london buses: best route for tourists?

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been asked to recommend the best bus route for a non-londoner to get on and see london.

the 10 is usually recommended (hammersmith-kensington-royal albert hall-knighstbridge-hyde park-marble arch-oxford st-euston-kings cross), but i think the 24 is perhaps better (victoria-westminster-trafalgar square-leicester square-tottenham court road-camden market-hampstead heath). the 19 was always my fabourite bus, i know there are tourist buses but this person doesn't want to do this but get a *real* bus. what do you recommend?

― gareth (gareth), Monday, 23 September 2002 10:55 (twenty-three years ago)

38!! 253!! er that's it

― mark s (mark s), Monday, 23 September 2002 10:57 (twenty-three years ago)

i'm not sure this person really wants to see stamford hill and manor house

― gareth (gareth), Monday, 23 September 2002 10:59 (twenty-three years ago)

the new bendy one that me Tim and Vicky caught the other week. The W1?? goes both sides of the Thame, could be a cracker, especially as it crosse the river twice.

― chris (chris), Monday, 23 September 2002 11:04 (twenty-three years ago)

is it a doubledecker between-floors bendy one?

― mark s (mark s), Monday, 23 September 2002 11:09 (twenty-three years ago)

yup, we rocked it so we scraped the ground from the top deck.

― chris (chris), Monday, 23 September 2002 11:12 (twenty-three years ago)

What about the 11 then? St Paul's, Traf Sq, Parliament, King's Road (dick a dum dum), erm Fulham Broadway well you can't have everything.

― Marcello Carlin, Monday, 23 September 2002 11:13 (twenty-three years ago)

ooh ooh the 94 does a lovely West End - Notting Hill via hyde park sorta thing! (you can carry on to shepherds bush/acton but quite frankly my dere i do not advise it)

― katie (katie), Monday, 23 September 2002 11:14 (twenty-three years ago)

207

― jel -- (jel), Monday, 23 September 2002 11:14 (twenty-three years ago)

Route 11 is quite good: Liverpool Street-City/Bank of England etc.-St. Paul's-Ludgate Hill-Fleet Street-Aldwych-Strand-Westminster-Victoria-Chelsea (Kings Road)-Fulham.

Until 1965 it was possible to take the 38 all the way from Victoria to Epping Forest (High Beach), admittedly only on Summer Sundays.

― David (David), Monday, 23 September 2002 11:14 (twenty-three years ago)

381: the glory of Peckham library, 2 of the better nu-Jubilee stations, Tower Bridge, Southwark Cathedral, London Eye, and nopt having to go north of the river once.

More seriously, David's right about the 11: the 8 and the 23 are similarly good through the City and onto the West End.

The 12 is great too: Hyde Park Oxford St Regent St Trafalgar Sq Whitehall Westminster Bridge, back end of Waterloo, Elephant and Castle, Peckham... it just gets better & better. There used to be little poems about how great the 12 is on display in the 12. It also ends at a fictional place: Dulwich Plough, long gone.

― Tim (Tim), Monday, 23 September 2002 11:45 (twenty-three years ago)

tim do you remember when it was all fields round here?

― mark s (mark s), Monday, 23 September 2002 11:48 (twenty-three years ago)

11 and
15 (which IIRC starts in Docklands, does Tower of London, Fleet Street and Trafalgar Sq, & terminates at Paddington)

― Jeff W (Jeff W), Monday, 23 September 2002 13:11 (twenty-three years ago)

Tim is right - 12. Does it not go as far as Shepherd's Bush anymore? It used to go even further I think. It is the best bus no question.

― N. (nickdastoor), Monday, 23 September 2002 18:56 (twenty-three years ago)

XI was my school bus! good times.

― felicity (felicity), Monday, 23 September 2002 19:28 (twenty-three years ago)

I think I got the 19 a few times when I was studying in North London. Ladbroke House to Forbidden Planet! very nice!

