London Buses was making the point very strongly that Orpington was chosen as a "pilot scheme" with the intention of starting with a clean slate, as if no bus routes existed at all. How then should a network be devised to serve the area, adopting criteria such as ensuring all housing should be within 400 metres of a bus service? Physical constraints on conventional bus operation would be solved by the introduction of much smaller vehicles, and remembering this was in the post-"Fares Fair" trauma, when headways (as well as fares) had been increased, this was also seen as a way to provide more frequent services without undue additional resources.
 
The answer was to introduce a "midibus" network, and hence "Roundabout" was born. London Buses was also keen to address the public's perception of minibuses as being "breadvan conversions", so the decision to choose purpose built vehicles resulted in the initial purchase of new Iveco Daily (RH class) 21-seaters and Optare City Pacer (OV class) 25-seaters. Two second-hand Dodge 25-seaters (A class) were also bought as standby vehicles.
 
Roundabout was a subsidary of Selkent, who although obliged to comply with the network emerging after considerable consultation, had serious doubts over the wisdom of replacing Titans at 20 minute headway on route 229 (210 seats per hour) with RHs at 7-8 minute headway on route R1 (168 seats per hour) through St Pauls Cray estate. But the scheme went ahead from 16th August 1986, and brought huge benefits to the local community as a whole, bus patronage was said to have increased by about 10% in the Orpington area, against a continuing London-wide drop around 2% per annum. From 31 Oct 1987, route R2 had a Saturday service introduced, and the daytime frequency of route R4 was increased from 30 to 20 minutes. Regrettably, cuts in KCC support for bus services saw route R6 withdrawn Knockholt Pound - Sevenoaks just nine months after its introduction, and by March 1988, the route was withdrawn entirely and partially covered by revamps to Kentish Bus services in the area.
 
But Selkent's fears for the St Pauls Cray estate were justified. Route R1 ran in two overlapping sections at 15 minute headways: Queen Mary's Hospital to Green Street Green, and Grovelands to Bromley Common. The combined service interval of 7-8 minutes over the common section was difficult to adhere to, and passengers indeed found the narrow seats and gangways of the RHs cramped and uncomfortable. There was no luggage provision, while overcrowding did materialise at certain times of day. Purchase of MCW's extended Metroriders was decided upon for allocation to route R1, and these (MRL class) were progressively introduced from August 1987, offering more (and wider) seating, better passenger circulation and luggage pens. In October 1987 about half the service double-ran via Orpington Hospital, stopping outside the new Canada Wing, and such journeys were distinguished by carrying route number R11. In July 1988, most of the Queen Mary's Hospital journeys had a double-run introduced via the new Tesco store near Crittals Corner. However, regardless of origin/destination, all journeys carried route number R1, except those via Orpington Hospital, which showed R11, a (perhaps) confusing practice perpetuated throughout Roundabout's tenure.
 All Roundabout's original vehicles (except the A class) were given names. The RH class were named after birds, and the replacement MRLs perpetuated this with the same names followed in naval tradition by the Roman suffix "II"! The OV's were named after winds. However, on repaint, the names were not always replaced, and the DT and MC classes were not christened at all. However, Roundabout's last class (FM) were named after signs of the zodiac....!

More information can be found in the Fleet List