London Buses route 59

London Buses route 59 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, England. Running between Streatham Hill and King's Cross, it is operated by Arriva London.

History

Arriva London Alexander ALX400 bodied DAF DB250 at King's Cross in June 2008

Route 59 was introduced in 1999 in order to replace part of route 109 and also provide a service between Streatham and Euston station. It was and still is contracted to Arriva London.^[1]

On 10 November 2007 the route was extended from Euston to King's Cross. The move, which was intended to provide a direct link between Waterloo and St Pancras stations, coincided with the relocation of the Eurostar terminal.^[2]

In 2007, the route was used by two residents of Brixton as the starting point for a journey around the world using any method of transport except the aeroplane.^[3]

On 31 March 2012, part of route 59's allocation was transferred to Norwood garage.

On 20 December 2013, thirty people were injured when the driver of a route 59 bus (a DAF DB250LF with Wright Pulsar Gemini body, fleet number DW84^[4] and registered as LJ04LFX) swerved to avoid a vehicle and hit a tree in Kennington.^[5][6][7][8] Seven people were seriously injured.^[9]

Current route

Route 59 operates via these primary locations:^[10]

• Streatham Hill Telford Avenue
• Brixton station
• Kennington for Oval station
• Lambeth North station
• Waterloo station
• South Bank
• Waterloo Bridge
• Aldwych
• Holborn station
• Euston bus station for Euston station
• St Pancras International
• King's Cross station
• King's Cross Wharfdale Road

Previous route 59s in London

The route number has been used twice before in London, with all incarnations serving all or part of the main A23 road from Kennington to Coulsdon via Brixton, Streatham and Croydon. In 1948, a Route 59 was introduced on Sundays-only to link West Hampstead with Purley and Chipstead Valley. On 31 October 1970, it was diverted at Coulsdon to serve Old Coulsdon instead of Chipstead Valley. It is thought to have been the longest route in London for a time.

The route was basically a Sunday-only convergence of weekday routes 109 and 159. It was the introduction of these routes on Sundays that resulted in the withdrawal of Route 59 from 28 October 1978. Streatham (AK) and South Croydon (TC) garages were the main operators of the service throughout its lifespan, with both garages holding an allocation at the time of withdrawal.

On 2 February 1985, a new route 59 was introduced to convert the southern section of Route 109 from Croydon to Purley to One-Person-Operation, also replacing the Sunday-only Route 166A to Chipstead Valley. It initially ran from Brixton to Purley on Mondays to Saturdays with extension to Chipstead Valley on Sundays, later extending northwards to Blackfriars (Farringdon Street). A series of route changes saw it cut back to run only from Brixton to Farringdon Street during Monday to Friday peak hours. It was withdrawn completely in 1994, absorbed mainly back into Route 109. It was operated initially by Thornton Heath Garage (TH), with subsequent joint operation with Brixton Garage (BN). Both Streatham (AK) and South Croydon (TC) contributed at different stages, with Brixton being the sole operator at that time of withdrawal.

References

External links

• Media related to London Buses route 59 at Wikimedia Commons
• Timetable