London Buses route 133

133
Overview
Operator	Arriva London
Garage	Norwood (N)
Vehicle	Alexander Dennis Enviro400 10.1m
Peak vehicle requirement	30
Night-time	Night bus N133
Route
Start	Streatham station
Via	Brixton Kennington Elephant & Castle Borough London Bridge
End	Liverpool Street bus station
Length	7 miles (11 km)
Service
Level	Daily
Frequency	6-12 minutes
Journey time	34-69 minutes
Operates	04:12 until 23:57

London Buses route 133 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, England. Running between Streatham and Liverpool Street stations it is operated by Arriva London.

History

Route 133 commenced operating on 27 March 1929 as part of a scheme of changes to the 58/59/159 group of routes. Monday - Saturday route 34 (South Croydon - Liverpool Street) was diverted away from London Road and North End to run via Melfort Road, Thornton Heath and Whitehorse Road, replacing route 58 over that section. At the same time, it was re-numbered 133.[1]

In 1958, route 133 was introduced on Sundays running through to Hendon to replace the withdrawn sections of routes 43 and 143.[1] The route served the Angell Town estate in Brixton from its construction in the 1970s.[2]

On 24 July 1971, the route was withdrawn between Croydon and Streatham Garage, replaced by Route 50 which was converted to One Person Operation (OPO) from this date. By this time, the northern terminus of Route 133 was Liverpool Street seven days a week.

Operation at this point was from Brixton (BN) Garage using RTs. These were replaced in 1975 by Daimler Fleetline (DM class) vehicles. However, as with similar conversions on crew-operated routes, the DMs ultimately proved unpopular and unreliable in service and so were replaced on 15 August 1981 by Routemasters that were spare by that time.

On 27 October 1984, Streatham Garage closed for rebuilding so Route 133 was extended one-mile south along Streatham High Road to a temporary terminus at Green Lane.

In late 1984/early 1985, B20 Daimler Fleetlines (D/DMS class) began operating on Route 133 alongside Routemasters. This was done to re-accustom passengers with doored vehicles as preparation for conversion to One Person Operation (OPO).

Conversion to OPO took place on 2 November 1985, which provided the opportunity to absorb much of Route 95 (Cannon Street to Tooting Broadway) which duplicated Route 133 between Elephant & Castle and Streatham.

Route 133 was re-routed at Streatham High Road to Tooting Broadway via Mitcham Lane and Southcroft Road, replacing Route 95 which had its southern terminus cut back to Brixton Garage (Streatham Hill, Telford Avenue) and reduced to Monday to Friday peak hour operation only.

New Metrobuses had been anticipated for Route 133 upon OPO conversion as Brixton Garage were already running them on Routes 50, 95 and 118. These eventually arrived in early 1986 with Brixton receiving the final production vehicles up to M1440. However, due to pressure on vehicle supply from elsewhere (mainly the result of further OPO conversions at longer established Metrobus garages) all of Brixton’s later examples (with the exception of M1440) were transferred out within a year and replaced by returning D/DMS class.

On 6 January 1990, Route 133 was transferred to Stockwell Garage (SW) under tender to London General. A brand new batch of Northern Counties Volvos (VC class) were provided for the contract.

From 25 January 2003, the service was split into two overlapping sections, with separate route numbers as follows –

Route 133 Liverpool Street to Streatham Station

Route 333 Elephant & Castle to Tooting Broadway

On 3 November 2007, with Route 133 still operated by London General and Stockwell Garage over-crowded, operation was transferred from Stockwell to Mandela Way (MW) garage.[3]

Upon being re-tendered, on 23 January 2010 the route passed from London General to Arriva London.[4] In November 2010, the route was criticised for running empty between Streatham and Arriva's Norwood Garage, a section of route over which some residents had previously campaigned for more frequent services.[5]

In November 2010, the route was criticised for running empty between Streatham and Arriva's Norwood garage, a section of route over which some residents had previously campaigned for more frequent services.^[1]

On 6 October 2012, the new Streatham Bus Station was opened near to the old Streatham Garage and became the new southern terminus for Route 133.^[2]

Current route

• Streatham station
• Streatham Hill station
• Brixton station
• Oval station
• Elephant & Castle station
• Borough station
• London Bridge station
• Monument station
• Bank station
• Liverpool Street bus station

References

External links

• Media related to London Buses route 133 at Wikimedia Commons