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The present day route 1 is a shadow of its former self. The route once ran from Willesden to Lewisham, and more recently provided part of the service between Lewisham and Bromley. However it has since retracted at both ends, largely without direct replacement. The new night equivalent, N1, goes off in a completely different direction, to Thamesmead.

Although essentially now a south London route, it was won late in 1998 by First Capital, a company from North East London, which operated it from a base in distant Dagenham! The route was later re-allocted a bit nearer home at Hackney.

Changes connected with the Jubilee Line extension in 1999 saw the 199 withdrawn between Surrey Quays and Elephant & Castle. Once again the 1 became the only route serving South Bermondsey on an East-West axis, the theory being that passengers would transfer to the Jubilee Line. Needless to say, they did not, and severe overcrowding resulted at peak times on this section. Extra buses had to be introduced; these were provided by a variety of operators, but notably Blue Triangle. They were eventually absorbed into the main schedule by First Capital itself.

Meanwhile, London Buses owned East Thames Buses found itself needing to re-locate from Ash Grove to make way for the new bendy buses on the 38, and a suitable base was found in Southwark. However, most of the Ash Grove routes were well away from Southwark, so it made sense for a swaparound of routes to occur, and ETB’s routes north of the Thames (128/150) were put out to tender while ETB assumed the 1/N1, which were due for tender in November anyway.

Photo © Jordan Young.

These changes took place on 15 October 2005, and ETB’s batch of newish Volvo B7TLs with Wright Eclipse Gemini bodywork duly transferred onto the 1. Here VWL 3 sets off from Centrepoint, otherwise known as Tottenham Court Road Station, the route’s central London terminus.

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See also routes 38, N1, 199

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