Route 167

Route 167
18 July 2007

The 167 is a rare survivor of the once extensive network of Central Buses routes penetrating out into the country. Really, whether routes were Central Buses or Country Buses depended on what garage they were run from, and Central Buses happened to have a depot in Loughton, so they operated nearly everything that went through Loughton.

Little has changed since the route’s introduction just after the last war, the most significant change being a diversion between Buckhurst Hill and Loughton via Loughton Way instead of Palmerston Road and Epping High Road, replacing route 250, in the September 1982 cut-backs. It was simultaneously extended from Debden Station via Oakwood Hill back to Loughton replacing the 255, producing a rather strange loop arrangement! In the process, the route passed (twice) under the low bridge at Loughton station, forcing a conversion to single deck (initially LS class).

From 24 May 1986, the route, together with the 20, was lost to Eastern National, resulting in the closure of Loughton garage. In 1988, the section from Debden to Loughton via Oakwood Hill was replaced by a new local route 215 (operated for Essex Council, no doubt at lower cost) but the 167 was diverted via the Debden Estate, almost paralleling the 20. Coincidentally, the 167 had originally terminated at Debden Estate (not reaching Debden at all), but this had been replaced by the 20.

Eastern National’s southern operations became Thamesway in 1990, but they lost the 167 to Grey Green in 1992, which bought brand new Ikarus bodied DAF SB220 single deckers — an unusual type. Contract renewal in 1997 resulted in new low floor Darts and an increase from two to 3 buses per hour during the day on Mondays to Saturdays. Although the contract remained with Grey-Green, GG was soon to be absorbed into the Arriva London empire, resulting in the return of red buses.

A further contract renewal in 2002 generated quite a surprise. The tender result announcement was delayed, and this turned out to be because the route had been awarded to a company new to London Buses operations, Docklands Minibuses. Thankfully, decent sized buses are used, and the buses carry Docklands Buses names — though still quite inappropriate for a route through Essex and Redbridge, but there we are! Again, the frequency was improved, this time to every 15 minutes, although thanks to TfL over-spend was reduced back to every 20 minutes on 26 February 2005, with additional school journeys introduced on 3 January 2006.

Upon re-tendering in 2006-07 the route was successfully retained by the company, which has recently been acquired by the Go-Ahead group. The original Caetano Nimbus bodied Darts have been replaced by new MCV Evolution bodied Enviro200Darts, and ED27 (LX07 BYU) was seen in Ilford on Saturday 2 June 2007.

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Chronologically T33 286

Numerically 166 169
See also routes 20, 319

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