London Buses route N89 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, England. Running between Trafalgar Square and Erith, it is operated by London Central.
History []
Route N89 commenced operation on 28 September 1960, running from London Bridge station to Southall (Brent Road) via Bank, Holborn, Oxford Street, Marble Arch, Lancaster Gate/Notting Hill Gate, Shepherds Bush, Acton, Ealing and Hanwell. The route was a renumbering of the night-time service from route 289. It was later diverted between Marble Arch and Lancaster Gate to serve Paddington station.
On 5 March 1976, the journeys that ran out of service to Liverpool Street were changed to run in service, and so at Bank, some journeys ran to Liverpool Street instead of London Bridge, meaning that at that point the N89 ran in three different directions.
On 13 April 1984 the route was diverted at Southall Town Hall to run to Uxbridge via Hayes End and Hillingdon. The route was absorbed by route N207, running between Holborn and Uxbridge.
On 28 June 2002, route N89 was re-introduced running between Trafalgar Square and Erith, replacing the withdrawn N81 between Trafalgar Square and Bexleyheath. The route was operated by London Central from their Bexleyheath (BX) using low floor Plaxton President bodied Volvo B7TLs.
On 29 January 2005, the route was retained by London Central.
On 28 January 2012, the route was retained by London Central using brand new Alexander Dennis Enviro400s.
On 20 August 2016, the route was re-routed towards Lewisham direct from Bridge Road to Northend Road northbound, and towards Slade Green direct from Colyers Lane to Northend Road southbound.
On 8 October 2016, the crosslink with route N21 was replaced with a crosslink with route 422.
On 28 January 2017, the route was retained by London Central.
On 25 November 2017, the existing Alexander Dennis Enviro400s were replaced by existing Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 bodied Volvo B9TLs. At the same time, the PVR reduced to 8 from 13 and the crosslink with route 422 was withdrawn.
On 6 April 2019, the operation of the route transferred to New Cross (NX) garage using existing Enviro400 MMC bodied Alexander Dennis E40Hs and existing Wright Eclipse Gemini 3 bodied Volvo B5LHs. At the same time, the crosslink with route N21 was reinstated.
In May 2022, the route was converted to full Enviro400 MMC bodied Alexander Dennis E40H operation.
On 27 January 2024, the route was retained by London Central using existing Enviro400 MMC bodied Alexander Dennis E40Hs.
The operation of the route will transfer back to Bexleyheath (BX) garage using existing MCV eVoSeti bodied Volvo B5LHs from 2024. At the same time, the crosslink with route N21 will be withdrawn.
Current Route []
Route N89 operates via these primary locations:
- Trafalgar Square Northumberland Avenue (For Charing Cross Station)
- Aldwych (For Covent Garden)
- Ludgate Circus
- Blackfriars
- Southwark Station
- Elephant & Castle
- Walworth
- Camberwell
- Peckham Bus Station
- New Cross Gate
- New Cross
- Deptford Bridge
- Blackheath Road
- Lewisham Road
- Lewisham Town Centre
- Blackheath (For Blackheath Village)
- Shooters Hill
- Welling
- Bexleyheath
- Barnehurst
- Colyers Lane
- Northend Road
- Slade Green
- Manor Road
- Erith Town Centre (Bexley Road/Cross Street)
Trivia[]
- This is the longest night bus route in London with a staggering 21 miles.
Gallery[]
External Links[]
iBus[]
https://londonbuses.co.uk/audio/n89.wav
