London Buses route 185
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Management | |
| Operated by | East Thames Buses |
| Garage | Belvedere and Mandela Way |
| Vehicle | Volvo B7TL/Plaxton President |
| Peak vehicle requirement | 13 from Belvedere 6 from Mandela Way |
| Route | |
| Start | Lewisham |
| Via | Catford Forest Hill Dulwich Camberwell Green Vauxhall |
| End | Victoria |
| Length | 10 miles (15 km) |
| Service | |
| Level | Daily (4:30 until 12:30) |
| Frequency | About every 10 minutes |
| Journey time | 42-90 minutes |
| Night | No night service |
| Transport for London • Performance (PDF) | |
London Buses route 185 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, United Kingdom. The service is currently contracted to East Thames Buses, based at Mandela Way (near Bricklayers Arms) and Belvedere, both quite a distance from the terminals. The 185 is allocated Plaxton President low floor double deck buses but also uses the Wright Eclipse Gemini shared with the 1 at Mandela Way and the 132, 180 and night bus N1 at Belvedere.
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[edit] History
The 185 has had a couple of rocky years. The original route was Victoria to Blackwall Tunnel south side, via the current route and Greenwich. This bus acted as a tram replacement route, at the time in which the government was trying to phase out the olden trams.
In 1982 the Lewisham to Blackwall Tunnel stretch was withdrawn, with the exception of peak services to Greenwich Church. In 1987 the part between Lewisham and Greenwich was completely scrapped, in favour of a shorter route. The route only had minor modifications between then and 2001, such as garage changes and the buses changing from RTL's to Titans.
In January 2001 Stagecoach London (Stagecoach Selkent at the time) operation was termanated in favour of London Easylink. However due to Easylink not holding a licence at the time to operate in London a temporary service was operated by Stagecoach, London General and Blue Triangle for a few weeks. The operation of the 185 then ran smoothly for just over a year until in August 2002 London Easylink went into liquidation and at short notice Blue Triangle was given the task of organising emergency cover. Quite a large number of operators were used such as the following:
- London Central
- London General
- First London (even though they had no double-decker operations in the Lewisham area at the time)
- Blue Triangle and also
- The Original tour
This was hassle to people who haven't travelled on the 185 before. Especially with the Original Tour central London buses that Blue Triangle had brang in as some were roofless!
Finally after a long time of this operation, in 2003 East Thames Buses - a direct subsidiary of TfL - was awarded the contract, although it was a wonder why TfL took so long to make this happen. East Thames Buses initially started operating with low floor Dennis Dart SLF/Caetano Compass buses, but these were soon replaced.
[edit] Current route
[edit] Route departing Lewisham
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[edit] Route departing Victoria
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[edit] Gallery
 RTW operation of route 185 |
RTL operation of route 185 |
DMS operation of the 185 |
Leyland Titan operation of 185 |
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185 operated by Stagecoach Selkent |
185 during operation with London Easylink |
185 during the emergency operation, pictured here with a First London East Lancs Pyoneer. |
Another 185 during the emergency, seen here with a MCW Metrobus from a tour company |
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London General MCW Metrobus during the emergency replacement |
Blue Triangle Leyland Titan version of 185 during the replacement service |
East Thames Buses single-deck operation of route 185 |
East Thames Buses Volvo Olympian operation of route 185 |
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Volvo B7TL operation of the 185 |
 185 in operation with a Wright Eclipse Gemini |
[edit] See also
[edit] 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 |
