Route 621

Route 621
11 June 2010

Route 621 began when the trunk route 21 (Foots Cray to Moorgate) was split in October 1997. The 21 had run in sections during the day on Mondays to Fridays, Foots Cray to Eltham/Lewisham/New Cross Gate and Eltham to Moorgate; a through service ran in early mornings and evenings, and at weekends when the service terminated at London Bridge. In 1997 the 21 was shortened to run between Lewisham and Moorgate, with a new single deck 321 service covering the Foots Cray – New Cross Gate section on an increased frequency.

Before the changes, one of the Eltham-Moorgate journeys on the 21 in each peak on school days had been extended to Crown Woods School in Avery Hill. The new simplified service structure (with no buses terminating in Eltham from either direction) meant that was no longer possible, and hence the 621 was born. The routeing was between Lewisham and Avery Hill direct via the existing route. The double deckers on the 621 also provided valuable extra capacity between Eltham and Lewisham, a section which had seen a significant reduction in capacity as a result of the changes.

Later, in 2000, one afternoon journey was diverted to run via Well Hall roundabout, providing some new journey opportunities, and the following year both journeys in both directions were revised to follow this routeing. Later still, in 2003, the route was diverted to operate more directly from Well Hall Circus to the school via Rochester Way, thus missing out Eltham altogether – the 624 and 660 still link this area to the school. Revised stopping and picking up arrangements resulted in buses towards the school being diverted via Westmount Road in 2007.

The route has always been run from New Cross garage, and standard PVL class double deckers are now used. London Central PVL263 (PN02 XBL) proceeds onto Well Hall Circus from Rochester Way on an afternoon run on 28 February 2008. The very low loading leads one to question whether two journeys are still needed on this route, especially as (judging from the running number) this appears to be the first of the two. However, the school has unusual finishing arrangements, with two journeys at 1455 on Fridays but one at 1455 and one at 1555 on Mondays to Thursdays, so it is difficult to be sure.

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Chronologically 302 111

Numerically 614 624
See also routes 21, 321

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