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London Buses route 1 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, England. Running between Canada Water and Hampstead Heath, it is operated by London Central. It is the lowest numbered digit route, (whilst not including letter prefix).

History

Route 1 was one of the first motorbus routes to be introduced in London. It was in operation by November 1908. Despite subsequent route changes, it continues to serve part of its original route, between Elephant & Castle and Aldwych.

Route 1 once ran from Willesden Garage to Lewisham.

On 28 October 1942, route 1 was withdrawn north of Marylebone on weekday evenings and Saturday pm hours.

On 27 June 1956, weekday and Saturday service north of Marylebone was replaced by new route 176, and weekday and Saturday peak jouneys to Catford Garage were added.

On 16 October 1957, weekday off-peak service south of Surrey Docks was replaced by new route 199.

On 26 November 1958, the Saturday pm service was extended to Willesden Garage.

On 10 October 1962, Saturday pm services north of Marylebone was withdrawn, and Saturday peak journeys south of Lewisham were withdrawn, with Saturday am service south of Surrey Docks withdrawn.

On 21 November 1962, weekday peak service south of Surrey Docks was withdrawn.

On 27 January 1965, route 1 was extended south to Bromley Garage on weekdays, replacing route 199, and Saturday service was extended north to Willesden Garage and south to Catford Garage.

On 1 January 1967, Sunday service was replaced by new route 1A, which ran from Willesden Garage to Greenwich "Cutty Sark".

On 22 November 1969, Saturday service on route 1, as well as Sunday service on route 1A, was withdrawn north of Trafalgar Square.

On 19 April 1971, route 1 was re-routed via Baker Street, Oxford Street, and Charing Cross Road instead of Tottenham Court Road.

On 20 May 1972, Saturday shopping hour service was extended north to Oxford Circus.

On 28 October 1978, weekday service south of Catford Garage was withdrawn, and Sunday service was introduced from Trafalgar Square to Surrey Docks, replacing route 1A.

On 20 April 1984, Sunday service on route 1 was replaced by reintroduced route 1A, which had the same route as it did before 1978.

On 2 February 1985, route 1 was diverted at Deptford to Greenwich "Cutty Sark", with the old route south of Deptford replaced by new route 199, and Sunday one-man operation was introduced, replacing route 1A.

On 21 June 1986, Sunday service was extended north to Oxford Circus.

On 6 June 1987, service north of Trafalgar Square was withdrawn, and the route extended south via Lewisham to Bromley Garage, replacing Route 199.

On 27 April 1991, route 1 was withdrawn south of Surrey Quays, with service replaced by reintroduced route 199 north of Catford Garage and the portion south of Catford was already covered by route 208.

At the same time, route 1 was withdrawn north of Aldwych, and the route lost its Sunday service.

On 6 January 1992, School day journeys to Rotherhithe were introduced.

On 18 June 1992, route 1 extended north to Holborn station, and was extended further north to Centre Point on 8 October 1994. School day journeys to Rotherhithe were withdrawn by 1999.

On 14 November 1998, the route passed to First Capital operating from their Northumberland Park (NP) and Dagenham (DM) garages using MCW Metrobuses.

The Jubilee Line Extension on 18 September 1999 saw route 1 extended south to Canada Water Station, replacing part of Route 199. At the same time, route 1 was extended south to Canada Water Station. The route was converted to low floor using brand new Plaxton President bodied Dennis Tridents.

On 27 March 2000, a Sunday service was introduced.

On 1 December 2001, the Dagenham (DM) allocation was transferred to Hackney (H) garage.

A few years later, East Thames Buses (owned by London Buses) needed to re-locate from its Ash Grove depot to make way for new articulated buses on route 38. A suitable base was found in Southwark, but most of the Ash Grove routes were a long way from Southwark. It meant that on 15 October 2005, the route, along with N1 passed to East Thames Buses operating from Mandela Way garage (MW), with brand new Wright Eclipse Gemini bodied Volvo B7TLs introduced.

On 3 October 2009, East Thames Buses was sold to London General, which included a five-year contract to operate route 1.

On 1 October 2016, the route was retained by London General.

On 17 October 2016, brand new Wright Eclipse Gemini 3 bodied Volvo B5LHs were introduced alongside the existing Wright Eclipse Gemini bodied Volvo B7TLs.

On 24 October 2016, existing MCV eVoSeti bodied Volvo B5LHs were introduced alongside the existing Wright Eclipse Gemini 3 bodied Volvo B5LHs and existing Wright Eclipse Gemini bodied Volvo B7TLs.

On 6 December 2016, the route converted to a full MCV eVoSeti bodied Volvo B5LH and Wright Eclipse Gemini 3 bodied Volvo B5LH operation.

On 29 July 2017, the operation was transferred to London Central operating from their New Cross (NX) garage.

On 17 March 2018, the allocation was transferred to Morden Wharf (MG) garage.

On 30 September 2023, the route was retained by London Central and the allocation was transferred to Camberwell (Q) garage. At the same time, the route was withdrawn between Holborn Station and Tottenham Court Road and rerouted to Hampstead Heath via withdrawn route 168, with the PVR increasing from 15 to 23.

On 17 January 2024, existing Enviro400 MMC bodied Alexander Dennis E40Hs were introduced alongside the existing MCV eVoSeti and Wright Eclipse Gemini 3 bodied Volvo B5LHs.

Current Route

Route 1 operates via these primary locations:

Other Route 1s that existed in London

There were also in London:

  • Between 1931–1935 - a Twickenham – Savoy Cinema (for one month in 1931), Kingston Hill loop (for one month after that), or Tolworth (after that) Trolleybus route 1.

