Lost London bus routes

London bus routes, part one

I was thinking about bus routes that are no longer. This is a contentious topic as most London routes remain in some truncated form of their erstwhile numbersakes. Nor am I using this as some misty-eyed reminiscence for the golden days of transport, as for a disabled person these are the golden days of bus travel. But nostalgia is another country and the bus is a good way to get there.

2b or...

Coming from Golders Green my life was circumscribed by the bus station and its former occupants. My favourite departed route was the marathon 2b from Golders Green to Crystal Palace, serving far off reaches of South London. It was always the fast route along the Finchley Road with its crews hailing from distant Stockwell and Norwood. It did not outlast the GLC.

...244

A very different phenomenon was the rush hour only 244 from Golders Green to Southgate via East Finchley and Muswell Hill. This route caused massive consternation being a one-person operated single decker with a bizarrely complicated ticketing system involving a turnstile. This route's rarity was enhanced by the vehicles' remarkable ability to break down limiting the service futher. I think this route ceased in the early 80s. Do correct me if I'm wrong.

Green Line coaches

A final transport recollection were the two sets of Green Line Coaches that served the station. These were to 712/3 from Dorking to St Albans or Dunstable and the 716/a from Chertsey and Woking to Hitchin via Stevenage. The former were single deckers but the latter were conductor operated. They always had a certain suburban glamour in the days before cheap air travel. I will return to this theme.

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Message:	3/3
Date and time:	21/10/2009 at 00:43:28
Sender:	northernman

used to take the number 86 stratford to romford dogs for a �1 5 years ago a �1! the 23 charing cross to ladbroke grove �1! different journeys different cultures,happy days!

Message:	2/3
Date and time:	10/01/2009 at 17:20:01
Sender:	Paul Davey

As a young teenager, I was fascinated by buses and how much access they could give of my city. Most weekends I would buy a Red Bus Rover ticket from the ticket office at Hounslow Bus Garage and go exploring. Although I never rode it end to end I was always fascinated by the route 73 which ran limited service from Hounslow to Stoke Newington. If truth be known I was actually petrified of going somewhere like Stoke Newington alone at 13! My fondest memories are taking the AEC Regal single deckers on route 237 from outside Tesco's in Feltham High Street to school in Isleworth. These buses seemed so cramped but homely and familiar with the burgundy and yellow check cloth. The advent of the Leyland National was also an exciting one 'out west' as after their initial introduction from Clapton garage, Hounslow got the first large batch and for their time they were so modern. They were happy days for me.

Message:	1/3
Date and time:	29/12/2008 at 12:53:55
Sender:	Biff

I'm afraid that Green Lines coaches and longer distance bus routes (such as the 2b) are victims of the chronic traffic congestion that grips London. It's no longer practical to have a bus stuck in a jam in north London when the driver is due to be finishing his shift in south London - and vice-versa. At least services don't change much nowadays. Once many routes used to change with bewildering frequency in accordance with operating convenience or short-term financial necessity. My favourites were the routes which slavishly used to follow the old tram or trolleybus routes that they had replaced. Thus they would follow daft routeings like going along the Victoria Embankment rather than Whitehall and the Strand - or they would terminate at silly places like Moorgate or Warren Street - simply because that is what the former tram or trolleybus route used to do because of LCC restrictions on where lines and wires could be placed. The oldest route in London is generally reckoned to be the 9, even if nowadays it only runs Hammersmith to Aldwych rather than Mortlake to Liverpool Street.