London Buses Route 43 - History

History

The 43 commenced operation in August 1912 as a daily route between Highgate (Archway Tavern) and London Bridge Station via Holloway Road, Upper Street, Angel, City Road Moorgate, Bank and London Bridge, and was quickly extended to Muswell Hill Broadway via East Finchley and Fortis Green Road.

On 11 September 1913 a daily supplementary 43A was introduced between Highgate (Archway Tavern) and London Bridge Station, but the Sunday service on this route was withdrawn in November 1913. On 29 June 1914, the 43A was extended daily to Peckham Rye, and introduced on Saturdays and Sundays between Muswell Hill Broadway and Peckham Rye.

On 25 October 1914 the 43A was withdrawn as a wartime economy, but on 7 December 1914 it was re-instated as a daily route between Colney Hatch Lane and London Bridge Station, although the Sunday service was withdrawn in January 1915. On 2 April 1915, the 43A again became a daily route, being extended northwards on Sundays as from 16 April 1916 to Friern Barnet (Orange Tree). On 16 July 1916, the 43A disappeared. On 29 March 1918, the 43 was extended southwards on Sundays to Brixton via Elephant & Castle and Kennington. The Sunday service was further extended to Kenley Hotel via Streatham, Croydon, and Purley in April 1919. This lasted until December 1919, when the 43 was withdrawn on Sundays. In 1920 it was reintroduced between Muswell Hill Broadway and Caterham (Old Surrey Hounds), but was cut back to terminate at South Croydon (Swan & Sugar Loaf) at the end of the summer, Caterham becoming the Summer Sunday and Bank Holiday terminus.

On 1 December 1924, a new system of route numbering on London Buses came into force under The London Traffic Act of 1924. This made the Metropolitan Police responsible for bus operation and route numbering in London. Route 43 retained its number; route 43A was renumbered 143, while route 43B became route 144. All three routes had short working suffixed routes, the plain route number being only used for journeys for the whole length of the route. This situation remained until 3 October 1934, when the newly constituted London Passenger Transport Board instituted its own numbering system, which re-instated the situation previous to December 1924, apart from route 143 which kept its number.

The 43 was withdrawn on Sundays from 21 April 1935 with a new Sunday only route 43A introduced for the summer months, between Friern Barnet and Croydon Airport. It was withdrawn in October 1935 when the 43 was re-instated on Sundays between Friern Barnet and South Croydon. The Sundays only 43A was introduced again in 1936 as from 12 April, with the 43 becoming a Monday to Saturday route again, working until 10 March 1937, when the 43 was again introduced on Sundays to replace the 43A, now running on to Croydon AIrport.

After the outbreak of the Second World War, when economies in fuel consumption had to be made, the 43 was withdrawn on 15 November 1939 except Monday-Fridays peak hours between Muswell Hill and Friern Barnet. It was also withdrawn throughout on Monday-Friday evenings and on Saturday afternoons and evenings. On Sunday evenings, the route was cut into two sections, being withdrawn between London Bridge Station and Streatham Garage. During the summer of 1940 the Sunday evening service between London Bridge and Streatham was re-introduced from 28 March, but was withdrawn from 24 November. A further retrenchment occurred on 6 April 1941 when the 43 was withdrawn south of London Bridge Station on Sundays. It was replaced by parallel services and a Sunday extension of route 115 between Streatham Common and Croydon Airport.

In April 1943 the route was re-instated on Monday to Friday evenings between Muswell Hill and Friern Barnet. By 1950, the route had become a daily service between London Bridge and Friern Barnet, with evening restrictions to the service on Mondays to Saturdays. Towards the end of the decade, in the aftermath of the Busmen's Strike of 1958, London Transport needed to make economies and these affected the 43. From 30 November 1958, the Sunday service was withdrawn and was replaced by an extension of route 133 to Archway.

On 8 November 1961, stage 12 of the trolleybus replacement scheme took effect with route 609 (Moorgate to High Barnet) replaced by the 104 which paralleled the 43 from Archway to Moorgate. The service on the 43 was increased, but on Saturday afternoons the service was cut back to City Road. The Saturday afternoon service was further cut back to Angel in January 1966.

From 28 October 1978, the 43 became an all-day Monday-Saturday Friern Barnet to London Bridge service. From 28 July 1984 until 21 June 1986, garage journeys to and from Finchley Garage could be used by passengers. A year later, on 14 July 1987, the 43 was converted to one-person operation.

From 2 February 1991 the 43 was extended on Sundays to Liverpool Street Station via Moorgate. At the same time it was withdrawn on Sundays between Muswell Hill Broadway and Friern Barnet. From 31 January 1998, the service once again became a daily Friern Barnet - London Bridge service. On Sundays the route was diverted between Old Street and Monument via Shoreditch and Liverpool Street Station.

The route along which the 43 operates was designated as London's first Red Route bus priority scheme in 1992. In late 1999 the route became one of the first in London to be operated by low-floor double-deck buses, when new Dennis Trident 2 9.9m / Plaxton Presidents were introduced.

On 6 November 2004, the Sunday service via Liverpool Street Station was withdrawn, buses then reverting to the Monday to Saturday routing. On 2 February 2005, route 43 became a 24 hour service.

In September 2006, a bus operating route 43 caught fire. No passengers were injured as the bus driver had evacuated the vehicle.

On 4 February 2012, route 43 was retained by Metroline and brand new Volvo B9TL 10.4m / Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 were introduced.