London Buses route 38

38
Overview
Operator	Arriva London
Garage	Clapton (CT)
Vehicle	New Routemaster
Peak vehicle requirement	59
Night-time	Night Bus N38
Route
Start	Clapton Pond
Via	Essex Road Angel Holborn Piccadilly
End	Victoria bus station
Length	7 miles (11 km)
Service
Level	Daily
Frequency	2-5 minutes
Journey time	45-68 minutes
Operates	05:30 until 01:30

London Buses route 38 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, England. Running between Clapton Pond and Victoria bus station, it is operated by Arriva London. The route is the most frequent in London with a bus every minute during the morning peak.

History

AEC Routemaster at Victoria bus station in August 1998

Arriva London Mercedes-Benz O530G on the corner of Tottenham Court Road & Shaftesbury Avenue in July 2008

Arriva London Wright Gemini 2 bodied VDL DB300 at Clapton Pond in June 2011

On 25 October 1969 route 38 was further cut back to terminate at Leyton Green, being replaced on the Walthamstow section by the newly introduced route 55. The Sunday service was converted to one-person operation on 6 June 1987. When London Buses was divided into 11 subsidiaries operation of route 38 was taken over by London Forest. On 24 February 1990, the 38 was controversially cut back on Mondays to Saturdays from Leyton Green to terminate at Clapton Pond. It was replaced over this section by the newly introduced route 56. London Forest was wound up in 1991; the route then became a joint operation between Leaside Buses and East London, before being transferred to Leaside Buses.

On 2 June 2002 the Sunday service was converted back to crew operation. In preparation for the introduction of the London congestion charge, in July 2002 peak hour frequency increased. On 29 June 2005, route 38 was converted to one man operation with the AEC Routemasters replaced by Mercedes-Benz O530G articulated buses.

Double deck buses were introduced on 14 November 2009 as part of the Mayor of London's policy to withdraw articulated buses from London. The frequency of the route was increased to every 2-3 minutes.

Eight prototype New Routemasters were introduced in February 2012

New Routemasters were introduced on 10 May 2014. The rear platform remains open between Victoria and Mildmay Park from Monday to Friday between 07:00 and 18:00 when it is staffed by a customer assistant.

Current route

Route 38 operates via these primary locations:

• Clapton Pond
• Lower Clapton Road
• Homerton Hackney Baths
• Hackney Central station
• Dalston Junction station
• Kingsland Balls Pond Road
• De Beauvoir Town Southgate Road
• Canonbury St Paul's Road
• Essex Road station
• Islington Green
• Angel station
• Finsbury St John Street
• Clerkenwell Rosebery Ave
• Bloomsbury Theobalds Road
• Holborn station
• St Giles New Oxford Street
• Tottenham Court Road station
• Cambridge Circus
• Soho Dean Street
• Chinatown Gerrard Place
• Haymarket Trocadero
• Piccadilly Circus station
• St James's Old Bond Street
• Green Park station
• Mayfair Old Park Lane
• Hyde Park Corner station
• Victoria bus station for Victoria station

In popular culture

Grime MC and Bow, E3 resident Wiley has mentioned the route 38 in his lyrics. An example of which is "I'm like the 38 bus cos I never turn up!".

A Routemaster bus with route 38 blinds is displayed in the Falkland Islands capital of Port Stanley.

External links

• Media related to at Wikimedia Commons
• Timetable