London Buses route 1

Infobox London Bus
number=1


operator=East Thames Buses
garage=Mandela Way
vehicle=Volvo B7TL/Wright Eclipse Gemini
pvr= Monday to Friday: 16VWL
Saturday: 13VWL
Sunday: 9VWL
start=Tottenham Court Road Station
via=Elephant & Castle
Waterloo
Holborn
end=Canada Water Station
length= 6 miles (9 km)
level=Daily
frequency=About every 8 minutes
time= 28-50 minutes
day=6:00am until 1:00am
night=Night Bus N1

London Buses route 1 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, England. The service is currently contracted to East Thames Buses. Because the route of the number 1 passes so many London theatres, the route is popularly known as "London's Number One Showbiz Bus"

History

Location map+|Greater London
caption = 1 destinations
float = left
width = 300
places = Location map~|Greater London
label = Tottenham Court Road
lat= 51.516
long= -0.130
background = red
position = left Location map~|Greater London
label = Canada Water
lat= 51.498
long= -0.05
background = red Route 1 once ran from Willesden to Lewisham, and more recently provided part of the service between Lewisham and Bromley. However it has since retracted at both ends, largely without direct replacement. At one point, the terminus was the now-closed County Terrace Tavern pub on the New Kent Road, until an accident in which a bus fell into the collapsed cellar of the pub. The new night equivalent, N1, goes off in a completely different direction, to Thamesmead.

Although essentially now a south London route, it was won late in 1998 by First Capital, a company from North East London, which operated it from a base in distant Dagenham. The route was later re-allocted a bit nearer home at Hackney.

Changes connected with the Jubilee Line Extension in 1999 saw the 199 withdrawn between Surrey Quays and Elephant & Castle. Once again the 1 became the only route serving South Bermondsey on an East-West axis, the theory being that passengers would transfer to the Jubilee Line. They did not, and severe overcrowding resulted at peak times on this section. Extra buses had to be introduced; these were provided by a variety of operators, but notably Blue Triangle. They were eventually absorbed into the main schedule by First Capital itself.

Meanwhile, London Buses owned East Thames Buses found itself needing to re-locate from Ash Grove to make way for the new bendy buses on the 38, and a suitable base was found in Southwark. However, most of the Ash Grove routes were well away from Southwark, so it made sense for a swaparound of routes to occur, and ETB’s routes north of the Thames (128 and 150) were put out to tender while they assumed the 1/N1.

Current route

Route departing Canada Water

* Canada Water Station
* Surrey Quays Road
* Lower Road
* Surrey Quays "Shopping Centre"
* Redriff Road
* Surrey Quays Station
* Lower Road
* Bestwood Street
* Bush Road
* Rotherhithe New Road
* Galleywall Road
* Southwark Park Road
* Bermondsey
* Grange Road
* Tower Bridge Road
* Bricklayers Arms roundabout
* New Kent Road
* Elephant & Castle station
* London Road
* St George's Circus
* Waterloo Road
* Waterloo Station
* Tenison Way
* Waterloo Road
* Waterloo Bridge
* Lancaster Place
* Aldwych
* Kingsway
* Holborn Station
* High Holborn
* St Giles High Street
* Tottenham Court Road Station

Route departing Tottenham Court Road

* Tottenham Court Road Station
* New Oxford Street
* Bloomsbury Way
* Vernon Place
* Southampton Row
* Holborn Station
* Kingsway
* Aldwych
* Strand
* Lancaster Place
* Waterloo Bridge
* Waterloo Road
* Waterloo Station
* Waterloo Road
* St George's Circus
* London Road
* Elephant & Castle station
* New Kent Road
* Bricklayers Arms Roundabout
* Tower Bridge Road
* Grange Road
* Bermondsey
* Southwark Park Road
* Galleywall Road
* Rotherhithe New Road
* Rotherhithe Old Road
* Surrey Quays Station
* Lower Road
* Surrey Quays Road
* Canada Water Station

ee also

* List of bus routes in London
* East Thames Buses

External links

* [http://www.tfl.gov.uk Transport For London]
* [http://www.busesatwork.co.uk London Bus Routes]
* [http://www.londonbusesbyadam.fotopic.net/c956098.html Route 1 gallery]
* [http://www.busmap.org/tt4/001.pdf Full Timetable (PDF)]