Regency Route 729

29th December 2006

Introduced in 1977, route 729 between Tunbridge Wells and Brighton was initially worked jointly by Southdown and Maidstone & District, and for a while the branding "The Regency Route" was used. The 729 was the successor to earlier routes 119 (which ran from 1936 until 1977) and 122 (providing hourly journeys through to Gravesend from 1948 until 1970, before being reduced to run north of Tunbridge Wells only, and then renumbered 322 in 1974).

During the 1970s and early 1980s the 119 and then the 729 used the Green Line terminus in Lime Hill Road, Tunbridge Wells, shared with Green Line 704 (and later 705/706).

Operation of the 729 was later shared by Brighton & Hove (from 1986), Stagecoach (as successor to Southdown) and Arriva (as successor to M&D), and the route was renumbered 29 in April 2004 when doubled to half-hourly. Brighton & Hove took over the Stagecoach workings from 25 September 2005 and the Arriva working from 23 April 2006.

Arriva Kent & Sussex 3602, Churchill Square, Brighton, March 1998	Arriva Kent & Sussex 6204, Phoenix Causeway, Lewes, August 2005	Arriva Kent & Sussex 6208, Lewes Bus Station, 24 September 2005	Arriva Kent & Sussex LS22, Uckfield Bus Station, April 2002
B&H 278, Uckfield Bus Station, August 1988	B&H 693, Church Road, Tunbridge Wells, June 1986	B&H 703, Uckfield Bus Station, May 1990	B&H 764, Mount Pleasant Road, Tunbridge Wells, August 1997
B&H 779, Mount Pleasant Rd, Tunbridge Wells, 11 June 2005	M&D 2836, Old Steine, Brighton, May 1987	M&D 5114, Churchill Square, Brighton, 14 May 1977	M&D 5204, School Hill, Lewes, August 1987
M&D 5891, Lewes High Street, August 1988	M&D 5892, Churchill Square, Brighton, 7 October 1995	M&D 5895, Old Steine, Brighton, August 1988	Stagecoach 20626, Meadow Road, Tunbridge Wells, 11 June 2005
Stagecoach 20834, Lewes Bus Station, 25 August 2005	Southdown 241, Mount Pleasant Road, Tunbridge Wells, 24 September 1993	Southdown 1321, Old Steine, Brighton, November 1988	Southdown 277, Falmer, 24 September 2005, recreating former service 119 on the section between Brighton and Lewes
Southdown 34, Old Steine, Brighton, August 1987	Southdown 652, Phoenix Causeway, Lewes, January 1987	Southdown 671, Lewes Bus Station, August 1987	Southdown 692, Mount Pleasant Road (Railway Station), Tunbridge Wells, April 1990