London Buses route 24
24 | |
---|---|
Battersea | |
Vehicle | New Routemaster |
Peak vehicle requirement | Day: 16 Night: 5 |
Night-time | 24-hour service |
Route | |
Start | Hampstead Heath |
Via | Camden Town Trafalgar Square Victoria |
End | Pimlico |
Length | 7 miles (11 km) |
Service | |
Level | 24-hour service |
Frequency | About every 6 minutes |
Journey time | 39-66 minutes |
Operates | 24-hour service |
London Buses route 24 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, England. Running between Hampstead Heath and Pimlico, it is operated by Transport UK London Bus.
History
Route 24 dates back to 1910,[1] when it ran between Hampstead Heath and Victoria station. In August 1912 it was extended to Pimlico and has continued in that form until the present day, making this the oldest unchanged bus route in London.[2] Thirty-three Daimler double-decker buses with 34 seats were allocated to route 24, now running between Pimlico and Hampstead, with the fleet name "British" painted in green livery. These buses were running from Camden Town (AQ) garage until they were replaced by AEC NS-Type buses in 1927.[3] Thirty-three NS-type buses were used on route 24 until 1934.[4]
Originally, the route was operated by the London General Omnibus Company,[5] and later the British Automobile Traction Co until September 1933, when the London Passenger Transport Board, later London Transport Executive, was formed and ran under the name "London Transport".[citation needed]
During its life with London Transport, route 24 was operated mainly from Chalk Farm (CF) garage in Harmood Street.[6] It was also run at times from Victoria (Gillingham Street; GM) garage.
On 7 November 1965, the first 30
The route was the first central London route to be awarded under the tendering process to a private company, Grey-Green, on 5 November 1988, using Alexander bodied Volvo Citybuses painted in its own grey, green and orange livery from its Stamford Hill garage.[10][11] Grey-Green were owned by Cowie Group, and became part of Arriva London following the company's acquisition of two other London operators.[12]
Upon being re-tendered, in November 2002 the route passed to
On 11 February 2008, a bus on diversion had its roof removed after the driver drove into the side rather than under the middle of an arch bridge.[14] Transport for London said the diversion was safe if drivers followed instructions, and had been operating successfully for over 24 hours. This came three months after another 24 lost its roof in the same place while out of service.[15]
A night element to the route was introduced on 27 November 1999, in the form of route N24, to replace part of the withdrawn
In February 2010 it was reported that a Muslim bus driver, new to the country, pulled his 24 bus over near Gospel Oak, locked the passengers in and prayed to Mecca.[16] The Sun newspaper had to pay out £30,000 after allegedly misrepresenting the incidents, stating that the driver was a fanatic who had forced passengers off the bus.[17]
Metroline was awarded the contract for route 24 which started on 10 November 2012.[18]
New Routemasters were introduced on 22 June 2013.[19] The rear platform remained open until customer assistants were removed in 2016.[20]
In March 2022, the route was digitally recreated and released as an addon for the bus driving simulating game, OMSI 2.
Current route
Route 24 operates via these primary locations:[22]
- Hampstead Heath South End Green
- Kentish Town Queen Crescent
- Chalk Farm Road
- Camden Town station
- Mornington Crescent station
- Somers Town Silverdale
- University College Hospital Gower Street
- Bloomsbury Torrington Place
- St Giles Great Russell Street
- SohoDenmark Street
- Cambridge Circus
- Leicester Square station
- Trafalgar Square for Charing Cross station
- Whitehall
- Westminster station
- St James's Park station
- Westminster City Hall
- Victoria station
- Pimlico Belgrave Road
- St George's Square
- Pimlico Grosvenor Road
References
- ^ Foulds, Hannah (27 June 2016). "What Is London's Oldest Bus Route?". Londonist. Retrieved 28 June 2016.
- ^ London's oldest bus routes Archived 5 May 2013 at archive.today The London Magazine
- ISBN 0853290830.
- ISBN 0853290830.
- ^ "This is how every London bus route got its number". Evening Standard. 27 April 2016. Retrieved 19 November 2016.
Route 24 first started operating under The General Omnibus Company in 1911
- ISBN 9781854142337.
- ISBN 9780853290377.
- ^ ISBN 0853290830.
- ISBN 9780853290377.
- ^ Wolmar, Christian (14 September 1992). "Hold tight on the Clapham omnibus: Next stop, privatisation". The Independent. London.
- ISBN 9781446734957.
The biggest change came in 1988 when Grey Green won a central London route going from Hampstead to Pimlico, the 24 route. This required new buses, a new livery and became the flagship service.
- ^ Buses (625). Ian Allan Publishing: 20.
- ^ London steps up hybrid trials :: Bus and Coach Magazine Archived 5 June 2012 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Six hurt as roof ripped from bus BBC News 11 February 2008
- ^ Bus roof ripped off by low bridge BBC News 4 November 2007
- ^ Blake, Heidi (8 February 2010). "Muslim bus driver locks passengers aboard as he stops to pray". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 10 February 2010.
- ^ Holmwood, Leigh (26 February 2009). "Sun pays £30,000 damages to Muslim bus driver accused of fanaticism". The Guardian. London.
- ^ 2012 Bus Tender Result Transport For London
- ^ Mayor announces first bus route to be fully served by iconic new bus for London fleet Transport for London 25 January 2013
- ^ London's New Routemaster buses cut 300 conductors BBC News 11 July 2016
- ^ Abellio commence operation of TfL routes 24, 27 and 267 Abellio London 9 November 2019
- ^ Route 24 Map Transport for London
External links
- Media related to London Buses route 24 at Wikimedia Commons
- Timetable