London Bus Garages
BA - DX

Battersea Bus Garage Hester Road, London SW11

Street map reference - - Garage Photo's

Garage code -	BB (BA)
Garage opened	1993
Max Bus Capacity	35
Current Garage PVR	22
Current Routes Operated	19
Current types operated -	DAFDB250/Wright Pulsar Gemini (DW)

The original Battersea garage was opened in 1906 by the London Roadcar Company on the north side of Hester Road, but by 1914 more space was needed and an annex was built on the south side. Two modernisation schemes were undertaken, first in the 1960's to allow for Routemasters to be allocated and again in 1971 when a new canteen and recreation room was built. Unfortunately the garage closed in 1985 with it's allocation beong split between Victoria and Wandsworth garages. B was however given a reprive some time later when it was used to house the London Buses coaches and sightseeing operations until 1988, when the entire opertaion moved to Wandsworth Garage. In 1993 a yard adjacent to the old garage was opened as a base for Kentish Bus route 19 operation after it had moved out of its Covent Garden Market base. Most of the area formally occupied on both the North and South sides of Hester road has now been built into a luxury flats complex. The only section remaining is the small shed which was origionally an outstation from BN housing the route 19 RM's. When the Routemasters finally left in July 2005 the garage recieved an allocation on VLA's for route 19, although some of these need to be parked at (and use drivers from) Norwood Garage.

Beddington Bus Garage Beddington Lane, Croydon, CR0

Street map reference - - Garage Photo's

Garage code -	BC
Garage opened	2000
Max Bus Capacity	110
Current Garage PVR	66
Current Routes Operated	3 152 157 G1 P13 N3
Current types operated	Dennis Dart SLF/ Enviro 200 (DE)
	Dennis Dart SLF/ Pointer 2 (DP)
	Volvo B7TL/ Wright Eclipse Gemini (V)
	Dennis Trident/ ALX 400 (TA)

Opened in early 2000 by Connex bus to house its newly won route 3 contract. The garage consists of two industrial units. Connex were taken over by Travel London who now operate the garage.

Brentford Bus Garage Commerce Road, Brentford, TW8 8LZ

Street map reference

Garage code -	BD
Garage opened	1990
Max Bus Capacity	110
Current Garage PVR	94
Current Routes Operated	117 190 209 237 493 E2 E8
Current types operated	Dennis Dart SLF/ ALX 200 (DA)
	Dennis Dart SLF/ Plaxton Pointer 2 (DP)
	Dennis Trident/ ALX 400 (DT)

Started operating as a bus garage in 1990 by Armchair transport initially to house it's recently won route 260 buses. The base had previously been used as a coach operating base which at the time was armchairs main business. Armchair was bought out in 2005 by Comfort Delgro Holdings, the parent company of Metroline, although it continued to trade seperately under the armchair name until January 2007 when all the buses were transfered to Matroline legal entities.

Beddington Farm Garage Beddington Farm Rd, Croydon, Surrey

Street map reference

Garage code -	BF (CN)
Garage opened	1990
Max Bus Capacity	120
Current Garage PVR	58
Current Routes Operated	264 403 410 450 455
Current types operated	DAF SB120/Wright Cadet (DWL)
	Dennis Dart SLF/ Pointer 2 (PDL)
	DAF / Wright pulsar Gemini (DW)

A modern purpose built depot that is largely open air. Opened in 1990 by London Country, it ran 73 vehicles, although had space for 120. Beddington farm was to replace the existing garages at Godstone and Chelsham and operated both LB tendered routes and existing London Country Croydon area routes. Beddington Farm became a Londonlinks depot when the Non-London work moved away before coming under Arriva South. It was transfered to Arriva London in 1999 with six routes and buses painted Red, Green, or Blue.

