Long-standing Staines-Hounslow-Twickenham route 203 was shortened on 28 Sep 70, on Mondays to Fridays only, by the transfer of the Hounslow to Twickenham section to new route 202, which was continued to Richmond Dee Road.  Richmond has long used locations beyond the town centre as termini, presumably due to limited space in the centre.  The new route was RT-operated by Hounslow (AV), just as the 203.

 

 

Just under a year later, on 17 Sep 71, the inevitable conversion to one-man operation occurred, requiring an extra 5 RFs at Hounslow.  Initially still only Monday to Friday, on 11 Mar 72, Saturday operation was added, replacing the 203 over that section.

 

RF operation lasted, with the 237, until Saturday 16 Apr 77; these were the last two RF routes other than Kingston's 218/219.  The RFs were replaced on both Hounslow routes by BLs, although within 9 months the 237 became Routemaster-operated.  Perhaps for this reason, operation of the 202 moved to Fulwell in October 1978.

 

The period from 1982 to 1990, when it was withdrawn, was a time of much change for the route.  It was double-decked with Metrobuses in March 1982 and then extended to Heathrow Airport that September via the cargo tunnel.  At that time it returned to AV; the Heathrow to Hounslow section operated on Sunday.  Various local changes followed, with the return of single-deck Nationals on weekdays in 1986.  The Twickenham to Richmond section was lost off-peak in 1987, as was Sunday operation (that section, having replaced the 82 was in turn replaced by the 223).

 

September 1989 saw the closure of the Heathrow Cargo Tunnel for security reasons and the route was cut short to Terminal 4; it was also re-introduced on Sundays, again only to Hounslow, replacing the U5, successor to the 223.  April 1990 saw the route renumbered H22 (except between T4 and Hatton Cross, which was covered by the new H23).