London Buses route P12

London Buses route P12 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, United Kingdom. The service is currently contracted to Go-Ahead London.

History
There has been quite a bit of shuffling of vehicle types at route P12's Peckham base over the years.

In 1988, a batch of Optare StarRider bodied Mercedes-Benz 811D minibuses was acquired to inaugurate the new Peckham network of routes, P11 (now 381), P12 and P13. Those on the P11 were replaced in 1991 by new, larger, Dennis Darts, but these were still not big enough, and the P11 was eventually converted to double deck, and the DRLs moved to quieter duties at Bexleyheath, mainly on the 178 and B16.

Subsequently, a further batch of DRLs was acquired for the P12 when the 295 was converted to double deck operation. They provided a useful capacity boost on this short but busy service, which provided the main bus link to Nunhead. At the time the P12 ran between Peckham and Brenchley Gardens in Brockley only, with a loop at the latter end.

The remaining Optare StarRider on the P13 were then replaced by slightly newer MRL class Optare MetroRider minibuses from Putney.

They lasted only a matter of months before being replaced by DW class short Dennis Darts, and in practice these were mixed with the DRL class buses on routes P12 and P13. But these did not last long either, as the opportunity arose to replace them with more DRLs, returned from Bexleyheath, where they had been replaced by new low floor Darts.

London General had won the contract for routes 200 and 201 in the Mitcham area in 1995, and bought 16 new Plaxton Pointer bodied 9m Darts. But they were numbered DPL 1-16, despite their similarity to the DRLs. The DRL code stood for Dennis/Reeve Burgess Long, Reeve Burgess having designed the Pointer but quickly sold the design rights to Plaxton. In fact there are very few Reeve Burgess Pointers anywhere, but the first few at London Buses were, and the code stuck despite the move to Plaxton. Anyhow, the loss of the 200 and 201 to Mitcham Belle resulted in the DPLs moving to Peckham, where they ousted many of the older DRLs.

An interesting extension occurred upon contract renewal on 9 October 1999, from Brenchley Gardens to Brockley Rise. The DPLs subsequently left Peckham again, enabled by the acquisition of new 9.4m low floor LDP class Darts for the P13 in 2001. The P12 reverted to the hands of DRLs once again, as well as the odd LDP, although the increased width of LDPs presents some problems on the many narrow roads on this route. In particular, some delicate maneuvering is often required to negotiate badly parked cars near Nunhead railway station. Nonetheless further LDPs from London General's first order were acquired from Sutton garage following the delivery of newer LDPs there, largely ousting the remaining high floor Darts.

Loss of the P13 to Travel London from 9 October 2004 resulted in the 2001 LDPs taking over the P12 in its entirety. As part of these contract changes, the P12 received a further extension from Peckham to Surrey Quays via the former P13 routing. This provided a much needed frequency increase over this section from every 15 to every 10 minutes, and also made the lengthy P13 marginally more manageable.

There has long been a bus service along Ivydale Road, which was originally the main traffic objective of the P12. For many years this was the circular P3, from Peckham in a bi-directional loop via Peckham Rye, Ivydale Road and Nunhead Lane, running about every 9 minutes using LTL single deck buses from Nunhead (AH) garage, later moved to Old Kent Road (P) and converted to ST. The conversion to double deck after the war resulted in a pointless renumbering to 173, following which the area was covered by the 70/70A. The P12 replaced the latter in November 1988.

Route departing Surrey Quays

 * Surrey Quays Shopping Centre
 * Surrey Quays Station
 * Redriff Road
 * Surrey Quays Road
 * Canada Water Station
 * Surrey Quays Road
 * Lower Road
 * Rotherhithe
 * Jamaica Road
 * Southwark Park Road
 * St James's Road
 * Catlin Street
 * Rotherhithe New Road
 * Ilderton Road
 * South Bermondsey Station
 * Ilderton Road
 * Tustin Estate
 * Old Kent Road
 * Asylum Road
 * Queens Road
 * Peckham High Street
 * Clayton Road
 * Hanover Park
 * Rye Lane
 * Peckham Rye Station
 * Rye Lane
 * Peckham Rye east arm
 * Nunhead Lane
 * Evelina Road
 * Kimberley Avenue
 * Gibbon Road
 * Nunhead Station
 * Oakdale Road
 * Ivydale Road
 * Merttins Road
 * Brenchley Gardens
 * Forest Hill Road
 * Honor Oak Park
 * Brockley Rise Post Office

Route departing Brockley Rise

 * Brockley Rise Post Office
 * Stondon Park
 * Honor Oak Park
 * Forest Hill Road
 * Brenchley Gardens
 * Merttins Road
 * Ivydale Road
 * Oakdale Road
 * Nunhead Station
 * Gibbon Road
 * Evelina Road
 * Nunhead Lane
 * East Dulwich Road
 * Peckham Rye west arm
 * Rye Lane
 * Peckham Rye Station
 * Rye Lane
 * Peckham High Street
 * Queens Road
 * Asylum Road
 * Old Kent Road
 * Tustin Estate
 * Ilderton Road
 * South Bermondsey Station
 * Ilderton Road
 * Rotherhithe New Road
 * Catlin Street
 * St James's Road
 * Southwark Park Road
 * Jamaica Road
 * Rotherhithe
 * Lower Road
 * Surrey Quays Road
 * Canada Water Station
 * Surrey Quays Road
 * Lower Road
 * Surrey Quays Shopping Centre (for Surrey Quays Station)