Barking Bus Garage Longbridge Road, Barking IG11 8UE

Street map reference - - Garage Photo's

Garage code - BK
Garage opened	1924
Max Bus Capacity	140
Current Garage PVR	126
Current Routes Operated	5 62 145 169 287 300 325 366 369 387 396 687
	N15
Current types operated -	Dennis Trident/ALX 400 (TA)
	Dennis Dart SLF/ Plaxton Pointer 2
	Dennis Dart SLF/ ALX 200

Barking was opened in 1924 by the LGOC to cater for the increased demand from the new housing estates springing up in Becontree.
Barking will be remembered by many enthusiasts as being the last garage to operate RT's on 7th April 1979. The scheduled requirement gradually dropped in the post war years and in 1992 a closure notice was served on the garage, but happily it wasn't implemented and by 1994 Barking had a scheduled requirement for 109 buses including Titans and Delta's.

Brixton Bus Garage Streatham Hill, London, SW2

Street map reference - - Garage Photo's

Garage code -	BN
Garage opened	1951
Max Bus Capacity	105
Current Garage PVR	94
Current Routes Operated	59 137 159 319 N19 N250
Current types operated -	DAF DB250LF/ Alexander ALX400 (DLA)
	DAF DB220/ Wright Pulsar Gemini (DW)
	Volvo B7TL / Alexander-Dennis 400 (VLA)

Originaly built as a depot for cable trams which ran up Brixton Hill in 1892, it was re-built between 1904-1906 for use by electric trams. In 1939 it was extended onto a site formerly owned by the water board and cotaining a large water main, and then in 1949 reconstruction started to bury the main and convert the depot into one large building instead of two smaller ones.The last trams ran from the depot in 1951, by which time RT's had started to arrive and finally left in 1976. In 1971 Brixton became one of the first to recieve DMS's and then M's in 1984. The garage also recieved the first production DAF/Wright Cadet single deckers in 2001. And to add to the list of firsts/lasts, Brixton had the responsibility for the last Routemasters in 'Normal'* service in London. Crowds lined the route of RM 2217 as it made it's way from Marble Arch to Brixton Garage, preceded by RM's 5 & 6 arriving just after 2pm on Friday 9th December. In recent times a small former tram shed on Brixton Hill has bbeen brought back into use to store vehicles overnight in order to take pressure off the main depot buildings
* Two heritage routes still operate over parts of routes 9 & 15 at limited times.

Belvedere Yard Crabtree Manorway Nth, N. Belvedere, DA17

Street map reference - - Garage Photo's

Garage code -	BV
Garage opened	1998
Max Bus Capacity	50
Current Garage PVR	52
Current Routes Operated	108 132 180 185
	N1 N108 - School route: 661 669
Current types operated -	DAF SB120/ Wright MERIT (DW)
	Volvo B7TL/Plaxton President (VP)
	Volvo B7TL/ Wright Eclipse Gemini (VWL)

Belvedere is a unit on an industrial estate that was purchased by Harris bus in 1998 to house it's operations that moved from Crayford. Unfortunately Harris Bus went into recievership in 2000, and it's routes and garage were taken over by London Buses under the guise of East Thames Buses. Since then East Thames buses has become a unit taking over routes from defunct opertaors such as London Easylink's 42 & 185. The yard has no engineering facilities, so vehicles were ferried to and from Ash Grove at night to enable maintainance to be carried out. Following the move to Mandela Way the engineering is now done there.

Bow Bus Garage Fairfield Road, Bow, London, E3 2QP

Street map reference - - Garage Photo's

Garage code -	BW
Garage opened	1959
Max Bus Capacity	120
Current Garage PVR	94
Current Routes Operated	8 15 158 277 N8 N15
	Dennis Trident/Alexander ALX400

Originally a tram depot, and later a trolleybus depot Bow was converted to motor bus operations in 1959 including the instalation of large overground fuel tanks.Shortly after conversion the nearby Clay Hall garage closed with it's allocation moving to BW.The garage recieved it's first RM's in the early 1960's, some of which remained there right up until August 2004 for route 8 until the final Stagecoach RM's ran in normal service.

