London Buses route C11

London Buses route C11 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, United Kingdom. The service is currently contracted to Metroline.

History
The Greater London Council took control of London Transport in 1970, with a policy of providing bus services to all areas within the London area. Previously bus routing had been restricted in areas such as Hampstead and Highgate due to narrow residential roads being unsuitable for double deckers, but the rise in one man operation prompted the suggestion that small buses would be able to traverse these roads, without the intrusion a double deck brings.

Route C11 CamdenLink, the C standing for Camden, began on 28 October 1972, from Highgate Bus Garage, running between Cricklewood Broadway and Archway Station, via Hampstead Heath and Parliament Hill Fields. The route initially ran with a flat fare of 10p, Monday to Friday peak hours and Saturday shopping hours. It was later extended, at different points in time, to Kings Cross and Willesden Green, and then withdrawn and finally extended to Brent Cross.

The C11 was initially operated by FS-class Ford Transit minibuses, based on the Ford Transit van chassis they became nicknamed 'breadvans'. The 'breadvans' only lasted until August 1975 when they were replaced by larger Bristol LH buses. There have been many type changes through the years, a mixture of Plaxton Pointer and Marshall Capital-bodied Dennis Dart SLFs are currently used.

Before the Bristol LH single deck buses arrived, PBU 951M a Seddon Pennine Midibus demonstrator in yellow and blue livery was used on this route in January 1973 for evaluation purposes.

In October 1976 the route was extended from Cricklewood Broadway to Willesden Green, this extension lasted until 4 September 1982 when the route was withdrawn between West Hampstead and Willesden Green, but to compensate was extended at the eastern end from Archway to Kings Cross, replacing the withdrawn route 239. Further route changes happened in 1984 when in March the West Hampstead to Cricklewood section was reinstated, running via Mill Lane, and in October the route was extended further to Brent Cross via Cricklewood Lane and the current route.

The route transferred from London Northern to R&I Coaches on 21 July 1990, and was converted to Dennis Dart. On the same day the settled route of Kings Cross to Brent Cross was split into two over-lapping services: C11 operating between Brent Cross and Archway and C12 operating between Swiss Cottage and Kings Cross. During July 1998, however, the C12 service was withdrawn and replaced by an extension of route 10 between Kings Cross and Archway, and some additional short workings between Archway and Finchley Road Station on the C11. These short workings were later extended to work the whole route from Archway to Brent Cross.

R&I Coaches were bought out by MTL on 24 October 1995, and MTL was bought out by Metroline in 1998. In November 2002 the route was moved from Holloway to Cricklewood Garage, but returned in July 2003. In February 2005 the route transferred to FE Thorpes, from Perivale Garage, but the later buy out saw the route return to Metroline within a year.

In July 2010, route C11s contract was retained by Metroline and bought new Alexander Dennis Enviro200 Darts (10.2m) to replace the Dennis Dart SLF 10.2m / Plaxton Pointer 2.

Current route

 * Brent Cross Shopping Centre
 * Cricklewood Station
 * West Hampstead Underground Station
 * West Hampstead National Rail Stations
 * Finchley Road Station
 * Swiss Cottage Station
 * Belsize Park Station
 * Royal Free Hospital
 * Hampstead Heath South End Green
 * Gospel Oak Station
 * Parliament Hill Fields
 * Archway Station Macdonald Road