Operator Arriva London Start Clapton Pond | Night-time Night Bus N38 End Victoria bus station | |
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Via Hackney Central
Dalston Junction
Angel
Holborn
Piccadilly Circus | ||
London Buses route 38 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, England. Running between Clapton Pond and Victoria bus station, it is operated by Arriva London. The route is the most frequent in London with a bus every minute during the morning peak.
Contents
History
London Forest was wound up in 1991; the route then became a joint operation between Leaside Buses and East London, before being transferred to Leaside Buses.
On 29 June 2005, route 38 was converted to one man operation with the AEC Routemasters replaced by Mercedes-Benz O530G articulated buses.
Double deck buses were introduced on 14 November 2009 as part of the Mayor of London's policy to withdraw articulated buses from London. The frequency of the route was increased to every 2-3 minutes.
Eight prototype New Routemasters were introduced in February 2012
New Routemasters were introduced on 10 May 2014. The rear platform remains open between Victoria and Mildmay Park from Monday to Friday between 07:00 and 18:00 when it is staffed by a customer assistant. On 11 July 2016, Transport for London announced that the customer assistant role would be removed from New Routemaster buses.
It is the seventh busiest TfL bus service as of 2015/16, with 12.3 million passengers.
Current route
Route 38 operates via these primary locations:
In popular culture
Grime MC and Bow, E3 resident Wiley has mentioned the route 38 in his lyrics. An example of which is "I'm like the 38 bus cos I never turn up!".
A Routemaster bus with route 38 blinds is displayed in the Falkland Islands capital of Port Stanley.