London Buses route 30 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, England. Running between

Hackney Wick Hackney Wick is a neighbourhood in east London, England. The area forms the south-eastern part of the district of Hackney, and also of the wider London Borough of Hackney. Adjacent areas of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets are sometimes a ...

and Marble Arch station, it is operated by

Metroline Metroline is a bus company operating services in Greater London and south Hertfordshire. It is a subsidiary of ComfortDelGro Corporation and operates services under contract to Transport for London. As at March 2021, the fleet consisted of 1,5 ...

History

By 1987 the route had been amended to run from Hackney to

Earl's Court Earl's Court is a district of Kensington in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in West London, bordering the rail tracks of the West London line and District line that separate it from the ancient borough of Fulham to the west, the ...

, taking about 75 minutes to complete the journey, at a frequency of one bus every 14 minutes. Driver-only operation was introduced in January 1987 with double-deckers, and three months later the route was reported to be carrying around 20,000 passengers per day. In June 2010, the route was revealed to be the sixth worst performing route in London. As a result of this, new

bus priority Bus priority or transit signal priority (TSP) is a name for various techniques to improve service and reduce delay for mass transit vehicles at intersections (or junctions) controlled by traffic signals. TSP techniques are most commonly associat ...

measures were introduced on the route. Upon being re-tendered in 2010, the route was awarded to

First London First London was a bus company operating services in east and west Greater London, England. It was a subsidiary of FirstGroup and operated buses under contract to Transport for London. It was formed in the late 1990s through the acquisition o ...

from 25 June 2011. On 22 June 2013, route 30 was included in the sale of First London's Lea Interchange garage to

Tower Transit A tower is a tall structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting structures. Towers are specific ...

. On 23 June 2018, the route passed to

operating from their King's Cross (KC) garage. In 2021, the service frequency during morning and evening peaks Monday to Friday was reduced from 7 buses per hour to 6.

Bomb incident

On 7 July 2005 at 09:47, a

Stagecoach London Stagecoach London is a major bus operator in Greater London. It is a subsidiary of Stagecoach and operates services under contract to Transport for London mostly in East and South East London as well as some services into Central London. It i ...

Dennis Trident 2 The Dennis Trident 2 is a 2-axle low-floor double-decker bus chassis originally manufactured by Dennis, which was unveiled in 1997 and replaced the Dennis Arrow. It was built by TransBus after Dennis was incorporated into the group in 2001, th ...

double-decker bus, fleet number 17758, registration LX03 BUF, was involved in a terrorist attack perpetrated by

Hasib Hussain Hasib Mir Hussain ( ur, حسیب میر حسین; 16 September 1986 – 7 July 2005) was one of four Islamist suicide bombers who detonated bombs on three trains on the London Underground and one bus in central London during the 7 July 2 ...

, a bomb in whose rucksack exploded, killing 13 other passengers as well as himself. The explosion ripped the roof off the top deck of the bus and destroyed the back of the vehicle. The detonation took place close to the

British Medical Association The British Medical Association (BMA) is a registered trade union for doctors in the United Kingdom. The association does not regulate or certify doctors, a responsibility which lies with the General Medical Council. The association's headquar ...

building in

Tavistock Square Tavistock Square is a public square in Bloomsbury, in the London Borough of Camden. History Tavistock Square was built shortly after 1806 by the property developer James Burton and the master builder Thomas Cubitt for Francis Russell, 5th Duke ...

. The bus was off line of route and on diversion due to earlier multiple attacks on the London Underground system. The bus was replaced by the first Alexander Dennis Enviro400 produced, named ''

Spirit of London 19000 ''Spirit of London'' is an Alexander Dennis Enviro400 double-decker bus which entered service in London in October 2005. Originally carrying fleet number 18500, ''Spirit of London'' was built as the replacement for the bus destroyed i ...

'' to symbolise the courage of Londoners.

Current route

Route 30 operates via these primary locations: *

''Trowbridge Road'' *

South Hackney South Hackney is an area of Hackney in London, England within the Borough of Hackney. It is about northeast of Charing Cross. The Mossbourne Victoria Park Academy on the corner of Victoria Park Road and Lammas Walk utilises the buildings of ...

''Morning Lane'' * Hackney Central station * Hackney Downs station * Dalston Junction station * Kingsland ''High Street'' *

Canonbury Canonbury is a residential area of Islington in the London Borough of Islington, North London. It is roughly in the area between Essex Road, Upper Street and Cross Street and either side of St Paul's Road. In 1253 land in the area was granted to ...

Highbury Highbury is a district in North London and part of the London Borough of Islington in Greater London that was owned by Ranulf brother of Ilger and included all the areas north and east of Canonbury and Holloway Roads. The manor house was situ ...

''Corner'' *

Islington Town Hall Islington Town Hall is a municipal facility in Upper Street, Islington, London. The town hall, which is the headquarters for Islington London Borough Council, is a Grade II listed building. History The building was commissioned to replace the ...

* St Mary's Church *

Angel station ''Angel Station'' is the ninth album released by Manfred Mann's Earth Band, released in 1979. Several line-up changes were made for this album. Ex-Wings drummer Geoff Britton replaced founding drummer Chris Slade and Steve Waller replaced g ...

* King's Cross station * St Pancras International *

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...

Euston bus station Euston Bus Station serves the Euston area of Camden, London, England. The station is owned and maintained by Transport for London. It is situated next to Euston main line railway station and above Euston Underground station and near Eust ...

for

Euston station Euston railway station ( ; also known as London Euston) is a central London railway terminus in the London Borough of Camden, managed by Network Rail. It is the southern terminus of the West Coast Main Line, the UK's busiest inter-city railw ...

* Euston Square station * Great Portland Street station * Regent's Park station * Baker Street station * Marble Arch station

Cultural references

The #30 bus is mentioned in the song ''Kiss Me Deadly'', by the

pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former describe ...

band Generation X, which was released on their 1978 long-player

Generation X Generation X (or Gen X for short) is the Western world, Western demographic Cohort (statistics), cohort following the baby boomers and preceding the millennials. Researchers and popular media use the mid-to-late 1960s as starting birth years a ...

.Lyrics of the song 'Kiss Me Deadly' from the 'Sound Track Lyrics website. https://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/slcpunk/kissmedeadly.htm

References

External links

*
Timetable
{{DEFAULTSORT:030, London buses route Bus routes in London July 2005 London bombings Transport in the City of Westminster Transport in the London Borough of Camden Transport in the London Borough of Islington Transport in the London Borough of Hackney