London Buses route 149

149
Overview
Operator Arriva London
Garage Tottenham (AR)
Vehicle VDL DB300 10.4m/Wright Gemini 2
Peak vehicle requirement 36
Nighttime 24-hour service
Route
Start London Bridge
Via Shoreditch
Dalston
Stoke Newington
Stamford Hill
Tottenham
End Edmonton Green
Length 9 miles 14km
Service
Level 24-hour service
Frequency 8 minutes (day)
30 minutes (night)
Journey time 42-78 minutes
Operates 24-hour service
Transport for LondonPerformance
London Transport portal

London Buses route 149 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, United Kingdom. The service is currently contracted to Arriva London.

Contents

History

Route 149 was introduced in 1961 to replace trolleybus route 649[1] between Waltham Cross and Liverpool Street Station. In 1968 it was extended on Mondays to Fridays to Victoria some peak hour journeys were extended from Waltham Cross to Flamstead End via Cheshunt. The route was withdrawn north of Ponders End in 1970. It was cut back to Edmonton in 1971, although a few peak hour journeys continued to serve Ponders End. Seven years later route 149 was re-extended to Ponders End at all times.[2]

In 1985 it was withdrawn between Waterloo and Victoria, and further cut back to Liverpool Street in 1991 apart from a few early Monday to Friday journeys to Mansion House Station. In the same year it was extended back to Waterloo during Monday to Friday peak hours. In 1998 the route was extended south from Liverpool St Station to London Bridge Station. The service was converted to a "bendy bus" operation in 2004 and withdrawn north of Edmonton, with new route 349 taking over.[2]

In 2005 the 149 was subject to intensive bus priority measures along the length of its route.[3] A year later the route was used to test the use of recorded stop announcements to aid visually impaired passengers.[4]

In November 2009 it was announced that articulated buses would be withdrawn from the route in October 2010 as part of a new contract.[5] The contract was retained by the route's current operator, Arriva London.[6]

On 16 October 2010, route 149 was converted back to double deck, the allocation was transferred to Tottenham garage and the PVR was increased to 36.[7]

Controversy

Route 149 suffers from higher levels of crime than most routes in London. In the 2006-07 financial year the route had the sixth highest levels of reported incidents on the network. This was lower than in the previous year, when it was fifth.[8]

In 2007 the route was highlighted as having extremely high levels of pickpocketing by London Assembly member Jeanette Arnold. Ken Livingstone, then Mayor of London, was called upon to increase policing on the route, but stated that pickpocket activity had in fact decreased between 2005 and 2007.[9]

A vehicle on the route was involved in an accident in Tottenham on September 15, 2009 when a double-decker bus on route 243 crashed into it. The driver and four passengers were injured in the accident, as was the driver of the double-decker, but there were no serious injuries.[10][11]

On February 27, 2010, a bus driver on a late night working of the route was assaulted by a passenger who had failed to alight at the correct stop.[12] Two weeks earlier a driver on the route had been suspended for assaulting a pedestrian near Monument Station.[13]

Current route

[14]

See also

References

  1. ^ Routemaster Association routemaster.org.uk
  2. ^ a b Alan Gryfe (2010-07-20). "London Transport Central Area Routes 146-149". Eplates.info. http://www.eplates.info/146s.html. Retrieved 2010-10-15. 
  3. ^ "European Transport Conference: Route 149 - Intensive bus priority measures". Etcproceedings.org. 2005-08-01. http://www.etcproceedings.org/paper/route-149-intensive-bus-priority. Retrieved 2010-10-15. 
  4. ^ "England | London | 'Voice of London' buses announced". BBC News. 2006-05-18. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4991326.stm. Retrieved 2010-10-15. 
  5. ^ "Latest London tenders see route 149 bendy bus withdrawal announced - TXNews - Transport News". Transportxtra.com. http://www.transportxtra.com/magazines/new_transit/news/?id=18232. Retrieved 2010-10-15. 
  6. ^ "Bus Route 149 Next to lose its Bendy Buses". Dalston People. http://www.dalstonpeople.co.uk/news/Bus-Route-149-lose-s-Bendy-Buses/story-4533971-detail/story.html. Retrieved 2010-10-15. 
  7. ^ The 149 Bus: Bendy No More - Londonist Magazine
  8. ^ "CCTV, more police but crime on the buses gets worse | Evening Standard". Thisislondon.co.uk. http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23431969-cctv-more-police-but-crime-on-the-buses-gets-worse.do. Retrieved 2010-10-15. 
  9. ^ "The London Assembly: Mayor answers to London - 149 bus route". Legacy.london.gov.uk. 2007-05-23. http://legacy.london.gov.uk/mqt/public/question.do?id=18351. Retrieved 2010-10-15. 
  10. ^ Tottenham, Wood Green and Edmonton Journal | Counting cost of Tottenham High Road bus crash
  11. ^ Ben Smith and Ashling O’Connor October 15 2010 8:32AM (1967-07-01). "Commuters injured after buses collid". thelondonpaper.com. http://www.thelondonpaper.com/thelondonpaper/news/london/commuters-injured-after-buses-collide. Retrieved 2010-10-15. 
  12. ^ "City of London Police - Police appeal after attack on 149 bus driver". Cityoflondon.police.uk. 2010-04-19. http://www.cityoflondon.police.uk/CityPolice/Media/News/190410-busdriverattack.htm. Retrieved 2010-10-15. 
  13. ^ "Driver suspended after 'stopping bus and beating up pedestrian’". Thisislondon.co.uk. http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23806370-bus-driver-kicks-nine-bells-out-of-pedestrian.do. Retrieved 2010-10-15. 
  14. ^ "Bus Route 149: Shoreditch to Dalston and beyond". Timeout.com. 2009-03-02. http://www.timeout.com/london/features/6947/Bus_Route_149-Shoreditch_to_Dalston.html. Retrieved 2010-10-15. 

External links