London Buses route 253

London Buses route 253 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, England. Running between Hackney Central station and Euston bus station, it is operated by Arriva London.

History

Route 253 commenced operating on 1 February 1961 between Aldgate bus station and Tottenham Court Road via Bethnal Green, Hackney Central, Clapton Pond, Stamford Hill, Manor House, Finsbury Park and Camden Town as a replacement for trolleybus route 653 with AEC Routemasters.^[1]

By 1994 the route, now operated by Leaside Buses, was one of the busiest in London, with a peak vehicle requirement of 50 buses operating at a frequency of one bus every two minutes.^[2]

The route now runs between

In November 2009, route 253 was retained by incumbent operator Arriva London.^[4] Upon being re-tendered, the route was retained by Arriva London with a new contract commencing on 6 June 2015.^[5]

From October 2016, Arriva London began introducing a fleet of 32 New Routemasters to be on the route. The rollout of new vehicles was completed in December 2016.^[6]

Current route

Route 253 operates via these primary locations:^[7]

• Hackney Central station
• Clapton Pond Lea Bridge Roundabout
• Clapton station
• Cazenove Road
• Stamford Hill station
• Manor House station
• Finsbury Park station
• Holloway Nag's Head
• Caledonian Road
• HM Prison Holloway
• Camden Road station
• Camden Town station
• Mornington Crescent station
• Euston bus station

In popular culture

The 2001 Chris T-T album "The 253" is named after the route.^[8]

The 2009 Just Jack song "253", from the album All Night Cinema, is named after the route.^[9]

References