London Buses route 521

London Buses route 521 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, United Kingdom. The service is currently contracted to Go-Ahead London.

History
Service 521 is one of two Red Arrow routes, the other being route 507, that survived into 2009.

Routes 507 and 521 were the first bus routes in London to be converted to articulated buses, also known as bendy buses. From 2 June 2002, a new fleet of 18m articulated Mercedes-Benz Citaro entered service on the route, replacing the ageing Leyland National single deckers. Being commuter routes, and so little used outside peak times, these routes were suitable to test the bendy buses on, rather than a major trunk route. Also, many passengers are short distance travellers and unlikely to use the top deck, and they would not have to stand over long periods of time. At the time peak journeys on route 521 ran via the Strand Underpass rather than Aldwych, making double deck operation impossible.

During late 2003, early 2004, a series of onboard fires on newly delivered Mercedes-Benz Citaros led to withdrawal of the entire fleet, while Mercedes-Benz made some modifications. During this period service 521 was officially suspended, although some Dennis Darts did manage to run some services.

The RA garage code was first introduced when the Red Arrow buses were based at Walworth garage before Waterloo Garage was opened in 1981. There were fears that the artics would be unable to use the cramped Waterloo site, and Camberwell, just across the road from Walworth, was considered for a time. However, these problems were resolved in time for operation to start at Waterloo. In April 2007, the route was diverted to serve the Strand Underpass at all time, an evening service being added at the same time.

Being the first of the routes to be converted to bendy bus operation, the 521 (soon after the 507) was the second route to have its bendy buses replaced, from September 2009, as part of the move to replace London's articulated buses. The articulated Citaros have been replaced by new 12 metre rigid versions.

After the rush into service of the new route 507 Citaros, the 521 conversion went much more smoothly, with plenty of buses to run the route arriving in time. As part of the same batch for the 507 however, many entered service earlier without fleetnumbers, and the buses skipped the whole queue of buses waiting to be fitted with iBus.

The peak vehicle requirement has been increased from 19 to 31 to cope with the increased frequency, now at every 2-3 minutes during the peak. One criticism on articulated buses was high levels of fare evasion, yet the new Citaros retain open boarding, to help move commuters quickly from the busy rail termini. This has drawn further criticism, as the "Red Arrow" name was dropped on conversion, so there is nothing to distinguish the buses from normal services, with fears passengers may start boarding normal buses through the centre doors.

Another criticism of bendy buses was the low number of seats, with only 49 per vehicle. A standard rigid Citaro has 44 seats, however the new ones for route 507 and 521 have just 21, with room supposedly for up to 76 standees, leading to criticism the new buses were "cattle trucks" and even more crowded than the buses they replaced. Despite the increase in frequency, the total number of seats has dropped.

Route departing Waterloo

 * Waterloo Station Interchange
 * Tenison Way
 * Waterloo Road
 * Waterloo Bridge
 * Strand Underpass
 * Kingsway
 * Holborn Station
 * Southampton Row
 * Theobalds Road
 * Drake Street
 * Procter Street
 * High Holborn
 * Holborn
 * Holborn Circus
 * Holborn Viaduct
 * Newgate Street
 * King Edward Street
 * Angel Street
 * St. Martin's Le Grand
 * Cheapside
 * St Paul's Station
 * New Change
 * Cannon Street Station
 * Monument Station
 * King William Street
 * London Bridge
 * Borough High Street
 * Railway Approach
 * London Bridge Station

Route departing London Bridge

 * London Bridge Station
 * London Bridge Street
 * Borough High Street
 * London Bridge
 * King William Street
 * Monument Station
 * Cannon Street Station
 * New Change
 * St Paul's Station
 * Cheapside
 * Newgate Street
 * Holborn Viaduct
 * Holborn Circus
 * Holborn
 * High Holborn
 * Holborn Station
 * Kingsway
 * Aldwych
 * Strand
 * Lancaster Place
 * Waterloo Bridge
 * Waterloo Road
 * Waterloo Station Mepham Street