London Buses route 268

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268
London Buses

Management
Operated by	Arriva Shires & Essex
Garage	Watford (Garston)
Vehicle	DAF SB120/Wright Cadet
PVR †	6
Route
Start	Golders Green
Via	Hampstead Heath Hampstead Belsize Park Swiss Cottage
End	Finchley Road
Length	3 miles (5 km)
Service
Level	Daily
Frequency	About every 12-15 minutes
Journey time	14-32 minutes
Day	5:10am until 0:15am
Night	No night service
Adult single fares
Oyster	90p
Cash	£2.00
† peak vehicle requirement Transport for London • Performance
London Transport Portal

London Buses route 268 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, United Kingdom. The service is currently contracted to Arriva Shires & Essex.

1 History
2 Current route
- 2.1 Route departing Golders Green
- 2.2 Route departing Finchley Road
3 See also
4 References
5 External links

[edit] History

^[1] The 268 is a short route with an end to end journey time of 14 to 32 minutes, depending on traffic conditions. It is one of only two daytime services to serve Hampstead village, the other is route 46, both of which are single deck. Route 268 link the village to Golders Green and the Finchley Road shops, Golders Green in parallel with the Northern Line.

The 268 was introduced on 7 September 1968, giving Hampstead Village its first bus service at all. Initial operation was from Cricklewood garage over what was essentially the same route as today, and was awarded to London Country (North West). It used Mercedes L608Ds based at Scratchwood services on the M1, with maintenance carried out at the Mercedes dealership in Colindale. London Country later opened its own base on Muswell Hill (coded ML), where the 268 was moved to, along with routes 153 and C2.

In 1990, the route was re-tendered and passed to R&I, and service 268 moved to North Acton and later Harlesden garage, with Optare buses used. R&I was later taken over by MTL and merged into the London Northern operation, with more Mercedes minbuses used along with Dennis Dart/Carlyle Dartlines. MTL sold its London bus operations to Metroline in turn. Metroline took over MTL's buses, but the operation of route 268 gradually passed to new Dennis Dart SLF/Plaxton Pointer 2s. The company retained the route until 10 June 2006 when the route was awarded to Arriva Shires & Essex, the successor to London Country North West. ^[2]