| 3 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Overview | |
| Operator | Transport UK London Bus |
| Garage | Walworth |
| Vehicle | New Routemaster[1] |
| Peak vehicle requirement | 17 |
| Night-time | N3 |
| Route | |
| Start | Crystal Palace bus station |
| Via | West Dulwich Herne Hill Brixton Kennington Oval Lambeth Bridge |
| End | Victoria bus station |
| Length | 9 miles (14 km) |
| Service | |
| Level | Daily |
| Frequency | About every 8-12 minutes |
| Journey time | 43-90 minutes |
| Operates | 05:55 until 00:45 |
London Buses route 3 is aTransport for London contracted bus route inLondon, England. Running betweenCrystal Palace andVictoria bus stations, it is operated byTransport UK London Bus.
Route 3 started operations on 1 November 1908 betweenBrixton station andSouth Croydon. On 19 November 1908, the route was altered at both ends to run betweenOxford Circus andSouth Croydon. From April 1909 it was extended on Sundays toPurley, then toWhyteleafe in August 1909. A month later, route 3 was extended northwards toCamden Town, and was withdrawn betweenStreatham Common and Whyteleafe. On 3 March 1910, route 3 was withdrawn between Brixton (Lambeth Town Hall) andStreatham Common and re-routed via Effra Road to Brixton. In the same month the route was extended toHampstead Heath. From 16 June 1912, route 3 became a Monday to Saturday route only, being replaced by the recently introduced 59 on Sundays.[2]
On 11 May 1913, a new daily route 3A was introduced betweenCamden Town andCrystal Palace via route 3 to Brixton, then via Water Lane, Herne Hill, Croxted Road and South Croxted Road. Routes 3 and 3A only ran as such until 17 July 1913, when both routes became daily and exchanged numbers. At the outbreak ofWorld War I in August 1914, the 3A was withdrawn as an economy measure, but was re-instated in October. Route 3 was extended from Crystal Palace toUpper Norwood a month later. By the end of hostilities route 3A had been withdrawn and route 3 ran between Camden Town to Crystal Palace.[2]
On 1 December 1924, a new system of route numbering on London buses came into force under theLondon Traffic Act 1924. As a result, the short workings of route 3 from Camden Town to Brixton were renumbered 3A. This situation continued until 3 October 1934 when all 3A journeys were renumbered 3.[2]
Just before the outbreakWorld War II, route 3 was replaced on Sundays by a new 3A route, running from Crystal Palace to Oxford Circus and on toBaker Street,Swiss Cottage,Hendon,Mill Hill andEdgware station. This was withdrawn after 15 October 1939 as a wartime economy measure. Route 3 returned to a 7-day operation and remained virtually unchanged for the next 40 years.[2]
On 2 January 1993, it was converted to one man operation with theAEC Routemasters being replaced by 24Optare Spectra bodiedDAF DB250s until 1999, when upon being tendered, the contract to operate the route passed fromLondon Central toConnex, who introducedAlexander ALX400 bodiedDennis Trident 2 low-floor vehicles.[3][4]
Route 3 was included in the sale of Connex toTravel London in February 2004[5] which in turn was sold toAbellio London in May 2009.[6][7] It is operated out ofBattersea garage with a peak vehicle requirement of 22.[8][9]
On 8 February 2016,New Routemasters were introduced on the route.[10] On 15 July 2017, the route was withdrawn betweenTrafalgar Square and Oxford Circus. In June 2019, the route was further cut back toWhitehall.
On 23 November 2022, it was announced that a proposed rerouting of route 3 at Lambeth Bridge to serveVictoria instead of Whitehall would be going ahead following a consultation; it was implemented on 29 April 2023.[11][12]
Route 3 operates via these primary locations:[13]
Media related toLondon Buses route 3 at Wikimedia Commons
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