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68
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| Overview | |
| Operator | Go-Ahead London |
| Garage | Camberwell |
| Vehicle | Volvo B7TL 10m / Wright Eclipse Gemini |
| Peak vehicle requirement | 21 |
| Nighttime | N68 |
| Route | |
| Start | Euston |
| Via | Russell Square Holborn Aldwych Waterloo Elephant & Castle Camberwell Herne Hill |
| End | West Norwood |
| Length | 8 miles (13 km) |
| Service | |
| Level | Daily |
| Frequency | About every 7-12 minutes |
| Journey time | 38-67 minutes |
| Operates | 5:21am until 23:53pm |
| Transport for London • Performance |
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London Buses route 68 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, United Kingdom. The service is currently contracted to Go-Ahead London.
Contents |
In the early period of motor omnibus travel, before the First World War, number 68 was not in use as a route for the London General Omnibus Company, even though higher numbers up to 93 were active in 1912, for example.[1]
The route was active at the start of the Second World War. During this war, its usual peacetime lighting of a pale blue colour was removed because of the risk of aerial bombing and the buses were blacked-out.[2]
By 1952, following the removal of the last trams, the route ran from the Earl of Eldon public house in South Croydon to Chalk Farm station in Camden.[3] This was a long 15 mile journey via places such as Thornton Heath, Norwood, Herne Hill, Camberwell, Elephant & Castle, Waterloo, and Euston which nowadays would require two changes of bus. The route started operating Routemaster buses on Sundays in 1963 and switched to full Routemaster operation in 1970. The buses at this time were based in garages in Chalk Farm, Norwood and Croydon.[4]
After the route was converted to one man operation in 1986 and the Routemasters were withdrawn, the route was serviced by Metrobuses, Titans and Olympians.[4]
The journalist, Peter Watts, reviewed his experiences of the current service for Time Out. He travels regularly from Herne Hill to Great Russell Street, near the Time Out offices in Tottenham Court Road. The journey takes between 40 and 90 minutes depending upon the congestion in traffic bottlenecks like Camberwell Green. Often, when the service is running poorly, it will terminate short of the final destination, unloading at a stop like Aldwych, or it will pass by Herne Hill without stopping, forcing passengers to take the shorter 468 service instead. Such incidents commonly occur three times a week and so cause him much frustration.[5]
The parallel express service, X68, which runs along the same route from West Norwood, seems much superior though regular passengers have complaints about it too. This is one of only two express bus services provided by TfL.[5]
Author and journalist, Simon Jenkins, on the other hand, described the 68 bus as the "Queen of buses" for its stately progress through the bustling shopping streets of South London.[6]
Travelling on this bus route has been suggested as a cure for agoraphobia. Travelling for 2-5 stops during the day was considered a medium level exercise while travelling from Camberwell Green to the Elephant & Castle alone during the rush hour, was considered the most challenging exercise - more terrifying than walking down the high street or shopping in a supermarket.[7]