The Metrorider marked Metro-Cammell-Weymann's last throw of the dice after British bus deregulation otherwise destroyed its market, and London Buses, ever one to leap on a gimmick, was quick to order large numbers of MCW Metroriders for its cheap minibus networks that started springing up in the late 1980s. The MR variant, with 23 seats, was soon supplanted by a larger version coded MRL, and 134 MCW-built examples entered service before MCW finally fell apart.

Optare then took up the reins, redesigning the vehicle with a wider body, bigger blind box and offering wider doors to accommodate London's preferred boarding patterns. MRL 135-241 ensued between 1990 and 1992, entering service alongside Mercedes 811Ds and Renault 50s to much the same layout.

After privatisation of the LBL subsidiaries and the increasing use of Dart-sized buses, orders fell off, but R&I Buses kept taking MetroRiders (note manufacturer's capitals!), reverting to the short model for their work on the H1/H2/H3 services, which descend from the original Dial-A-Ride service in Hampstead Garden Suburb. In 1995 MTL London took over R&I, and the following year took two more MetroRiders, this time long ones, to furnish an increase to the W4, which was then operated out of Potters Bar. In 1998 Metroline bought MTL London and the W4 received MWs, prompting the MRLs to join their short counterparts on the H-routes.

I was expecting them to have been replaced by new narrow-bodied Optare Solos on Saturday 25th June, but here is MRL 223 (P448 SWX) at Golders Green, perhaps for one last weekend. When MTL acquired this pair, they forgot that there was already an MRL 223 and 224 operating from London General, and by following on from their previous MRL batch inadvertently duplicated their fleetnumbers!