― jel -- (jel), Monday, 23 September 2002 21:07 (twenty-three years ago)

The 12 doesn't go as far as Shepherds Bush anymore. Only the 94 does the Shepherds Bush - Oxford Circus route nowadays.

― RickyT (RickyT), Tuesday, 24 September 2002 07:56 (twenty-three years ago)

ten months pass...

What's a good route for my upcoming trip? I liked the Arsenal drive-by, mercurial though it was.

― Mary (Mary), Thursday, 24 July 2003 04:44 (twenty-two years ago)

38 is pretty good Clapton diagonally through the centre to victoria. It kind of has to be a routemaster really. So 19 (almost the same route), 73 (tottenham Swan to Victoria)

― Ed (dali), Thursday, 24 July 2003 08:26 (twenty-two years ago)

73 is good but gets stuck forever around King's Cross

― N. (nickdastoor), Thursday, 24 July 2003 08:28 (twenty-two years ago)

Or maybe it doesn't anymore thanks to Magic Red Ken.

― N. (nickdastoor), Thursday, 24 July 2003 08:28 (twenty-two years ago)

73 still takes forever. I tried getting it a couple of times from Bond Street and it was much slower to Angel than getting the 98 or 7 and changing to the 19 or 38 at centrepoint.

― RickyT (RickyT), Thursday, 24 July 2003 08:33 (twenty-two years ago)

19/38 is quick

― gareth (gareth), Thursday, 24 July 2003 08:36 (twenty-two years ago)

the 73 can get stuck but it does depend when you take it. I took it yesterday when it wasn't rush hour and it was fine.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Thursday, 24 July 2003 08:37 (twenty-two years ago)

Getting a bus over the river is the best thing ever. None of those weirdy North-East London ones do that. My recommendation remains the 12, but I'm biased because it goes to my house. Getting the 12 to the Clock House on Peckham Rye = great idea. They have clocks.

― Tim (Tim), Thursday, 24 July 2003 08:45 (twenty-two years ago)

What about the 88?

Camden Town, Warren Street, Great Portland Street, Oxford Circus, Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square, Westminster, Great Smith Street, Tate Gallery, Vauxhall, Stockwell, Clapham Common (Old Town)

Clapham to Camden! Camden to Clapham! I bet ILE would just love that.

Although I am increasingly coming to the conclusion that the best way to view London is by BOAT.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Thursday, 24 July 2003 08:56 (twenty-two years ago)

the 19 does do that tim. anyway i stand by my suggestions that the 10 and the 24 are the best for the stated purpose of the thread

― gareth (gareth), Thursday, 24 July 2003 08:59 (twenty-two years ago)

I always find the City more interesting by bus than the West End, but then I find Peckham more interesting than either.

― Tim (Tim), Thursday, 24 July 2003 09:02 (twenty-two years ago)

Incidentally, as recommended by Ed at the weekend, get off a bus at Clerkenwell and WALK through the Inns of Court right down to the river.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Thursday, 24 July 2003 09:05 (twenty-two years ago)

jel and i rock the 27 and 94 fools

― stevem (blueski), Thursday, 24 July 2003 09:37 (twenty-two years ago)

The 19 is probably the IDEAL Mary choice. Start at the Angel, down Rosebery Avenue and then through Holborn to Centre Point, through Chinatown down Shaftesbury Avenue, Piccadilly Circus, then Piccadilly all the way down to no. 1. London and Knightsbridge/Harvey Nichols. The bus turns down Sloane Street (Chanel! Gucci! Prada! You name it!) and at Sloane Square turns into King's Road (every fucking shop ever and the JAPANESE SOCK SHOP). You get your river cross at the very end of the route, and you can see Norman Foster's office/flat right on the south bank at Battersea, it's fairly iconic.

