London Buses route 185

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 London Buses
185
Management
Operated by East Thames Buses
Garage Belvedere and Mandela Way
Vehicle Volvo B7TL/Plaxton President
PVR † 13 from Belvedere
6 from Mandela Way
Route
Start Lewisham
Via Catford
Forest Hill
Dulwich
Camberwell Green
Vauxhall
End Victoria
Length 10 miles (15 km)
Service
Level Daily
Frequency About every 10 minutes
Journey time 42-90 minutes
Day 4:30am until 0:30am
Night No night service
Adult single fares
Oyster 90p
Cash £2.00
† peak vehicle requirement
Transport for London • Performance

London Buses route 185 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, United Kingdom. The service is currently contracted to East Thames Buses, based at Mandela Way (near Bricklayers Arms) and Belvedere, both quite a distance from the terminals. The 185 is allocated Plaxton President low floor double deck buses but also uses the Wright Eclipse Gemini shared with the 1 at Mandela Way and the 132, 180 and night bus N1 at Belvedere.

Contents

[edit] History

The 185 has had a couple of rocky years. The original route was Victoria to Blackwall Tunnel south side, via the current route and Greenwich. This bus acted as a tram replacement route, at the time in which the government was trying to phase out the olden trams.

In 1982 the Lewisham to Blackwall Tunnel stretch was withdrawn, with the exception of peak services to Greenwich Church. In 1987 the part between Lewisham and Greenwich was completely scrapped, in favour of a shorter route. The route only had minor modifications between then and 2001, such as garage changes and the buses changing from RTL's to Titans.

In January 2001 Stagecoach London (Stagecoach Selkent at the time) operation was terminated in favour of London Easylink. However because Easylink did not hold a licence at the time to operate in London a temporary service was operated by Stagecoach, London General and Blue Triangle for a few weeks. The operation of the 185 then ran smoothly for just over a year until in August 2002 London Easylink went into liquidation and at short notice Blue Triangle was given the task of organising emergency cover. Quite a large number of operators were used such as the following:

This caused problems to people who had not travelled on the 185 before. Blue Triangle brought in some Original Tour central London buses which were roofless!

Finally after a long time of this operation, in 2003 East Thames Buses - a direct subsidiary of TfL - was awarded the contract. East Thames Buses initially started operating with low floor Dennis Dart SLF/Caetano Compass buses, but these were soon replaced.

[edit] Current route

[edit] Route departing Lewisham

[edit] Route departing Victoria

[edit] Gallery

185 RTW425-tn.jpg

RTW operation of route 185
185 RTL1630.jpg

RTL operation of route 185
185 DMS595.jpg

DMS operation of the 185
185 T811.jpg

Leyland Titan operation of 185
185 L72.jpg

185 operated by Stagecoach Selkent
185 VP158 tn.jpg

185 during operation with London Easylink
185 FC419.jpg

185 during the emergency operation, pictured here with a First London East Lancs Pyoneer.
185 M1310.jpg

Another 185 during the emergency, seen here with a MCW Metrobus from a tour company
185 M1347.jpg

London General MCW Metrobus during the emergency replacement
185 T1095.jpg

Blue Triangle Leyland Titan version of 185 during the replacement service
185 DC9.jpg

East Thames Buses single-deck operation of route 185
185 ETB370.jpg

East Thames Buses Volvo Olympian operation of route 185
185 VP11.jpg

Volvo B7TL operation of the 185

185 in operation with a Wright Eclipse Gemini

[edit] See also

[edit] External links


List of bus routes in London

1-99 | 100-199 | 200-299 | 300-399 | 400-499 | 500-599 | 600-699 | Letter prefix | Night only