s not really any alternative roads in the Hope Valley - the bulk of daytime services became the 271 for a brief period (to maintain the link from the Hallamshire Hospital to Ecclesall that the 50/30 had once done) but AFAICS the 272 number has kept running exactly the same route since deregulation beyond the road layout around the Showroom Cinema (and the dedicated turning facility at Bamford Station… Was that a change or did it always exist?)

Honourable mentions to…

…the 25 which has been the same cross city route since the late 1980s but was introduced by the independent Yorkshire Terrier a couple of years after deregulation…

…the 76 which has always run from Lowedges Road to Firth Park but the wide variety of north termini (Lane Top, High Green, Meadowhall, currently Shiregreen) are too significant to ignore - however the 76 also loses another point because, whilst the southern route/ physical terminus are unchanged, the description of that terminus has changed from Low Edges to Lowedges (I’d mention the “parallel” 75 which has had similar tinkering north of Firth Park but the change from Bradway to Batemoor gives it a weaker case)

The Sheffield - Rotherham - Conisbrough - Doncaster service has run the same route since deregulation other than those necessary for road closures etc in central Sheffield/ Rotherham/ Doncaster (and the one way at Saville/ Corby Street?) and the minor-est of diversion to serve Meadowhall, but the number was changed from 278 to X78 so it won’t qualify (there was also a 277 direct along the A630 at Conisbrough but that was scrapped)

I’m not great on cross boundary routes, I feel that there’s always been a 50 (Chesterfield - Eckington - Sheffield) and 65 (Buxton - Tideswell - Sheffield) but I can’t say with authority that they are exactly the same services and that they’ve always run without ever being renumbered or diverted (I think that the 50 was extended to Penistone for a while - or was that the 55? Certainly there was a Chesterfield - Eckington - Sheffield - Penistone route). The 65’s extension to Meadowhall probably disqualifies it but that’s beyond the main route rather than replacing any of it

A number of old service numbers still broadly relate to the route to take to certain suburbs (but the actual routes have changed a fair bit):

A “thirty” has always been a number used for the link from Waterthorpe to the City Centre via Woodhouse (Crystal Peaks itself only opened a couple of years after deregulation), but the service was the X30 for periods (now the 30 but with a couple of peak X30s and some evening/ Sunday 30a… I think for a while in the 1980s the route was an X25/X30 circular but I don’t know the route) and changed the route into the city centre between Attercliffe and the Parkway - it was extended to Dore for a few years - it has generally been serving the Hallamshire Hospital but sometimes truncated in the city centre - it’s evolved a lot whilst somehow always being some kind of “thirty”

The 57 has always linked Stocksbridge to the city centre but with a big variety of routes in Stocksbridge/ Deepcar, plus the diversion via Worrall to replace the old 65/68 and the current extension to to Moor plus a short lived Sunday extension to Holmfirth (the frequency has dropped from every twenty minutes to half hourly, back to twenty minutes, down to half an hour, hourly, currently every sixty two minutes (but there are/have been other service numbers on parallel services)

The 61 still links Hillsborough to Low Bradfield but now its a circular (with the 62) that includes Stannington and Dungworth plus High Bradfield and doesn’t run into the city centre so whilst the number has survived it’s changed a huge amount

The 82 still links Ecclesall with the city centre (The “parallel” 81 and the through service to Hillsborough were chopped for a few years but are now reintroduced, the Northern termini having changed from Middlewood to Hall Park Head to then be truncated in the city centre, re extended to Hall Park Head years later). The southern terminus isn’t the same either (the 81/82 used to alternate around the loop that the Stagecoach 88 does at Ecclesall but I can’t remember which went in which direction)

The 95 is the same route from Walkley to Brook Hill roundabout, (outbound its the same route from West Street, inbound it now runs via Broad Lane and Mappin Street due to the pedestrianisation mentioned above) but the eastern side has seen it both extended into Derbyshire and curtailed to the city centre, it currently runs to Meadowhall

The 97 has always linked Southey Green with the city centre but with a variety of northern termini (currently Hillsborough, previously Parson Cross or just Southey itself). The route was diverted away from Moonshine Lane/ Barnsley Road via both Longley and Scott Road to replace the old 22 etc, so it’s not been the same route from Southey to the city centre, and the southern termini changed from Nether Edge to Totley (and extended slightly further when new owners of the Cross Scythes pub decided they didn’t want a bus reversing in their car park, causing the PTE to build a new terminus beyond the built up areas), so the 97 is the Trigger’s Broom of bus services, continuing to link the roundabout at Southey with the northern bit of London Road (by the ring road) via Norwood Road and Wicker but having changed completely at the same time!

