London Buses route 210
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This article does not cite any references or sources. (May 2009) |
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210
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| Overview | |
| Operator | Metroline |
| Garage | Cricklewood (W) |
| Vehicle | Alexander Dennis Enviro400 10.1m |
| Peak vehicle requirement | 17 |
| Night-time | No night service |
| Route | |
| Start | Finsbury Park |
| Via | Hornsey Archway Golders Green |
| End | Brent Cross |
| Length | 7 miles (12 km) |
| Service | |
| Level | Daily |
| Frequency | About every 8-12 minutes |
| Journey time | 32-55 minutes |
| Operates | 4:40am until 1:00am |
 London Transport portal |
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London Buses route 210 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, United Kingdom. This service is currently contracted to Metroline.
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History [edit]
The 210 was introduced on 3 October 1934 as a re-numbering of route 110 in the London Transport re-numbering scheme introduced on that day. It ran daily between Finsbury Park (Wells Terrace) and Golders Green Station via Hornsey Rise, Archway, Highgate Hill, Highgate and Hampstead Heath.
The 210 was a very stable operation and saw changes only rarely.
The 1960s were very turbulent times for London's buses and there was a continual search for economies. One such economy occurred on 3 March 1963 when the 210 was extended on Sundays only to Leyton Green via Highbury Barn, Dalston, Hackney Wick and Leytonstone Station to cover for route 236 which was withdrawn on that day.
On 24 January 1970 the route was converted to one-person operation using the same "RF-Type" vehicles that had previously been used as crew operated vehicles. At the same time, the route was cut back from Leyton to Finsbury Park, with the 236 being re-introduced on Sundays to cover. It was decided that the 210 as a one-person operated route wouldn't be able to cope with the large influx of passengers carried on Sundays to Hampstead Heath, so the crew-operated 236 was further extended on Sundays to Golders Green duplicating the 210. This situation continued until the 17 April 1971 when the larger SMS-Type vehicles were introduced on the route, allowing the Sunday 236 extension to Golders Green be withdrawn at the same time.
The 210 was extended on Mondays to Saturdays (Evenings Excepted) from Golders Green to Brent Cross Shopping Centre on its opening on 31 January 1976, but in the first few weeks after the extension, the service was disrupted by disgruntled residents in the Brent area. The problems were eventually resolved and Brent Cross Shopping Centre has remained the terminus ever since.
On 21 June 1986 operation was transferred from Muswell Hill (MH) Garage to Holloway (HT). This resulted in the end of the peculiar garage journeys from Archway to Muswell Hill Garage via route 43, or from Golders Green to Muswell Hill Garage via route 102. Holloway took over with mark II Leyland Nationals spare from the Red Arrow network (the 555 was withdrawn on the same day), which represented a small improvement over the older mark I Nationals from Muswell Hill. However, by January 1988 the mark II Nationals were gone, needed for new route 510, and old mark I Nationals were back, mainly from Harrow Weald (HD) Garage following the introduction of the Harrow Buses scheme. These vehicles stayed with the 210 until Grey Green took over on 22 September 1990. Additionally, throughout its operation by Holloway Garage (21 June 1986 - 21 September 1990), BL class Bristol LHs, meant for route C11, were used occasionally on the 210, despite their inadequate capacity.
As from 19 May 1996 the Sunday service was also extended (Evenings Excepted) to Brent Cross Shopping Centre with the complete service being extended there as from 30 November 2002.
Since the privatisation of London Buses, the 210 has been operated by different companies. As from 22 September 1990 it was operated by Grey Green (now Arriva London) from the Stamford Hill bus garage, using Volvo/East Lancs single deckers with grey, green and orange livery; although the occasional double decker did appear. This has been known to cause problems at the Finsbury Park terminus where there is a low bridge, causing at least one of Grey Green's double deckers to be "deroofed".
On 26 September 1998, the 210's allocation was transferred to F E Thorpe operating from the Wembley bus garage, using low-floor Dennis Darts with Thorpe's yellow and red livery. Later the allocation was moved to the new West Perivale garage near Perivale Station.
Metroline bought Thorpes in 2004, taking over its fleet of buses, all of which were re-painted in Metroline's red and blue livery. As from January 2007, the last traces of the Thorpes name were removed from the vehicles.
On 16 February 2008, route 210 was converted to double-deck operation using Dennis Trident 2 9.9m / Alexander ALX400's.
on 7 March 2009, route 210's allocation was transferred to Cricklewood (W).
On 25 September 2010, Route 210's contract was retained by Metroline, and new Alexander Dennis Enviro400s were introduced.
Current route [edit]
- Brent Cross Shopping Centre Bus Station
- Brent Cross Station
- Golders Green Station
- Kenwood
- Highgate Village
- Archway Station
- Hornsey Rise
- Stroud Green
- Finsbury Park Station Clifton Terrace
Previous route 210s in London [edit]
The route number 210 had been used once prior to its current use.
- Between 1930 - 1931 a Greenford (Hare and Hounds) <to> Ealing Broadway via Uxbridge Road Independent route 210 operated by Royal Highlander.
There was also in London :-
- In the 1920s an Independent Route 210, authorised but never operated between Winchmore Hill and Hammersmith Broadway.