Gallery

External Links

iBus

https://londonbuses.co.uk/audio/001.wav

London Buses
Current Operators Arriva LondonBlue TriangleDocklands BusesLondon CentralLondon GeneralLondon Sovereign RATP GroupLondon Transit RATP DevLondon United RATP GroupMetrobusMetrolineStagecoach LondonSullivan BusesTransport UK London BusUNO
Go-Ahead London Blue TriangleDocklands BusesLondon CentralLondon GeneralMetrobus
RATP Dev Transit London London Sovereign RATP GroupLondon Transit RATP DevLondon United RATP Group
Former Operators Arriva Kent ThamesideArriva The ShiresConnex Bus UKEast Thames BusesFirst LondonHCT GroupQuality Line RATP GroupTellings-Golden MillerTower TransitTransdev LondonTravel London
Fleet Lists Arriva London Fleet ListBlue Triangle Fleet ListDocklands Buses Fleet ListLondon Central Fleet ListLondon General Fleet ListLondon Sovereign RATP Group Fleet ListLondon Transit RATP Fleet ListLondon United RATP Fleet ListMetrobus Fleet ListMetroline Fleet ListStagecoach London FleetlistSullivan Buses Fleet ListTransport UK London Bus Fleet ListUNO Fleet List
Current Routes 12345678911121314151617181920212223 EV24252627282930313233343536373839404142434445464749505152535455565758596061626364656667686970717273747576777879808183858687888990919293949596979899100101102103104105106107108109110111112113114115116117118119120121122123124125126127128129130131132133134 EV135136137138139140141142143144145146147148149150151152153154155156157158159160161162163164165166167168169170171172173174175176177178179180181182183 EV184 EV185186187188189190191192193194195196197198199 EV200201202203204 EV205206207208209210211212213214215216217218219220221222223224225226227228229230231232233234235236237238240241242243244245246247248249250251252253254255256257258259260261262263264265266267268269270272273274275276277278279280281282283284285286287288289290291292293294295296297298299300301302303304306307308309312313314315316317318319320321322323324325326327328329330331333335336337339340341343344345346347349350352353354355356357358359360362363364365366367368370371372375376377379380381382383384385386388389390393394395396397398399401403404405406407410411412413414415417418419422423424425427428430432433434436439440444450452453455456460462463464465466467468469470472473474476481482483484485486487488490491492493496498499507521533549603728969A10B11B12B13B14B15B16C1C3C10C11D3D6D7D8E1E2E3E5E6E7E8E9E10E11EL1EL2EL3G1H2H3H9/H10H11H12H13H14H17H18/H19H20H22H25H26H28H32H37H91H98K1K2K3K4K5P4P5P12P13R1R2R3R4R5R6R7R8R9R10R11R68R70S1S2S3S4U1U2U3U4U5U7U9U10W3W4W5W6W7W8W9W11W12W13W14W15W16W19
School Routes 601602605606608611612613616617621624625626627628629631632633634635638639640642643645646649650651652653654655656657658660661662663664665667669670671672673674675677678679681683684685686687688689690692696697698699 EV
Superloop Routes SL1SL2SL3SL5SL6SL7SL8SL9 EVSL10 EV
Night Routes N1N2N3N5N7N8N9N11N15N18N19N20N21N22N25N26N27N28N29N31N32N33N38N41N44N53N55N63N65N68N72N73N74N83N86N87N89N91N97N98N109N113N133N136N137N140N155N171N199N205N207N242N250N253N266N271N277N279N343N381N550N551
Future Routes 495618620SL4
Future Withdrawn Routes 9H1015H4882168271305332387391455497507521541558607609611618619636637641648718728733C2PR1PR2X26RV1S5T31T32T33W10X26X68X140N10N13N16N35N47N64N76N93N159N213
Current Bus Types in use BYD K8SR ElectricCaetano e.City GoldEnviro 200 DartEnviro 200 MMCEnviro 200 MMC EVEnviro 400Enviro 400 MMCEnviro 400H CityEnviro 400 City EVIrizar i2 EVIrizar ie Tram electricMCV EvoSetiMercedes-Benz CitaroNew RoutemasterOptare MetroCity EVOptare MetroDecker EVOptare OlympusOptare EsteemOptare SoloScania OmniCityVolvo BZL ElectricWright GB KiteWright Gemini 2Wright Eclipse Gemini 2Wright Eclipse Gemini 3Wright SRMWright StreetDeckWright StreetLite
Areas where many bus routes serve ArchwayBarnetBarnet The SpiresBexleyheathEaling BroadwayEpsomIlfordLewishamKing’s CrossStreathamTrafalgar SquareUxbridgeWaterloo
Bus Stations Addington VillageAldgateBecktonBecontree HeathBluewaterBrent CrossCanada WaterCanning TownPark Royal Central Middlesex HospitalChingfordKingston Cromwell RoadCrossharbourCrystal PalaceDalston JunctionEast CroydonEdgwareEdmonton GreenElthamEustonKingston FairfieldGolders GreenGrove ParkHammersmithHarrowHatton CrossHeathrow CentralHeathrow Terminal 5HounslowLeytonstoneLiverpool StreetLondon BridgeMile EndMortlakeNorth FinchleyNorth GreenwichNorthwick Park HospitalOrpingtonPeckhamPotters BarPrince RegentPutney BridgeRichmondRomfordSouth HarrowStainesStratfordStratford CityTottenham HaleTurnpike Lane StationVauxhallVictoriaWaltham CrossWalthamstow CentralWest CroydonWhite CityWimbledon
Route Lists 1-99100-199200-299300-399400-499500-599600-699700-799900-999Letter Prefix RoutesX Prefixed RoutesList of Night Bus Routes
Other 2024 Bus WithdrawalsAlexander Dennis Buses with in TFLNew London Buses On Order For TfL ServicesUpcoming changes
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