London Buses route 390

London Buses route 390 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, United Kingdom. The service is currently contracted to Metroline.

History
The route 390 is now operated by Holloway (HT) garage by Metroline, and uses B7TLs with Plaxton President bodywork (VPL class). They were amongst some of the last buses built at the former Northern Counties plant and amongst the last Plaxton Presidents.



This route began on 1 February 2003 to replace the withdrawn section of route 10 between Archway and Kings Cross (the northern part). Over the years route 10 had becoming a mammoth to operate because of its sheer length, and it was split once in the 1988 (from route 73) and then again in 2003 to split it further. The buses initially used were Routemasters which were operated by Metroline from HT (Holloway) garage. It did seem a bit odd that the less glamorous section of the route to Archway obtained the Routemasters but this was because the part of the route that kept the 10 number used Trident/Alexander ALX400 (TNAs) of First London.

The route originally ran to south of Archway, to the rear of Holloway garage, but on 6 February 2004 it was extended from Marble Arch to Notting Hill Gate via withdrawn section of route 12.

The route was retendered in 2004/5 and was awarded to Metroline but was stripped of the Routemasters and tendered on the condition of low-floor one-person operation. The VPLs were purchased, and these were a batch with televisions installed at the front of the upper deck windscreen and on the lower deck too.

The route was then transferred to Kings Cross garage which acts as a substation to Holloway to take pressure off capacity as this is one of the Garages closest to Central London.

Current route

 * Archway Station


 * Tufnell Park Station


 * Kings Cross Station


 * St Pancras Station


 * Euston Station


 * Euston Square Station for Warren Street Station 


 * Tottenham Court Road Station


 * Oxford Circus Station


 * Bond Street Station


 * Marble Arch Station


 * Lancaster Gate Station


 * Queensway Station


 * Notting Hill Gate Station