Bexleyheath Garage Erith Road, Bexleyheath, DA7 6BX

Street map reference - - Garage Photo's

Garage code -	BX
Garage opened	1959
Max Bus Capacity	145
Current Garage PVR	128
Current Routes Operated	51 89 229 244 401 422 469 486 B11 B12 B16
	N21 N89 School routes: 601 602 625
Current types operated	Dennis Dart SLF/Marshall Capital (DML/S)
	Dennis Dart SLF/Plaxton Pointer (LDP)
	DAF SB220LF/East Lancs Myllennium (MD/MM)
	Volvo Olympian/NC Palatine 1 (NV)
	Volvo B7TL/Plaxton President (PVL)
	Volvo B7L/Wright Eclipse (VWL)

Built as a trolleybus depot by the LPTB, the only new garage built for trolleybuses. The depot is a large and imposing building, slightly set back from the main road to enable parking on the forecourt and being used as a terminus for route 122. Bexleyheath closed in 1986, with work moved to Plumstead, Catford, and Sidcup garages, although it re-opened in 1988 under the guise of Bexleybus, a unit set up by London Buses under de-regulation, and had a large and varied allocation from Iveco/Robin Hood's & MCW Metroriders to NC Olympians & Fleetlines.The move to set up the new company to tender for routes backfired, and in the next round of tendering only the B16 was awarded to Bexleybus, whilst london Central won nine. London Central took control of the Bexleyheath routes (including B16) from 1990 instead of 1991 and also took over the garage from Stagecoach. Lately the garage has had a good utilisation figure, up to 139 in 2001 which necessitated parking in the rear yard and the forecourt.

Croydon Bus Garage 134 Beddington Lane, Beddington, CR0 4TD

Street map reference

Garage code	C
Garage opened	2005
Max Bus Capacity
Current Garage PVR	74
Current Routes Operated	64 127 130 356 359 367 434 466 T33 X26 664
Current types operated	Metrocity / Omnidekka DD
	Dart SLF / Pointer
	Dart SLF / East Lancs Esteem
	Scania Omnicity SD

A new depot opened in December 2005 by Metrobus to house route 127 which had been surrendered early by the current operator Centra. Work was done on the garage buildings to enable Croydon Depot to house most of the TfL contracts held by Metrobus that serve the Croydon area. This will free up space at Godstone which with recent tender wins had become somewhat congested. The garage is now up to over 70 vehicles with some space still for future usee if needed.

Chalk Farm Bus Garage Chalk Farm Road, London, NW1

Street map reference - -

Garage code	CF
Garage opened	1916
Garage closed	1993
Max Bus Capacity	100

Chalk Farm garage came into use in 1916 following the war departments requisition of LGOC's Albany Street garage. Some years later the garage also took over the operations of the Camden Town Garage in 1933. CF was used for a couple of trials during it's life, in the mid 60's it recieved XA's and later in the mid 70's a prototype Leyland B15 (later to become the Titan). Deregulation was not kind to the garage and losing route 24 to Grey Green in 1988 and further losses in 1990/1 left only 5 routes which were transferred to HT in mid 1993.

Clapton Bus Garage Bohemia Place, Mare Street, E8

Street map reference - - Garage Photo's

Garage code	CT
Garage opened	1959
Max Bus Capacity	110
Current Garage PVR
Current Routes Operated
Current types operated