Best mobile fashion show: the 55. All the fashion/design/art colleges are on its route, as is Conde Nast, Edgy Style Mag, Dazed, The Face etc. It is full of UK garage/hip-hop bling girls who get on in Clapton and Hackney, art students/artists from Hackney and Shoreditch, models going back and forth to castings, Japanese bleeding-edgers in funny glasses on their way to Magma or the Architectural Association bar, hip-hop guys with their trousers around their ankles...you get the gist. I love the 55.

― suzy (suzy), Thursday, 24 July 2003 10:40 (twenty-two years ago)

i miss the 19. but is essential to get it all way from finsbury park, but then mary has already seen the arsenal crowds at finsbury park

― gareth (gareth), Thursday, 24 July 2003 10:42 (twenty-two years ago)

Gareth, the 19 stops at the Official Vine Hill Bus Stop too ;-).

― suzy (suzy), Thursday, 24 July 2003 10:50 (twenty-two years ago)

The 55 also goes to the picturesque Bakers arms too, although the 54 will get you there quicker

― chris (chris), Thursday, 24 July 2003 10:51 (twenty-two years ago)

The 55 also contains my dad.

― RickyT (RickyT), Thursday, 24 July 2003 11:03 (twenty-two years ago)

23 goes to TOWER (Not rekkids).. Its a good City Routemaster.

― Pete (Pete), Thursday, 24 July 2003 11:14 (twenty-two years ago)

However the 23 *does* go to the W11 Rough Trade Shop.

― suzy (suzy), Thursday, 24 July 2003 11:20 (twenty-two years ago)

453 and 501 bendy red arrows pass some good spots. The 453 starts at the really pretty marlybone station and goes down portland place and regents street, through picadilly and trafalgar squares and on to depford. The 501 is the short waterloo liverpool streetbus but it goes right through some of the best bits of the city.

― Ed (dali), Thursday, 24 July 2003 11:48 (twenty-two years ago)

ANd is also a well known make of jeans.

― Pete (Pete), Thursday, 24 July 2003 11:48 (twenty-two years ago)

and is BENDY!!!

― CarsmileSteve (CarsmileSteve), Thursday, 24 July 2003 12:40 (twenty-two years ago)

ANd hence as a bendy bus not a PROPER London bus. I feel strongly that it's Routemaster or nothing for this thread.

― Pete (Pete), Thursday, 24 July 2003 12:44 (twenty-two years ago)

Thanks all; IlxLondon is the bestest. Will report back with actual routes taken;)

― Mary (Mary), Thursday, 24 July 2003 14:32 (twenty-two years ago)

When are you coming to London, Mary?

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Thursday, 24 July 2003 14:49 (twenty-two years ago)

Not planned yet, hopefully in Sept ;)

― Mary (Mary), Thursday, 24 July 2003 14:50 (twenty-two years ago)

one month passes...

The 12 and the 88 sound intriguing. Suzy, please tell me about the Japanese sock shop. Which buses stop near Clerkenwell?

― Mary (Mary), Tuesday, 2 September 2003 05:08 (twenty-two years ago)

two weeks pass...

bus routes for last week:

19. clerkenwell-angel
56. angel-dalston-hackney-clapton-lea bridge
D6. london fields-bethnal green-globe town-mile end-limehouse
15. limehouse-stepney
55. hoxton-old st-farringdon-clerkenwell

19. clerkenwell-holborn-tottenham court road-piccadilly-hydeparkcorner-knightsbridge-sloane square
322. vauxhall-stockwell-brixton
345. brixton-camberwell-peckham
177. peckham-new cross-deptford-greenwich
76. st pauls-bank-moorgate-hoxton-de beauvoir town
243. de beauvoir town-hoxton-shoreditch-farringdon-clerkenwell

98. oxford circus-marble arch-bayswater-notting hill
205. paddington-marylebone-gt portland st
c2. great portland st-regents park-camden-kentish town-gospel oak-parliament hill fields
214. parliament hill fields-highgate

― gareth (gareth), Wednesday, 17 September 2003 13:00 (twenty-two years ago)

I liked the Art School Disco 55 bus; I also road it from Clarkenwell to Selfridges. Actually, I had to get out a little earlier and walk to Selfridges. It's final stop is at Oxford Circus?

