London Buses route 24 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, United Kingdom. The service is currently contracted to Abellio London.
History[]
Route 24 dates back to 1910, when it ran between Hampstead Heath and Victoria Station. In August 1912 was extended to Pimlico and has continued in that form until the present day, making this the oldest unchanged bus route in London. Thirty-three Daimler double-decker buses with 34 seats were allocated to route 24, now running between Pimlico and Hampstead, with the fleet name "British" painted in green livery. These buses were running from Camden Town (AQ) garage until they were replaced by AEC NS-Type buses in 1927. Thirty-three NS-type buses were used on route 24 until 1934.
Originally, the route was operated by the London General Omnibus Company, and later the British Automobile Traction Co until September 1933 when the London Passenger Transport Board, later London Transport Executive, was formed and ran under the name "London Transport".
During its life with London Transport, route 24 was operated mainly from Chalk Farm (CF) garage in Harmood Street. It was also run at times from Victoria (Gillingham Street) (GM) garage.
On 7 November 1965, the first 30 Leyland Atlanteans were introduced. It was the first route to use front-entrance double-deckers in London. Routes 67 and 271also trialled front-entrance buses. On 12 June 1966, the Atlanteans moved to Tottenham (AR) garage and were replaced by AEC Routemasters. The route was crew operated until 25 October 1986, apart from two short periods in 1965/1966 and 1975.
The route was the first central London route to be awarded under the tendering process to a private company, Grey-Green on 5 November 1988, using Alexander bodied Volvo Citybuses painted in its own grey, green and orange livery from its Stamford Hill (SF) garage. Grey-Green were owned by Cowie Group, and became part of Arriva London following the company's acquisition of two other London operators.
On 8 November 1997, the route was retained by Grey-Green.
A night element to the route was introduced on 27 November 1999, in the form of route N24, to replace part of the withdrawn route N2 between Hampstead Heath and Pimlico.
On 9 November 2002, the route passed to Metrolineoperating from their Holloway (HT) garage with brand new Plaxton President bodied Volvo B7TLs introduced.
On 24 April 2004, the N - prefix was dropped and the route was converted into a 24-hour service.
On 3 January 2006, the Plaxton President bodied Volvo B7TLs were replaced by brand new Alexander Dennis Enviro 400s.
On 10 November 2007, the route passed to London General operating from their Stockwell (SW) garage with brand new Alexander Dennis Enviro 400s introduced.
In 2009, brand new Alexander Dennis Enviro 400Hs and a Wright Pulsar Gemini HEV were introduced alongside the existing Alexander Dennis Enviro 400s.
On 10 November 2012, the route passed back to Metroline operating from their Holloway (HT) garage with brand new Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 bodied Volvo B5LHs and Volvo B9TLs introduced.
On 22 June 2013, the Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 bodied Volvo B5LHs and Volvo B9TLs were replaced by brand New Routemasters.
On 9 November 2019, the route passed to Abellio London operating from their Battersea (QB) garage using existing New Routemasters.
Current route[]
Route departing Pimlico[]
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Route departing Hampstead Heath[]
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See also[]
References[]
External links[]
| List of bus routes in London |
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1-99 | 100-199 | 200-299 | 300-399 | 400-499 | 500-599 | 600-699 | Letter prefix | Night only |