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London Buses route 7

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7
Overview
OperatorMetroline
GarageWest Perivale (PA) [1]
Night-timeNight Bus N7
Route
StartEast Acton
ViaLadbroke Grove
Paddington
EndOxford Circus

London Buses route 7 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, England. Running between East Acton and Oxford Circus, it is operated by Metroline.

History

First London AEC Routemaster at Ladbroke Grove in April 2002
First London Alexander ALX400 bodied Dennis Trident 2

Route 7's history can be traced back to 1 November 1908, when an un-numbered daily route operating between Wormwood Scrubs and Liverpool Street station, was allocated route number 7.[2]

Between 1910 and 1920, route 7 was operated entirely by X-type vehicles.[3] It was the only route in London to use these vehicles regularly.[4]

The rerouting of Red Arrow route 501 from Aldgate to London Bridge in 1970, resulted in route 7 being cut back to Bloomsbury, near to Tottenham Court Road, on 24 January 1970.[5]

The route was run with crew-operated AEC Routemasters for many years. These were replaced on 3 July 2004 by low-floor double-deckers released from route 25.[5][6]

Due to the partial closure of Oxford Street for Crossrail works, on 16 June 2014 the route has had its eastern terminus relocated from Russell Square to Oxford Circus.[7]

Metroline was awarded the contract for route 7 starting on 23 June 2007 and has successfully retained the route with a new contract starting on 21 June 2014.[8][9]

Incidents

A serious incident occurred on 13 June 1957, when a RTL-type bus on route 7A ran into a queue of waiting passengers on Oxford Street, killing eight people. The driver had collapsed with heat exhaustion.[10][11]

References

  1. ^ "Metroline, Lost property". Retrieved 19 June 2016.
  2. ^ London's Oldest Bus Routes The London Magazine
  3. ^ Reed, John (2000). London Buses: A Brief History. Capital Transport Publishing. p. 16. ISBN 9781854142337.
  4. ^ Klapper, Charels (1984) The Golden Age of Buses. p.72.
  5. ^ a b Blacker, Ken (2007). Routemaster: 1970–2005. Vol. 2 (2nd ed.). Harrow Weald: Capital Transport. pp. 8, 169. ISBN 978-1-85414-303-7.
  6. ^ The future of the Routemaster Icons of England
  7. ^ Oxford Street closed eastbound London Buses
  8. ^ 2007 Bus Tender Result Transport For London
  9. ^ 2014 Bus Tender Result Transport For London
  10. ^ Bus Accident, Oxford Street (Hansard, 10 July 1957)
  11. ^ Marshall, Prince (1972). Wheels of London. The Sunday Times Magazine ISBN 0-7230-0068-9. p. 124.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) Consulted 14 September 2016.