― Mary (Mary), Wednesday, 17 September 2003 16:04 (twenty-two years ago)

one year passes...

at first it was the 19, though i harboured a secret crush on the 38, then i flirted with the 106 and the 238. the 393 was ultimately a disappointment, and i just couldnt love the 271. the 76 and the 141 both had a place in my heart, alongside the 341, that i'll admit. the 277 is a cutey, but spends too much time snaking around docklands. the 55, the 149 and the 242 tried, but they just didnt come close enough. i even had a fling with the ilx bus, the 91.

but, in the end, my love is true, i am another disciple of the hipster fave, the 253/254. i love you, 253/254, even though you have two numbers these days

― charltonlido (gareth), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 11:14 (twenty years ago)

which bus routes that lie within or at least infiltrate briefly zones 1-3 have people NOT travelled on?

― $V£N! (blueski), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 11:16 (twenty years ago)

starting with single figures, I've never been on the 1 (TCR - Canada Water), 3 (Oxford Circus - Crystal Palace) or 5 (Canning Town - Becontree). I may not even have ever taken the 9 (Hammersmith - Aldwych).

― $V£N! (blueski), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 11:30 (twenty years ago)

I'm going to work out all the routes I HAVE been on in London. And then see who can beat that number. And then we will know who is the best.

― $V£N! (blueski), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 11:33 (twenty years ago)

handy list: http://www.londonbusroutes.net/routes.htm

― $V£N! (blueski), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 11:33 (twenty years ago)

There is one that goes to somewhere or other library. That's good, isn't it? They usually go to Tesco's.

Buses round here are always stuck in bus jams. They have special bus jam lanes.

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 11:44 (twenty years ago)

20 and below, I've never been on the 5, 13, 15, 16, 18, 20. I can't be bothered to go further than that down the list.

― Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 11:45 (twenty years ago)

I would like a bus full of jam.

― $V£N! (blueski), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 12:02 (twenty years ago)

The rubber bits on the bottoms of the doors would spread it nicely onto toast: ideal dispensing.

― Liz :x (Liz :x), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 12:57 (twenty years ago)

three weeks pass...

i was on the 343 this morning, a new bus for me!

― charltonlido (gareth), Monday, 6 June 2005 14:38 (twenty years ago)

I am very fond of the 343. I would like to be on it now, going home.

― alix (alix), Monday, 6 June 2005 14:47 (twenty years ago)

i must have been in your neck of the woods, and tims, i guess. i was just off southampton way

― charltonlido (gareth), Monday, 6 June 2005 15:02 (twenty years ago)

North Peckham eh? I am more East Peckham myself. Did you enjoy it?

― Alix (alix), Monday, 6 June 2005 15:05 (twenty years ago)

i certainly did:)

― charltonlido (gareth), Monday, 6 June 2005 15:06 (twenty years ago)

mARVELLOUS nEWS

cocking caps lock.

― aLIX (alix), Monday, 6 June 2005 15:08 (twenty years ago)

Did the G child pull a Peckham sort?

― Sociah T Azzahole (blueski), Monday, 6 June 2005 15:15 (twenty years ago)

three months pass...

I suppose the thing with the 253/254 is that it's a weird route on the fine line between practical and nonsensical. Would anyone ever take it from one end to the other other than out of some perverse leisure principle? I don't suppose it attracts many commuters for lengthy journeys and that may be part of whatever charm it may appear to possess. Perhaps this is also true of the 106, which may have been overlooked somewhat.

I would have to say the best route for tourists now must be the 38 though, in it's end of days as a Routemaster. Walking out of my new flat this morning I could see it poised by Clapton Pond at the top of my road, a sleek beacon of dignity amidst the grime of the E5 streets, the re-assuring engine purr almost turning to a sigh as it pulled out onto Lower Clapton Road, not long for this world...