There’s been an M17 from Batemoor to Totley for many years (though withdrawn due to the post-Covid funding/drivers problems and reinstated), I can’t be sure that the Dore link has always been part of it as I think it used to run through to the City Centre via Fraser Road at one point? I wouldn’t want to say it existed quite as far back as 1986 and it’s not exactly the same given the lack of City Centre link, and it was withdrawn for a year or two, so not “unchanged” but it’s a pretty recognisable number

The X7 has similarly come back from the dead after funding cuts/ reinstatement, its Sheffield - fast via the Parkway - Maltby - and has changed from daytime to peak - not sure that the route at the Maltby end is unchanged - more importantly I don’t know that the number was used quite as early as 1986? Was there only the 287/288/289 all via Brinsworth at deregulation?

 

[507020]

375/385 Wigan - Southport are virtually unchanged. From memory the full route had always been half hourly daytime and hourly Eve's & Sunday.

Are they? Immediately after deregulation they still used the Ribble bus station in Southport and must have been rerouted for the one way system in Ormskirk. When did that start?

 

[Statto]

Service 582 Leigh to Bolton has been unchanged other than in frequency for around 90 years, starting with Trams, then Trolleybuses and then Motor Buses. Since deregulation it had up to three operators competing on it at one stage and frequencies of 7 minutes or greater. It's now settled back to Bee Network and every 12 minutes, but still the exact same route bar the change of bus station in Bolton for around 90 years or more. Over the years the following operators have run journeys on it: South Lancashire Tramways, Lancashire United, Greater Manchester Transport, GM Buses, Ribble Motor Services, Lancashire Travel (MTL North), Jim Stones Coaches, Evag Cannon, GM Buses North, South Lancs Travel (Strike days only), First Manchester, Diamond Bus North West and Go North West (Bee Network).

That's not quite right, in the late 80s, GM Buses (which was the main operator) extended the Evening & Sunday 582 to Newton Le Willows, & MTL Lancashire Travel 582 went St Helens - Bolton

Here's the GM Buses 582 timetable

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ee3J0U24XibNKmzIylYIx5elQzqWapAe/view

MTL Lancashire Travel 582

St Helens 582 291193.pdf

drive.google.com

Timetables are from this great site

Timetables

RAILWAYMEDIA-British Railway Pictures

www.railwaymedia.co.uk

 

[philg999]

In South Hampshire I can think of only the 69 Fareham-Winchester to have remained unchanged in both route, number and frequency since 1986. There are lots of examples where the number and route are the same but frequency is different - mostly drastic reductions (would be here all day listing those) and quite a few of those post-covid, but sometimes improvements to frequency like the X3 Salisbury-Bournemouth and 66 Winchester-Romsey.

 

[Metal Mickey]

The 5 takes a different route between Battlefield and Castlemilk than it did back in the late 80s/90s.
It used to go via Menock Road, and take what is now the 75 route to the top of Birgidale Road.
It was the 5A that went via Croftfoot roundabout, and then it went all the way up Castlemilk Drive to the top, then along to the terminus at the top of Birgidale Road.

Couldn’t remember if it was the 5 or 5A that went via Menock Road and it was rerouted around the big loop after Castlemilk Bus Station was closed around 1999 and I’ve just remembered for a short time alternate journeys extended up to East Kilbride. So the 5 hasn’t been quite as stable as I thought it was in the last 37 years.

44 was Juniper Green to Eastfield pre-deregulation.

Two other prime candidates from Lothian:

19 (Granton to Eastfield). The Boswall Parkway - Queensferry Street section has remained constant since the service was first introduced in 1935, including the 19 circle and 19/39 eras.

23 (Trinity to Greenbank). This service dates back to 1956, a replacement for the tram service of the same number which ran between Granton Road Station and Morningside Station and initially ran between the same points, though with a one-way loop at the north end and a slight extension from Morningside Station to the Balcarres Street turning circle at the south end.
In 1960 the route was diverted from Granton Road Station to Trinity, which has remained the northern terminus ever since. There have been some slight changes at the south end over the years, including the extension to Greenbank in 2003, but other than that the 23 has run the same route for 63 years.

