Favourite London Bus Route?

[RubyFakeLips]

I appreciate this is niche.

Reminiscing about when I had no money and a baby that loved being on the bus. Could take the 38 from almost outside my hackney flat, with him in the carrier. Sit on the top deck and go to the west end all the way to Victoria and back.

More recently I've been a fan of the 15.

Ahhh memories. I used to take the number 38 from Mare St in Hackney to Angel Islington where my school was. The bus was an old style (like on the buses) one with a conductor and if we missed it at the bus stop, we'd run and jump on it at the traffic lights. 🤣🤣

N159, N29 for getting home after a night out. 11 for taking visitors around London!

Vote for the 36 and N36 from my younger days into work from New Cross Gate and back from Soho when the trains had stopped. Run and jump onto the open platform.

149 (I think!) when known as the free bus one of Ken 's bendy buses everyone got on at the middle.

And what's this about the 53 not crossing the river any more...

Wordsworth ' Upon Westminster Bridge'. Lovely, and just as lovely now with even the modern buildings - from the bridge view.

The No 8. My journey, Bank to St John's Bethnal Green or:
Also I used to go Hackney Rd to Clerkenwell to go to the Little Yellow Watch Shop. Just before St Johns Street.

The 53 stops at County Hall on the south side, but the 453 has proudly and comfortably taken up the gauntlet.

137. Oxford Street, Marble Arch, Hyde Park Corner, down Knightsbridge, Sloane Street, Sloane Square, Chelsea Bridge. Just absolutely loved it, especially in Autumn when the lights glowed in the murky greyness as I made my way home. I loved my bus route!

14 TCR all the way up to Putney Heath which feels somehow semi-rural, like they just forgot they could build some more blocks there.

I feel as though the N19 was a favourite - did it go a slightly different route to the 19? Problem is my memory of the night buses is somewhat compromised . I just loved the way some of the night buses went on long convoluted routes. I was happy as Larry sitting in my seat, front right on the top deck, listening to music as the bus took me home past the London sights.

I have a soft spot for the 43
Used to sit on that bus reading Dan Brown novels when I got my first job in London and couldn’t afford the tube!

Love 11 and 19 used to ride busses for fun in my youth. The 29 used to often have people smoking crack on it as it was the route between Camden and soho I did the journey most weekday mornings for a while as a young teenager it was surprising how often no one said a thing.

The 141 all the way to from Manor House to London Bridge.

Love the “riot on wheels” description of the 29 😂

I always wondered what the RV meant! Number 15 is a nice scenic route

I'm going to mention the 51 too, my local bus which goes all the way from the centre of Woolwich to leafy Orpington.

The 24 which would take me from where I used to live in Pimlico all the way to Camden markets. I feel very nostalgic for my younger self.

Another one here for the 137! I use it almost daily as it's my "local" and gets me everywhere I could possibly need to go!

I'm going to mention the 51 too

I knew the 51 in my childhood too. But never rode it as far as Orpington.

The no 12. I used to live on it. Sandi Toksvig wrote a whole book about the route.

Starts at Dulwich Library, then through Peckham, Camberwell and Elephant, over the river at Westminster Bridge, Parliament Square, on to Trafalgar Square and Piccadilly and terminating at Oxford Circus.

I spent years of my life on the 29 when I lived off Green Lanes.
The 137 description is lovely, and true.
The Wordsworth poem is marvellous.

I used use the E8, E3 and E1 the most and I knew them off by heart so didn’t have to even pay attention where to get off, I just knew....

@INeedNewShoes yes to the N19!

Long before the night tube and Uber existed, and I was too skint for black cabs, it was a night out in Mayfair (Cuckoo Club anyone?!) then the N19 from Piccadilly opposite Old Park Lane, all the way back to Clapham junction (then a short walk to where I lived at the time)

Forget the tube. Next time I visit London I'm going bus hopping thanks to this thread.

The 94 is clearly the best and naicest used to get on every day after school in Holland Park, back when they were still Routemasters.
However my most used was probably a 207. You saw all of humanity if you used that daily

I agree about the 15, but only east to west

all the bus routes are cut short these days, it's rubbish

and night buses used to be better when you could get them all (pretty much) from Trafalgar Square. Me and my friends would all head down there together and then go our separate ways.

Night bus routes bear little resemblance to the day
routes which really pisses me off if I miss the last non N bus.

27 through Kensington to Knightsbridge

9 oh how I loved it so! took me home

73? Any one remember that one

52 from Church street to Ladbroke Grove my school bus

Happy days happy days

Terrific thread OP, thanks.

I will always love the 94, hop on at Shepherds Bush heading to Oxford St. I’d gaze at the homes in Holland’s Park and Notting Hill, which were gorgeous and way out of my renting price range.

Happy days!

The 13 for me, getting on at Oxford Street and going round the back up past Baker Street, St John's Wood, Swiss Cottage, Finchley Road etc. And the 274 through Kentish Town, saw Ken Loach on that a few times as he lived down the road from me. The 3/N3 through Brixton got me home many times when I lived there. 29 up to Wood Green for work, through Green Lanes, Turnpike Lane.

I don't really miss London but that has made me very nostalgic! Oh the freedom of a monthly travelcard!