London Buses route 157 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, England. Running between Crystal Palace bus station and Morden station, it is operated by Go-Ahead London.
| 157 | |
|---|---|
_Morden_31.01.2024.jpg) | |
| Overview | |
| Operator | Go-Ahead London |
| Garage | Merton |
| Vehicle | Alexander Dennis Enviro400EV |
| Peak vehicle requirement | 17 |
| Night-time | No night service |
| Route | |
| Start | Crystal Palace bus station |
| Via | South Norwood Croydon Wallington Carshalton St Helier |
| End | Morden station |
| Length | 12 miles (19 km) |
| Service | |
| Level | Daily |
| Frequency | About every 12-20 minutes |
| Journey time | 46-83 minutes |
| Operates | 04:20 until 02:01 |
History
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Route 157 commenced operating on 13 September 1926 as a daily service between Morden station and Wallington (Melbourne Hotel) via Morden Road, Bishopsford Road, Sutton and Carshalton. It was one of five new London Underground feeder routes (155, 156, 157, 164 and 165) that were introduced to connect to the new Northern line station at Morden, which also opened on 13 September 1926. In 1959, it was extended from Wallington to Crystal Palace via Croydon, replacing trolleybus route 654.[1]
From January 1973 until November 1985 it was operated by Thornton Heath garage, It was operated by Croydon garage from August 1987 until November 1988, when operation of the route moved to London General's Sutton garage.[1]
Upon being re-tendered, route 157 passed to Connex's Beddington Cross garage on 1 December 2001 with Alexander ALX400 bodied Dennis Trident 2s. It was included in the sale of the business to Travel London in February 2004.[2]
Upon being re-tendered, it was retained by Travel London with a new contract commencing on 2 December 2006.[3] Route 157 was included in the May 2009 sale of Travel London to Abellio London.[4][5] On 3 December 2016, Arriva London commenced operating the route after winning the tender with 18 existing Alexander Dennis Enviro400 double deckers.[6][7] The route and buses were based from Norwood garage, however, drivers were based at Thornton Heath garage. This was due to space constraints at Thornton Heath garage.[1] On Sundays and bank holidays the route and buses were based from Thornton Heath garage.[1] On 2 December 2023, this route passed back to Go-Ahead London from their Merton garage temporarily using existing Alexander Dennis Enviro400s and Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 bodied Volvo B9TL double deckers, as the brand new Alexander Dennis Enviro400EVs were delayed. At the same time, the PVR decreased to 17. Some drivers are also based at Croydon garage.
On 20 May 2024, brand new Alexander Dennis Enviro400EVs were introduced to the route and are replacing the existing Alexander Dennis Enviro400s and Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 bodied Volvo B9TLs.
Current route
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Route 157 operates via these primary locations:[8]
References
edit- ^ a b c d Arriva London starts running the route 157 service from Morden to Crystal Palace Arriva London 22 December 2016
- ^ National Express buys 200 London buses The Daily Telegraph 27 February 2004
- ^ Bus tender results Route 157 Transport for London 9 February 2006
- ^ National Express Group plc agreement to sell Travel London Archived 2 February 2014 at the Wayback Machine National Express Group 21 May 2009
- ^ NedRailways acquisition reinforces long term commitment to UK transport market Archived 18 January 2016 at the Wayback Machine NedRailways 9 June 2009
- ^ "Arriva big winner in latest tender round" Coach & Bus Week issue 1241 17 May 2016 page 10
- ^ "Arriva does well in route awards" Buses Magazine issue 736 July 2016 page 24
- ^ 157 bus route Transport for London
External links
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Media related to London Buses route 157 at Wikimedia Commons