― Sociah T Azzahole (blueski), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 08:57 (twenty years ago)

You are channeling Travis Bidborough.

― suzy (suzy), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 09:16 (twenty years ago)

Yes I want that book.

― Sociah T Azzahole (blueski), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 09:22 (twenty years ago)

Is that that book about the Routemaster that Ian Sinclair revied in the Guardian Review a few weeks ago? if so, ooooh, I lust after it.

― Paranoid Spice (kate), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 09:27 (twenty years ago)

Tourists are advised to get on the 57 bus - in particular the stretch between Tooting Broadway and Streatham Hill - if they want to see the real London. Preferably at a weekday rush-hour, during school term.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 09:29 (twenty years ago)

We have the proof copy, although the photos ae grainy and all captioned with 'CAption of About Twenty Words. Caption of About Twenty Words'.

― Ed (dali), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 09:32 (twenty years ago)

Gah, even I won't ride the 57.

― Paranoid Spice (kate), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 09:35 (twenty years ago)

when does the 38 stop being a routemaster? sometime this month, right?

― toby (tsg20), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 09:43 (twenty years ago)

The last one runs on 29 October, I believe.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 09:51 (twenty years ago)

yeh i just googled and found a thread on Barbelith that says the same. i like the idea of jumping on it for it's final journey, by the sounds of it there will be some people gathering for it with booze in hand. at least the stagger home would be brief...

― Sociah T Azzahole (blueski), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 09:56 (twenty years ago)

Travis is a friend of ilx you know.

i can't believe how excited i was about bendy busses up there...

i've been getting the 253 LOTS recently, it seems so much quicker euston-my house than eg 73/476 or even (91/10/30/205)/259...

― CarsmileSteve (CarsmileSteve), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 09:58 (twenty years ago)

GOD I HATE BENDY BUSSES SO MUCH, ARGGGHHHHH.

Sorry I had to ride on one on Saturday. They never have enough seats. And to stand up, especially in the back part of one, for the best part of an hour is intolerable.

Plus, it's really hard to see out of them to figure out where you're going... ended up having to walk half a mile because I couldn't see that the place I wanted was 50 yards in front of the bus stop. Grrrr.

Sorry. I apologise for interrupting this thread with more bendybus hate.

― Paranoid Spice (kate), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 10:00 (twenty years ago)

My main commuting buses are the 24 and 159, and the 159 is still hanging onto Routemaster status, if only just. Actually that's not a bad tourist route if you stay on it the whole way - especially all the lovely picturesque scenery once you get past the Imperial War Museum...why you could almost be out in the countryside!

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 10:05 (twenty years ago)

253 is very handy when you live in holloway.

i tend to use mostly the finsbury parkeuston parts. but have rode it to hackney before when i wasn't in a hurry and couldn't be arsed to change buses.

― ken c (ken c), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 10:14 (twenty years ago)

253 from euston has the bonus of being the first stop and hence empty even on at 5:30pm for my going home purposes.

although i work closer to warren street, so i only hop the 253 at euston if i'm taking the 73->91/17/259 route and see one about to go off. doesn't stop me jumping 253 at camden from 24/134 though.

i love the 88 because it takes me neatly from warren street to oxford circus.

― ken c (ken c), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 10:18 (twenty years ago)

and that during morning rush hour if the 29 dumps me at camden the 88 is empty, and takes me right outside the mcdonald's so i can grab a breakfast before work.

― ken c (ken c), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 10:19 (twenty years ago)

http://www.routemaster.org.uk/rmnews.htm

Apparently the 38 ends as an RM on Friday 28th October, not the 29th. Very disappointing news.

― Sociah T Azzahole (blueski), Wednesday, 12 October 2005 12:56 (twenty years ago)

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