 | Photo © Lee Whitehead. |
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The 73 is one of London's busiest routes and, like most similar routes, has been converted to Mercedes Citaro operation, starting from 4 September 2004. There was a bit of a Routemaster cull on that day, with routes 9 and 390 also converting from crew to one person operation, albeit using double deckers. Prior to conversion, the 73 had the highest peak vehicle requirement of any London route, at 55 RMLs, although at 43 artics it is now pipped to the post by the 38 with a PVR of 44 – the 38 previously had 50 RMLs, showing an imbalance with the more cautious way the later conversion of the 38 was handled. Showing its articulation to good effect, MA48 (MX04 MYS) turns out of Park Lane onto the Marble Arch roundabout on a 73 journey to Tottenham on 23 April 2006.
| Photo © Lee Whitehead. |
The destination of Seven Sisters, rather than Tottenham Swan as would previously have been expected, was the product of something of a farce at the time of conversion. The Routemasters had run out of Tottenham garage, but (as with most older London garages) the artics could not be accommodated there, so a new base in Leeside Road, Edmonton, was procured. Buses starting from this garage would not conveniently be able to serve the first stop at Tottenham Swan, and had to start at Seven Sisters Station instead. Instead of allowing such an anomaly to persist, TfL cut back the entire service in both directions to this point, even though most journeys – including all northbound journeys – still run past the Swan!
Despite that, the 73 retains what is a most unusual anomaly for London, in that many journeys, including the entire northbound morning peak service, terminate at Stoke Newington. Strictly speaking, the route runs from Stoke Newington, not Tottenham, to Victoria – but where possible buses run to and from Tottenham garage anyway for crew changes, and run in service (albeit now only as far as Seven Sisters!). During peak hours, however, all buses are needed in service between Stoke Newington and Victoria. Therefore, after the last bus has run out at 0817, there is no service north of Stoke Newington until the first bus runs in at 1001. On Sunday mornings a further variation exists, when three buses run to and from Stamford Hill garage for reliefs!
There is now a similar gap in the afternoon, and the gap in the morning is longer than was originally the case. This is because it was discovered that, in practice, artics cannot carry as many passengers as had been expected, and that they were not as fast as expected. The timetable was therefore adjusted to provide extra journeys and longer running times, but as no extra buses were available this had to be done partly by reducing the service north of Stoke Newington, particularly in the afternoon.
A further interesting variation was evident on the Routemaster timetable. As can be seen, that had short workings in both directions terminating at Tottenham Court Road from the north and at Oxford Circus from the south, often with two such short workings in the same gap between through journeys. Although partly no doubt to create a more efficient duty schedule, this reflects the way the 73 caters for two distinct markets – the obvious market from Stoke Newington and Newington Green into the West End, but also commuter traffic from Victoria station to Oxford Street.
This latter market is particularly interesting since it was also the market aimed at by the first Red Arrow route, the 500. Victoria was linked to the western end of Oxford Street by the 2 group, and to Oxford Circus by the 25 via Davies Street/New Bond Street. However, there was no direct route running along Oxford Street itself – the 73 at this time diverted at Hyde Park Corner to Hammersmith, Richmond and Hounslow. To correct this deficiency, new Red Arrow route 500 was introduced from 18th April 1966, running on Mondays to Fridays only from Victoria via Hyde Park Corner and Park Lane, and then in a loop via Brook Street, Hanover Square, Oxford Street and Marble Arch and back to Victoria. During peak hours, the route ran betwen Victoria and Marble Arch only.
This was in fact a very significant milestone in London's transport history. At that time, most buses were crew-operated double deckers, and single deckers were only used on routes with light loadings or restrictions such as low bridges. The 500, however, introduced the concept of one-person-operated, single-deck "standee" buses on busy corridors. 14 Strachens-bodied AEC Swifts formed the XMS class, which LT called 'Merlins,' having just 25 seats, but room for 48 standees. A flat fare was charged, passengers depositing 6d (2½p) coins into a slot machine. Although the buses were not hugely successful from a mechanical point of view, it is a pity that none were saved for preservation, given their significance.
A weekend service was soon added, although the Sunday service was withdrawn again in 1973, when the route was also diverted to run along Oxford Street in both directions. The peak hour service was extended to Oxford Circus the following year. The 500 lasted until 1988, when the 73 was diverted to Victoria to replace it, the section to Hammersmith being replaced by route 10. (The section of the 73 beyond Hammersmith was largely replaced by the 33 in 1967.) Now, artic conversion of the 73 has reintroduced the standee mode of operation to the Victoria-Oxford Street corridor. Although it works fairly well at this end, passengers at the northern end of the route, making long journeys into central London, are less impressed!
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