I’m just wondering if the 30 was Clovenstone to Newcraighall only prior to dereg with the extension to Musselburgh being introduced thereafter?

 

[DunsBus]

Couldn’t remember if it was the 5 or 5A that went via Menock Road and it was rerouted around the big loop after Castlemilk Bus Station was closed around 1999 and I’ve just remembered for a short time alternate journeys extended up to East Kilbride. So the 5 hasn’t been quite as stable as I thought it was in the last 37 years.


I’m just wondering if the 30 was Clovenstone to Newcraighall only prior to dereg with the extension to Musselburgh being introduced thereafter?

No. There was a service 30 back in 1986, but on a completely different route. The current one was introduced in July 2003.

 

[nw1]

Safeguard Coaches’s 4/5 circular services in Guildford I don’t think have really changed much (although in the eighties they were G4/G5 I think). There was a period where operation was shared with Arriva since deregulation, but that ceased in 2010.

They became G4/G5 in a Guildford route numbering standardisation exercise in April 1985 (all routes being Gx irrespective of operator) while before that there was the Safeguard 'A' and 'B'. Not sure if they were exactly the same routes but they were to Park Barn.

Today’s hourly Stagecoach South 19 (Aldershot - Farnham - Frensham - Churt - Haslemere) would be very familiar to pre-deregulation bus users. I think it was numbered 219 during the Alder Valley years, when the merged Aldershot & District and Thames Valley operators needed to differentiate their route numbers in the new combined operating area, but it now bears the 19 number once more. It may have extended beyond Haslemere to Midhurst at one point though?

Correct. It was indeed the 219 in the 80s, and in fact right up to the end of May 1993, a few months after Stagecoach took over.

It did indeed run Aldershot-Midhurst on an hourly service prior to deregulation as the 219. At deregulation it was split, the 219 doing Aldershot-Haslemere and the 229 doing Haslemere-Midhurst. I believe this was on efficiency grounds: the 229 became a mostly-self-contained hourly service (but switched to double deckers around school times, which came off the 219) allowing the 219 to mostly interwork with the 268 (the eighties version of the 18, i.e. Haslemere-Whitehill-Aldershot).

It's also the case that it was the 19 way back in A&D days (1969): there's a timetable on Timetable World. It was already Aldershot-Midhurst by then, and interestingly, the departure times in 1969 were identical, at the Midhurst end, to those prevailing immediately before deregulation in 1986.

The current Stagecoach South 20 (Guildford - Ash - Aldershot) and 34 (Guildford - Woking - Camberley) are historic corridors and numbers that would be very recognisable to someone who has been under a rock for decades, as also would Thames Valley’s 194 (Camberley - Sandhurst - Bracknell). They have over the years had various amendments though (for example I believe the 20 used to be twice as long also encompassing today’s 1 to Camberley via Farnborough, and a month or so ago the 34 had its southern section south of Woking largely swapped with the 35), so not sure how these would fair on your list.

The 20 has had a number of route number changes over the years (20 in A&D days, 452 in the 80s pre-deregulation, then 20 again, and more recently the 'Kite' for a while) but yes, the same basic service.

Likewise the 34 was the 284 pre-deregulation but yes, same basic route.

 

[Deerfold]

If we're being precise i.e. route completely unchanged, then it's going to be difficult particularly given the number of bus stations which have been moved / relocated as part of a town centre redevelopment.

If we're happy to accept a little licence then in Herts, whilst I can't be 100% certain, I'm pretty sure the following are all following the same route and I've noted where I think the frequencies have changed:

44 - Luton to Stevenage (though the frequency is better and it only used to run the full route some days where it now runs 6 days)
88 - Hitchin to Luton (via the villages)
331 - Hertford to Bungtingford
308/380 - Hertford to Cuffley

Fairly sure the two early runs from Luton are both "new" (the one-off extension to Westmill Estate certainly is),

The route is mentioned in this song:

 

[A0]

Fairly sure the two early runs from Luton are both "new" (the one-off extension to Westmill Estate certainly is),

The route is mentioned in this song:

Not sure which timetable you're looking at ? The only extensions are on school days where there is an extension of a morning and afternoon journey to the Priory School ? And on Timetable World there's a 1986 Luton & District timetable which shows there was an extension to Bessemer School (which is what Priory School was then) in the morning and afternoon.