Bus Routes in London Wiki
Register
Advertisement


London Buses route 96 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, England. Running between Woolwich and Bluewater, it is operated by Stagecoach London.

History

Route 96 commenced operation on 4 March 1959 as part of London Transport's trolleybus conversion scheme. It was a direct replacement for trolleybus route 696 and ran between Woolwich and Dartford via Plumstead, East Wickham, Welling and Bexleyheath. A supplementary daily route 195 between Woolwich and Eltham, also commenced at this time.

Although a very stable route, route 96 was involved in an "area scheme", as the continual route change schemes in the early 1960s were known.

On 8 May 1963, route 96 was extended at Woolwich to terminate at Victoria Way, this was withdrawn in October 1984. Route 195, which wasn't a successful route, was withdrawn at this time. The route was converted to one man operation on 6 November 1971. At the same time, the route was extended west to Charlton station.

Route 96 was operated by a number of operators including Bexleybus and Kentish Bus.

On 23 January 1999, the route passed to Selkent, who have retained it since.

On 13 March 1999, it was extended to Bluewater Shopping Centre.

On 1 January 2000, the route was converted to low floor operation with Alexander ALX400 bodied Dennis Tridents.

On 24 January 2009, the route was retained by Selkent with brand new Scania OmniCitys introduced.

On 25 January 2014, the route was retained by Stagecoach London.

In June 2014, Alexander Dennis Enviro 400s were introduced.

In August 2016. Wright Eclipse Gemini 3 bodied Volvo B5LHs were introduced.

Current route

Route 96 operates via these primary locations:

  • Woolwich
  • Plumstead
  • East Wickham
  • Welling
  • Bexleyheath
  • Crayford
  • Dartford
  • Bluewater Shopping Centre

External links

Advertisement