London Buses route 38
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|---|---|
| Management | |
| Operated by | Arriva London |
| Garage | Ash Grove |
| Vehicle | Mercedes-Benz O530G Citaro |
| Route | |
| Start | Clapton |
| Via | Hackney Islington Holborn Piccadilly Circus |
| End | Victoria |
| Length | 7 miles (12 km) |
| Service | |
| Level | Daily (5:30am until 1:30am) |
| Frequency | About every 4 minutes |
| Journey time | 45-68 minutes |
| Night | Night Bus N38 |
| Adult single fares | |
| Cash | £1.50 |
| Oyster | 80p (£1 Mon-Fri 7-9.30am) |
| Transport for London | |
London Buses route 38 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, United Kingdom. The service is currently contracted to Arriva London.
In many ways the 38 was the last "proper" Routemaster route, in particular having for some time been the last to have exclusive use of Routemasters, the other Routemaster routes all having one-person operated journeys in the early mornings, evenings or on Sundays.
The higher capacity of a Citaro compared with a Routemaster allowed the peak frequency to be reduced. Fortunately, lessons have been learnt from the earlier conversions, and this time the reduction is more reasonable at 8 buses. The resultant frequency should need no more than 100 passengers per bus to maintain capacity, which is far more realistic than earlier plans based on the nominal capacity of 140.
The route is still the most frequent in London with a bus every 3 minutes in the morning peak, and still has one of the highest peak vehicle requirement in London, a distinction shared with routes 25 and 73.
Contents |
[edit] History
The 38 was introduced on 16 June 1912 as a Monday to Saturday route between Victoria and Leyton Green and between Victoria and Epping Forest (Rising Sun) on Sundays. It was operated from Leyton Garage, which opened on the same day, and to which the 38 was always closely associated until the early 1990s. In 1913, a 38A was introduced, taking over the Sunday service and operating between Victoria and Epping Forest(Warren Wood House), this route had run in previous summers as route 54.
World War I restrictions saw many changes to the 38 and 38A including withdrawals over certain sections for short periods. The most important of these occurred on 15 May 1916 when the 38 and 38A exchanged their eastern branches permanently. The 38 being withdrawn between the Bakers Arms and Woodford(Castle) and re-routed to Walthamstow (Hoe street station). The 38A vice versa. In 1919, a 38B was added, running through to Loughton (Crown), with the 38A only running as far as Woodford(Castle). The 38A disappeared in 1921.
On 1 December 1924, a new system of route numbering on London Buses came into force under The London Traffic Act of 1924. This made the Metropolitan Police responsible for bus operation and route numbering in London. The new system was designed to make route numbering easier to understand for the travelling public. In fact, the reverse was the result, as can seen by the following list of the routes that replaced the 38, 38B buses.
38 group routes:- 38 remained 38, Victoria to Epping Forest (Wake Arms) via Chingford; 38B renumbered 138, Victoria to Loughton(Crown). This was further complicated in that these routes had short working suffixed journeys, The 38A, 38B, 38C, 38D, 138A, 138B as well as 38E, which was the main daily route Victoria Station to Chingford (Royal Forest Hotel). The plain route number being only used for journeys for the whole length of the route.
This situation remained until 3 October 1934, when the newly constituted London Transport Passenger Board instituted its own numbering system, which generally re-instated the situation previous to December 1924, The 38, 38A and 38E became plain 38. The 138 became 38A.
Everything now remained stable until the outbreak of World War II in September 1939. Apart for an Experiment in "Localisation of routes" in 1938. As from the 5 January 1938, On Mondays to Fridays only, the 38 was reduced between Leyton and Chingford and the 38A withdrawn completely. In replacement a "more local" 38B was introduced between Loughton (Crown), Woodford, Leyton, Walthamstow to Chingford (Royal Forest Hotel). The experiment was not successful and as from 3 August 1938, the 38B was withdrawn, the 38 and 38A returning to normal.
As a wartime economy Routes 38 and 38A were re-routed between Clapton and Dalston via the direct route via Cricketfield Road (avoiding Hackney) as from 5 May 1943. The previous situation was partially re-instated when on 15 April 1959, as part of Stage two of the "Buses for trolleybuses" scheme, the 38A was re-routed via Hackney station thus replacing the withdrawn trolleybus route 581 completely.
The combined frequency in 1936 was every 2 minutes - whilst, as is typical, the frequency has dropped considerably in the intervening years, an increase ready for the start of congestion charging in July 2002 brought the peak hour frequency, at least, almost back up to that level.
[edit] Current route
[edit] Gallery
 Route 38B Timetable panel dated 22/11.1922 |
 AEC Regent III RT operation of route 38 |
 Routemaster operation of route 38 |
 East London Leyland Titan (B15) operation of route 38 |
 Cowie Leaside Leyland Olympian operation of route 38 |
 Arriva London Routemaster operation of route 38 |
 Arriva London Mercedes-Benz O530G Citaro operation of route 38 |
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
| List of bus routes in London |
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1-99 | 100-199 | 200-299 | 300-399 | 400-499 | 500-599 | 600-699 | Letter prefix | Night only |
