26 The London Bus
and Streatham with Clapham
Common. Initially operated by
Routemasters from Croydon
garage, it was reallocated to
Thornton Heath when converted
to driver-only operation in 1983.
It took on its present form in
August 1998 and the contract
to operate it was awarded to
Capital Logistics, which operated
buses around Heathrow Airport.
It should have been operated by
new low-floor double-deckers, but
these were not delivered in time.
For a short period, the route was
subcontracted to Stagecoach
Selkent with additional support
from Blue Triangle. Selkent was
unable to provide assistance
after January 1999, so Blue
Triangle operated an emergency
schedule with support from other
operators.
This arrangement continued
until mid-March when Capital
Logistics finally took over the
service with its intended low-
floor DAF DB250s with Plaxton
President and Optare Spectra
bodies. The Spectras were the
only low-floor examples of the
type to operate in London.
Capital Logistics gave up
operation of the route from
April 2000 and the contract was
reassigned to Arriva London
South, operating initially from
Beddington Farm garage
although part of the allocationwas transferred to Croydon for
about five months from that
October.
Retendering saw operation
pass to French-owned Connex
in September 2001. Following
sale of Connex’s London bus
operations to Travel West
Midlands in 2004 the fleetname
Travel London was adopted.
Retendering saw the route pass
to Arriva London South from
September 2016 with buses
operating from Croydon garage.
A new contract comes into effect
from 1 September 2018.Operated for 70 years
There has been a route 166
operating in the Croydon area
since 1948 and although its formhas changed over the years,
it has operated from Croydon
garage with the exception of the
years from 1992 to 1997 when
the route was contracted to
Stagecoach Selkent.
In its initial form it linked
Chipstead Valley with Thornton
Heath, with an extension north
to Streatham Common for a
short period in the early 1950s.
Conversion to driver-only
operation in 1970 coincided with
it being re-routed away from
Thornton Heath to terminate
at Beckenham Junction. It was
curtailed at Shirley in 1990.
A return to Croydon garage
in 1997 saw the 166 take on
its current form with its route
revised to run between West
Croydon and Epsom, taking
it well outside the Greater
London area. Epsom Buses was
already providing a link between
Croydon and Epsom, numbered
498, and a coordinated timetable
was introduced with all buses
numbered 166.
Epsom Buses gave up
commercial operation on the
166, and consequently the entire
route was absorbed into the
London Buses network from
28 July 2001. These days most
buses on London bus routes run
over the whole length of a route,
but the 166 is unusual in that
although three buses an hour
link Croydon with Banstead
on weekdays, only one of these
continues to Epsom.
A new contract starts on 1
September 2018. Initially there
were concerns that TransportLondon Bus Garages
RIGHT: Park
Royal-bodied
Leyland Atlantean
XA13, one of 47
based at Croydon
garage, at New
Addington in
March 1973 on one
of the first London
Transport double-
deck routes to be
operated without
a conductor. All
50 of these non-
standard buses
were exported to
Hong Kong soon
after. GERALD MEAD
BELOW: A
Southend
Transport Leyland
Titan PD3 with
Massey body on
hire to London
Transport at
Croydon in
1975/76 to help
ease a shortage of
serviceable buses.
DALE TRINGHAM