London Buses route 9

9
New Bus for London on route 9 at Charing Cross
Overview
Operator	London United
Garage	Stamford Brook (V)
Vehicle	New Bus for London
Peak vehicle requirement	22
Night-time	Night bus N9
Route
Start	Hammersmith
Via	Kensington Hyde Park Corner Trafalgar Square
End	Aldwych
Length	5 miles (8.0 km)
Service
Level	Daily
Frequency	About every 6-10 minutes
Journey time	25-51 minutes
Operates	06:00 until 00:23
"Performance". Transport for London.

London Buses route 9 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, United Kingdom. The service is currently contracted to London United and runs between Hammersmith and Aldwych.^[1] Heritage route 9 operates using traditional Routemaster buses over a shortened version of the standard route. As of 2013, around 16,000 people used route 9 every week day and 9,000 on Sundays.^[1] The route was also popular during the 1940s, with thousands of workers using it every day.^[2]

History

Route 9 has been called "London's oldest existing bus route".^{[3][4][5][6][7]} It was introduced on 1 November 1908, when a previously un-numbered London General Omnibus Company route, formerly Road Car route L, operating daily between Shoreditch Church and Hammersmith with a Sunday extension to Kew Green via Kew Bridge commenced operation. From 10 December 1908, it was withdrawn between Turnham Green and Kew, but extended in the other direction to Leyton (Bakers Arms), now running daily Turnham Green Church - Shoreditch Church, with a Monday - Saturday extension to Leyton via Hackney Road, Mare Street, Clapton and Lea Bridge Road; being further extended to Snaresbrook via Whipps Cross and Snaresbrook Road on 10 June 1909.

The 9 is one of Central London's shortest major trunk routes, and always has been, although it traditionally ran a bit further at each end from Mortlake to Liverpool Street via what are now today's routes 209, 9 and 11. Frequency then was by all accounts impressive, with a 3-minute service on offer from Monday to Saturday (referenced 1936). On Sundays it ran every 5 minutes with a diversion at Bank to Romford over the 5, 15 and 23A, as route 23A did not run on that day. That made it a rather lengthy, with a through running time of just over 2 hours. The section between Becontree Heath and Romford only ran every 10 minutes and was later lost when route 87 was extended to Romford.

The Sunday 9 extension was finally removed when the 23 gained a Sunday service in the late 1960s, although a token service was maintained as far as Aldgate until 2 p.m. on Sundays to serve the local markets, the afternoon service being curtailed at Aldwych. The Saturday service was also curtailed to Aldwych a few years later, but the Sunday service was renumbered 9A to avoid the unusual bifurcation, being further diverted via Monument and Tower Hill instead of Bank and Leadenhall Street. This variation had been dropped completely by 1990, and the route thus then ran daily from Mortlake to Aldwych with a Monday to Friday extension to Liverpool Street. The whole route was cut back to Aldwych in the central area changes of July 1992, the replacement to Liverpool Street (also on Mondays to Fridays only until relatively recently) being the 'new' 23.

Meanwhile, problems with Hammersmith Bridge led to the imposition of a severe weight restriction. Double deck buses were thus barred, which created a particular problem for the 9 which would have been totally unsuitable for the small Dennis Darts that were introduced on the other routes crossing the bridge. The 9 was thus curtailed to Hammersmith from early 1992, new route 9A taking over the short section to Mortlake with an overlap as far as Kensington. On Sundays, however, the 9 continued to run right through and this pattern was adopted in the evenings also from the end of 1993. In 1997 however, the 9 routing was standardised as Hammersmith to Aldwych daily, while the 9A was replaced by new daily route 209 (Mortlake to Hammersmith only).

Traditionally the 9 had been the main route of the little garage at Mortlake, which was its terminus, with some assistance from Dalston, while Riverside and Barking garages ran on the extended Sunday service. The closure of both Mortlake and Riverside resulted in the allocation settling down at Shepherd's Bush for some years. The 9A was operated from a new base in the London Underground depot in White City, known as Wood Lane but which has since closed again, its allocation absorbed by Shepherd's Bush. The eventual end of crew operation on 4 September 2004 resulted in transfer of the route to Stamford Brook, in an economy swap with route 49.

New Bus for London double deckers were introduced on 26 October 2013.^[8][9][10] The route is the third route in London to be entirely operated using this bus. In 2014, the route briefly operated a New Bus for London painted in red and silver livery to promote the "Year of the Bus".^[11][12]

To mark the First World War centenary, the London Transport Museum restored one of only four surviving LGOC B-type buses. The bus being restored used to run on route 9 between Barnes and Liverpool Street from 1914. The restoration cost £250,000, with more than half being spent sourcing original parts.^[13]

Incidents

• On 6 August 1967, a driver on route 9 got lost when driving to Aldgate. A London Transport official said: "They do take a wrong taking occasionally, but it does not often happen. This does happen sometimes when a driver gets off his route."^[14][15]
• On 24 August 2010, a bus on route 9 crashed into metal railings outside Piccadilly Circus tube station. One person was injured in the accident.^[16]

Current route

• Hammersmith Bus Station
• Kensington Olympia Station
• Kensington High Street
• High Street Kensington Station
• Royal Albert Hall
• Knightsbridge Station
• Hyde Park Corner Station
• Green Park Station
• Trafalgar Square
• Charing Cross Station
• Aldwych

In 1978, route 9 was called the "very best and least expensive tour of London" as it passed Holland Park, Hyde Park, Hyde Park Corner, Green Park, Burlington Arcade, Piccadilly Circus, Haymarket, Trafalgar Square, the National Gallery, Strand, Savoy Hotel, Simpsons of Piccadilly, Fleet Street, St Paul's Cathedral, Tower of London, Lombard Street and George and Vulture.^[17] The current route passes Kensington Palace and Kensington Gardens.^[18] It also passes the Kensington Roof Gardens, Royal Albert Hall, Albert Memorial, Hyde Park Barracks, Wellington Arch, Apsley House, New Zealand War Memorial, The Athenaeum Hotel, The Ritz London Hotel, The Wolseley, St James's Palace, National Gallery, Duke of York Column, Nelson's Column, Eleanor cross, Savoy Hotel, Savoy Theatre and Somerset House.^[19]

Gallery

• 

  Routes 9 and 15 near Trafalgar Square in 1927

• 

  MCW Metrobus on route 9

• 

  Routemaster on route 9

• 

  East Lancs Myllennium Vyking bodied Volvo B7TL on route 9

See also

• List of bus routes in London

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to London Buses route 9.

• Transport for London
• Full timetable