London Buses Route 263 - History

History

Route 263 originally started operation, with Routemaster buses, in 1971 and originally operated between Barnet High Street and Farringdon Street. In 1980, the route was converted to one man operation buses. 1983 saw the route's buses being converted to Metrobuses. At this point the route's garages were Finchley and Holloway. 3 years later the route was shortened on the southern side to Archway station. The northern side of the route was extended to Potters Bar bus garage which also became the main garage for the route. In 1986, some of the route's buses started terminating at Barnet Hospital, where a stand was built for terminating buses. Others were terminating at Potters Bar station, since 1983, to counter the shortening of the route 134. Later the route 84 took over operations to Potters Bar station and so the 263 was shortened to Potters Bar bus garage. In 1989, Metrobuses were replaced by Scanias low floor buses. These buses were only used by the route for a year. When they were replaced by double decker buses, the route was also slightly modified between Barnet High Street and Barnet Hospital. The route to Potters Bar bus garage was, in 1994, suspended on Sundays and later withdrawn completely as the route 234 covered these operations. At this point the route was operated by Leaside Buses and subsequently its garage changed. The garage was changed again in 2001, when First Capital took over operations of the route. The route was awarded to Metroline in 2003 and at this point its garage was Holloway. Its garage was moved back to Potter Bar in 2004. As of 2007, the route uses Trident 9.9m/President buses. The route has been extended to Holloway as from Saturday 7 February 2009 to provide better connection services to the nearby Upper Holloway Overground Station, Arsenal's Emirates Stadium and provide students with alternative buses to the City and Islington College on Camden Road where the bus now terminates.