Clapton Garage has its origins back as far as 1882 when it was known as Hackney Tram Depot and housed Horse Trams. In the early 1900’s it was taken over by the LCC to house electric trams which lasted here until 1939 when Trolleybuses took over. In the early 1940’s some of the surrounding buildings in bohemia place were knocked down to provide more space and better access to the garage. By 1950 the depot had changed its name to Clapton to avoid confusion with the nearby Well Street garage (H) prior to being converted for motorbus operation. Following the conversion the parking area allowed for 90 buses and in 1959 67 RTL’s were allocated as part of the trolleybus replacement program. Over the years the garage has seen varios types allocated including RT, RM, DMS, M, & T’s, but in 1987 with just a few RM’s M’s remaining the garage was closed with the remaining work transferred to the newer Ash Grove. In 1989 the garage was reprieved to take some pressure off of Walthamstow by housing MRL’s for route 236. With the closure of Ash Grove in 1991 work started to build up steadily, and then in 1995 route 253 was allocated there from the closed Stamford Hill (SF). The story has now almost gone full circle with routes 242/253 transferring back to Stamford Hill and route 38 to Ash Grove leaving Clapton without an allocation. The office buildings are still in use and drivers still sign on and off at the garage but then travel to Ash Grove to collect thier buses. In 1998 Clapton received the first Low-Floor Double Deckers in London in the DLA’s purchased by Arriva, and also tried out LPG buses. In 2001 the garages allocation was up to over 100 buses.
The garage parking area will be modernised in rediness for any additonal services connected with the Olympic Games to be held in 2012.

Debden Bus Garage

Street map reference

Garage code -	DB/DD
Garage opened
Max Bus Capacity
Current Garage PVR
Current Routes Operated	No London routes at present
Current types operated

Dagenham Bus Depot, 73 Chequers Lane, Dagenham, Essex, RM9 6QJ

Street map reference - -

Garage code -	DM
Garage opened	2006
Max Bus Capacity
Current Garage PVR	109
Current Routes Operated	150 165 179 193 252 362 364 365 462 499
School Routes	370 646 649 650 652 656 679 686
Current types operated	Dennis Trident / Plaxton President (TN/TNL)
	Dennis Dart SLF/ Marshall Capital (DM)
	Volvo B7TL / Wright Eclipse Gemini (VNZ)
	Optare Solo
	Dennis Dart SLF / Caetano Nimbus (DMC)

Opened in late 2006 as a replacement for the closing Rainham garage. The depot is ironically very close to the old site which was vacated in the move to Rainham.

Dartford Bus Garage Central Road, Dartford, Kent, DA1

Street map reference - -

Garage code -	DT
Garage opened	19??
Max Bus Capacity	65
Current Garage PVR	53
Current Routes Operated	126 160 162 286 428 476 477 492 B13 B15
Current types operated	DAF SB120 / Wright Cadet
	Dennis Dart SLF/ Plaxton Pointer
	DAF DB220 / Wright Pulsar Gemini
	DAF DB250 / Alexander ALX400
	Dennis Dart SLF / Mini Pointer

Origionally a London Country garage, it was inherited by Arriva when it took over the operations of the former NBC company after deregulation. Some changes were made in 2004 between Northfleet and Dartford garages so that DT contained all TfL contracted routes whist Northfleet run all Kent CC & commercial operations except for route 476/7.

Barking Bus Garage Ripple Road, Barking Essex, IG11

Street map reference - - Garage Photo's

Garage code -	DX
Garage opened	1992
Max Bus Capacity	90
Current Garage PVR	60
Current Routes Operated	20 78 128 173 275
	School routes:212 651 657 667 673 675 678
Current types operated	Dennis Dart SLF/Alexander ALX200 (ADL)
	Dennis Dart SLF/Plaxton Pointer 2 (PDL)
	Volvo B7TL/ ALX 400 (VLA)
	DAF DB250 / Alexander ALX400 (DLA)
	Volvo B7L/Wright Eclipse Gemini (VLW)

The Garage was opened in 1992 by Grey Green to meet the demands of their expanding North East London operations. Dix Coaches was a subsidiary of Grey Green operating from a base in the Dagenham Area, which moved to the new depot on opening, hence the code DX. The depot is basically just a yard in an industrial area on the borders of Barking and Dagenham, with parking outside and just a couple of small buildings although a maintainance facility is included on the site. The Grey Green was superceded in the mid nineties by Cowie, the parent group, and then later transposed into Arriva London North East and later again into Arriva London

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